Shamgar's Oxgoad is a transcontinental project that brings a modern sound to the classic genre of instrumental rock. Musicians from Ann Arbor, Bangor, Kalamazoo and Memphis collaborated via digital recording techniques to blend their contributions despite never rehearsing together.

In the summer of 2009, electric bassist Steve Knowlton sat down at the piano and composed a melody. Inspired by a reading from Paul's letter to the Romans (12:20), he named it "Burning Coals," but never got farther with the lyrics than an opening line and a chorus hook. At the same time, he became interested in the music of Booker T. and the MGs, which led him to believe that the tune could work as an instrumental. With that in mind, he composed several additional instrumental tunes, refining them with assistance of his brother John.

He then gathered his friends to begin recording the songs. First was drummer Adam Sales, who proceeded to develop his parts with the simple instruction to play anything he wanted *except* a backbeat. Adam and Steve had previously played together in another band, and their friendship led to the name of Shamgar's Oxgoad. Although the first idea was to call the group "As A Matter of Fact, It *Is* Adam and Steve", they instead chose to recall a moment when they had been discussing the minor judges of Israel (Adam and Steve share an interest in Biblical literature) when the name of Shamgar--who slew 600 Philistine with an animal prod (Judges 3:31)--arose. Shamgar von Oxgoad henceforthbecame the name of the group's non-existent roadie. Shamgar's Oxgoad, then, is a tool used to fight the Philistines; it is occasionally used metaphorically in sermons, appears in Pilgrim's Progress as an exhibit in the House of the Interpreter, and serves as the name of a blog about cultural affairs.

With rhythm tracks in place, guitarist Derek Lyons added his parts. He is prominently featured on "Drago Sapiens," a piece Steve composed with his 8-year-old son Abe. Abe was learning the drums and Steve accompanied him on two songs: "Tangled Up in Blue" and his own improvised riff. Abe added a second section to the riff by pointing to the frets he liked, and named the song after his favorite Bakugan toy, a dragon with human intelligence.

Derek's guitar is also heard on "The Pride of Windsor," a song which derives from an earlier composition of Steve's called "Minivan." Since the original was a terrible song aside from its guitar part, Steve recycled that part and scrapped the rest. On a visit to Windsor, Ontario, Steve passed the Chrysler Assembly Plant which prominently displays a sign noting that it is the original home of the minivan, and decided to pay homage to both his original song and the loveliest town in metro Detroit.

The last step of recording in Ann Arbor came with the keyboard contributions of John Knowlton, who dropped in to improvise his parts. His organ work is notable on "The Blessed Physician," which is a reference to St. Luke the Evangelist, who is known from tradition as a medical doctor. Since Derek, Steve and Adam had spent many hours playing together in the auditorium of St. Luke's Church in Ypsilanti, it was decided to acknowledge their musical home with this title.

Finally, the raw tracks were mailed to Bangor, where multi-instrumentalist Chris Willie Williams added his own parts. By special request, he played autoharp on "Earwig Summer." Any gardener knows that insect populations vary by year; for example, 2010 was a great year for box elder bugs, and the year before witnessed many earwigs.

Once all the parts were recorded, Derek spent hours mixing and mastering, with the long-distance consultation of Willie and Steve (who had relocated to Memphis in the meantime.) Today, it is presented with pride for the delectation of refined musical ears everywhere!