Author Archives: dougandtrailand

I wrote The Wind In Our Sails for my father.Who has been the wind in your sails at an important moment in your life? — Trailand The Wind In Our Sails | Lyrics On the edge of the new, leaving all that you ownYou take the plunge, venturing aloneWith the keys at your fingers, aContinue reading “Day 17 of 37 Days of Christmas 2025 – The Wind In Our Sails”

Let me create a couple of pictures in your mind. First, picture a small blue couch in a room where three of the four walls are made of windows, stretching from floor to ceiling. Outside, the weather is a massive gray mixture of rain and fog. Inside, the heating system is made up of waterContinue reading “Day 16 of 37 Days of Christmas 2025 – Yesterday’s Normal”

Dear Friends and Family, Living Symphony is one of those songs that carries inside jokes, odd inspirations, and a few moments that still make me laugh to myself when I sing it. I slipped in a couple of jokes for one of my friends (you’ll know who you are). The sounds you hear after theContinue reading “Day 15 of 37 Days of Christmas 2025 – Living Symphony”

Dear Friends and Family, Earlier this year, I had the chance to learn and record this song with my friend Mike Murphy, and I genuinely loved the brotherly process of our time together. Some songs are meaningful in the moment and then fade—but this one has stuck with me. I’ve been waiting to sing itContinue reading “Day 14 of 37 Days of Christmas 2025 – Each Advent by SingKairos”

Here’s another “whisper” from the 37 Days of Christmas that we originally released in 2019/2020. “Whisper” is a term my dad uses to describe his songs that are recordings in progress. Here’s what he wrote about “Shepherd’s Tale”: “This song is exactly what the title implies—it’s a tale: based on a true story, but fullContinue reading “Day 13 of 37 Days of Christmas 2025 – Shepherd’s Tale (Whisper)”

Living in Boulder, CO gave me the opportunity to be connected to several expressions of Christ’s Church. I was part of several men’s groups that beat into me strong, godly ideas and teachings—and beat off some useless, dull edges (iron sharpens iron). One gathering was an early Friday prayer breakfast, from which a few ofContinue reading “Day 12 of 37 Days of Christmas 2025 – Glimpse Of A New Man”

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 theContinue reading “Day 11 of 37 Days of Christmas 2025 – Gloria”

I was surprised when my dad told me that “I Know a Savior” had never been recorded before. While some of his other songs talk about the Christmas story in poetic, storytelling ways, embedded at the heart of this song is genuine personal human experience expressed in the “I know” phrases—“I know a trouble, IContinue reading “Day 10 of 37 Days of Christmas 2025 – I Know A Savior (Whisper)”

In my imagination, I see God walking through the door of an old barn while a person (maybe me, maybe you) walks through a door on the opposite side. The two keep moving closer together until God reaches out His hand to greet the person. They shake hands and start a conversation. That represents GodContinue reading “Day 9 of 37 Days of Christmas 2025 – Shakin’ Hands (The Visitation 1989)”

I’m enjoying the recent stories and movies about the life of King David. He’s growing in popularity again. Since Jesus is from the lineage of David, it seems worthwhile to know about the life and writings of David. The incarnation story is grounded in history and family is a large part of the story. Here’sContinue reading “Day 8 of 37 Days of Christmas 2025 – Sling of David (The Choices Project)”