Andrew Peterson (born June 4, 1974) is an American Christian musician and author, who plays folk rock, roots rock, and country gospel music.
Peterson is a founding member of the Square Peg Alliance, a group of Christian songwriters. He has toured with Caedmon's Call, Fernando Ortega, Michael Card, Sara Groves, Bebo Norman, Nichole Nordeman, Jill Phillips, Andy Gullahorn, Ben Shive, Eric Peters, and other members of the Square Peg Alliance.
Peterson is the author of The Wingfeather Saga series of children and young adult fantasy novels. The four-part series is currently being adapted into an animated TV show, for which he serves as an executive producer and provides the voice of Oskar N. Reteep and other characters.
Musical career
In 1996, Peterson began touring across America with his wife Jamie and instrumentalist Gabe Scott. Peterson had yet to release a full-length album, and had no recording contract. Caedmon's Call lead guitarist and vocalist Derek Webb came across his website, and was impressed by the lyrics, leading him to invite Peterson to open for his band at an upcoming show. His performance was successful, and he was invited to join them on their 1998 tour.
This led to Peterson signing in 1999 with Watershed/Essential Records. His first full-length album, Carried Along, was released in 2000. The album, including "Nothing to Say", was listed on CCM Magazine's list of the Top 10 albums of 2000.
In 2005, Peterson released The Far Country and Appendix A: Bootlegs and B Sides.
In 2006, Peterson worked with his friend Randall Goodgame to release Slugs & Bugs & Lullabies, a children's album. The album produced two tracks which were featured on the newest video in the bestselling VeggieTales series called The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's. On October 21, 2008, Peterson released Resurrection Letters, Volume Two, a collection of songs about what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means for people today. The album reached No. 9 on Billboards Top Christian Albums chart.
On August 24, 2012 Andrew released the album Light for the Lost Boy to critical acclaim, due to a fuller band sound which maintains his depth of lyrical content.
In October 2016, Peterson released The Burning Edge of Dawn, which includes a song sung with his daughter Skye.
Peterson released a five-song EP, Resurrection Letters: Prologue, in February 2018, as a follow-up to Resurrection Letters, Volume 2. On March 30, Resurrection Letters, Volume One was released. This album contained "Is He Worthy?" written by Peterson and Ben Shive, which was covered on Chris Tomlin's Holy Roar album on September 28, 2018.
Writing
In 2007, Andrew Peterson published The Ballad of Matthew's Begats with illustrator Cory Godbey. It is a children's book based on the song of the same name from Peterson's annual Christmas show, Behold the Lamb of God: The True Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ.
Peterson also wrote a four-book series of fantasy/adventure novels for young adults entitled The Wingfeather Saga published by Waterbrook Press, a subsidiary of Random House and Rabbit Room Press. The first novel, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, was released March 18, 2008. The second novel in the series, North! Or Be Eaten, winner of the 2010 Christy Award for Young Adult Fiction, was released on August 18, 2009, and the third novel in the series, The Monster in the Hollows, was released in May 2011. The series concluded with The Warden and the Wolf King, and won the 2015 Clive Staples Award for Imaginative Fiction. This novel was funded successfully through Kickstarter in August 2013 and was released in July 2014.
The Wingfeather Saga is being adapted into an animated television series by Angel Studios. In 2016, a Kickstarter campaign funded a pilot episode which was released in 2017 as a short film. An equity crowdfunding effort was launched in 2021 and successfully raised $5 million to produce the first season of the series, which was first aired in December 2022. Peterson is a producer of the series.
In 2019, Peterson published Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making, a semi-autobiographical work. The book earned "Book of the Year" honors from Christianity Today and World.
Musical style
Peterson plays in the vein of a folk, rock, bluegrass, country, blues, while to a lesser extent rock and roll, and country gospel styles and genres of music.
