Dear Friends and Family,
Three years ago, I recorded a song called “Gloria” with my friend Jonathan West. Lately I’ve been thinking about that recording again—where it came from, and what it still means to me.
This song was born during the 2020 COVID season, in the middle of those strange, quiet months when the world felt both smaller and heavier. I spent a lot of time walking around my neighborhood with my wife during her pregnancy with our daughter. As I walked, I kept thinking about Mary—pregnant with Jesus—carrying hope in her body while living under the pressure and uncertainty of real life.
Not long after our daughter was born, I remember walking outside with her in my arms under the night sky, humming a melody without words. That melody stayed with me. It felt like a prayer at first—simple, repetitive, and steady—something to sing when you don’t have much else to say while you’re trying to sooth your child.
The other spark for “Gloria” came from Luke’s account of the angels appearing to the shepherds—ordinary people, out in the dark, doing their nightly work—when suddenly the sky fills with worship: “Gloria.” Light breaking into darkness. Good news arriving, under the created night sky.
That’s what I wanted this song to carry: the sense that God meets us in the ordinary—on sidewalks, under streetlights, in the exhaustion and tenderness of new parenthood, and even in the middle of a year like 2020.
Recording it with Jonathan was a gift. He helped give shape and color to something that began as a quiet hum under the stars. I’m grateful for his musicianship, his friendship, and the way collaboration can take a small beginning and turn it into something you can share.
If you listen to “Gloria,” I hope you hear a little of that night sky. I hope you hear a little of the shepherds’ field. And maybe—if you’ve ever carried a baby in the dark, or walked through a hard season with hope in your chest—you’ll hear some of your own story in it too.
Gloria.
— Trailand
Gloria | Lyrics
With stars in the sky, connecting the dots
Creating lines forming constellations
Through night time explorations
Old stories fill the air
For Andromeda and Perseus make on
Past the milky way, until the dawn
Where there story ends, they have reached their stop
And the night stands still
But an older story, endures
One song by a choir, at the dawn chorus
A victorious tail, a battle pre-won
The oldest story still being sung
Gloria, Gloria
Peace on earth
From the highest heaven
Gloria, oh the glory of
The Son of Light
From the highest heaven
Well a new night unfolds with renewed awe
Of the people and places, the stars and all
You have called to worship, everything is foretold
Old stories fill the air
For in the darkest of nights there is hope for the morning
For the weight that you feel has also been worn
By the king of kings, the lowly born
Who the stars sing about
For there’s still untold stories
Of the saints and their glories
And the things we can’t
Comprehend
For the story of old
That was long foretold
Isn’t only meant
The churches of men
It’s creations songs
Everything belongs
To the lamb that was slain
And this picture in my brain
Of the virgin birth
That brought light to the earth
By the star night
When the shepherds heard
Gloria, Gloria
Peace on earth
Gloria, oh the glory of
The Song of Light
From the highest heaven
From the highest heaven
Gloria, Gloria
Gloria, Gloria
I pace the yard with my daughter in my arms
And the wonder of the stars are shown through her eyes
An despite efforts to keep her safe
I can only pray she grows deeper in her faith
Oh great Father of night, of the day and beyond
Help me as I stand humbly in the lawn
To keep telling her stories, that hope is alive
In the God that came to give her new life
For an older story, endures
One song by a choir, at the dawn chorus
A victorious tail, a battle pre-won
The oldest story is still being sung
Yes, the oldest story is still being sung
37 Days of Christmas 