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;" | US Christ<br>
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;" | SWE<br>
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|1996
| style="text-align:left;"| Walk
|Studio
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|2000
| style="text-align:left;"| Carried Along
|Studio
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| 32
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|2001
| style="text-align:left;"| Clear to Venus
|Studio
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| 27
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|2003
| style="text-align:left;"| Love and Thunder
|Studio
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| 38
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|2004
| style="text-align:left;"| Behold the Lamb of God
| Studio<br>
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|2005
| style="text-align:left;"| The Far Country
|Studio
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|rowspan="2"|2006
| style="text-align:left;"| Appendix A: Bootlegs and B Sides
| style="text-align:center;"|Compilation<br>
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| style="text-align:left;"| Slugs & Bugs & Lullabies<br>
|Studio
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|2007
| style="text-align:left;"| Appendix M: Media / Music / Movies
|EP
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|2008
| style="text-align:left;"| Resurrection Letters, Volume Two
|Studio
| 128
| 9
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|2009
| style="text-align:left;"| Appendix C: Live with the Captains Courageous
|Live
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|2010
| style="text-align:left;"| Counting Stars
|Studio
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| 7
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|2011
| style="text-align:left;"| Above These City Lights
|Live
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| 7
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|2012
| style="text-align:left;"| Light for the Lost Boy
|Studio
| 125
| 8
| 54
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|2014
| style="text-align:left;"| After All These Years: A Collection
|Compilation
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| 28
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|2015
| style="text-align:left;"|The Burning Edge of Dawn
|Studio
| 97
| 3
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|rowspan=2|2018
| style="text-align:left;"|Resurrection Letters: Prologue (EP)
|Studio EP
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| 17
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| style="text-align:left;"|Resurrection Letters: Volume 1
|Studio
| 126
| 4
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|2019
| align="left"| Behold the Lamb of God: 15th Anniversary Edition
| Studio<br>
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| 39
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|2025
| align="left"| A Liturgy, a Legacy, & the Songs of Rich Mullins (Live)
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Singles
<small>(Selective singles and videos)</small>
- 2000: "Nothing to Say"
- 2004: "Family Man"
- 2010: "Dancing in the Minefields" <small>(peaked at No. 13 on Billboard's Top Christian Songs chart)</small>
- 2012: "Rest Easy"
- 2014: "After All These Years"
- 2018: "Is He Worthy?"
Video
- 2005: Behold the Lamb of God Live (DVD)
Books
- 2007: The Ballad of Matthew's Begats
- 2008: On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness: The Wingfeather Saga, Book One
- 2009: North! Or Be Eaten: The Wingfeather Saga, Book Two
- 2011: The Monster in the Hollows: The Wingfeather Saga, Book Three
- 2014: The Warden and the Wolf King: The Wingfeather Saga, Book Four
- 2014: Pembrick's Creaturepedia (Illustrated by Aedan Peterson)(The Wingfeather Saga Spinoff)
- 2016: Wingfeather Tales (editor)(anthology)
- 2019: Adorning the Dark (nonfiction/memoir)
- 2021: The God of the Garden (nonfiction/memoir)
- 2023: A Ranger's Guide to Glipwood Forest (The Wingfeather Saga spinoff)
Awards
GMA Dove Awards
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Nominee
! Award
! Result
|-
|rowspan="2"|2004
|"Family Man"
|Country Recorded Song of the Year
|
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|City on a Hill: The Gathering
|Special Event Album of the Year
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|2013
|Light for the Lost Boy
|Inspirational Album of the Year
|
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|Light for the Lost Boy (Special Edition)
|Recorded Music Packaging of the Year
|
|-
|2015
|After All These Years
|Recorded Music Packaging of the Year
|
|-
|2016
|The Burning Edge of Dawn
|Inspirational Album of the Year
|
|-
|2018
|Resurrection Letters Volume 1
|Recorded Music Packaging of the Year
|
|-
| 2019
| "Is He Worthy?"
| Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|2020
|Behold the Lamb of God (15th Anniversary)
|Recorded Music Packaging of the Year
|
|-
| style="text-align:left;"|Behold the Lamb of God (15th Anniversary)
|Christmas/Special Event Album of the Year
|
|-
|2021
|Behold the Lamb of God
|Musical/Choral Collection
|
|}
References
External links
- www.WingfeatherSaga.com The Wingfeather Saga Online