Johanna Musgrave

I live in Northwest Arkansas (one of the coolest places to live, in my opinion) in the US with my husband and three daughters. By trade, I'm a copywriter for a marketing agency, but my favorite creative outlet is music. In recent years, I’ve been writing scripture memory songs to help me and my family commit more of the Bible to memory. Music has always been a part of my life, but it wasn’t until I became a mom and I started creating music for my girls that I fell in love with the process. Now, it’s an essential rhythm for me. I’ve learned that creativity sparks more creativity, and I love seeing what unfolds when I sit down to create something new.

When I began teaching my daughters the alphabet, I wanted them to memorize a Bible verse with each letter. Since we memorize best to music, I recorded simple melodies on my phone at my kitchen table.
We'd sing them each morning at breakfast as we reviewed that "B is for ball" and also "Be kind and helpful to one another..."(Eph. 4:32). Soon, the girls were singing the songs everywhere. That Christmas, my husband gave me some recording gear to finally build the melodies into songs.
When I opened Garage Band for the first time, I cried - not with gratitude but intimidation. I set up my keyboard and recording gear in my closet; and everyday during nap time, I showed up to craft piano parts and record the melodies I'd written. It took me three weeks to muster the courage to click "record" and a lot more time to relax into the creative process. A lot of days I stormed out of my closet feeling foolish for even trying, but slowly I started to see that a series of "bad ideas" led me to a few really great ones - over and over. When I realized the bad ideas were critical building blocks for the great ideas, I started to welcome my whole self to the creative process. My closet became a kind of sanctuary, and I started to crave that creative rhythm.
As friends and family heard about what I was doing, they started to ask when they'd be able to listen. While I was proud of what I built in Garage Band in my closet, I started to wonder if releasing a professionally recorded album was the next right step. After another few months, I overcame imposter syndrome enough to invest in studio time. I'll never forget the first time I stood in the vocal booth in the summer of 2020.
What began as a preschool project in my kitchen became Lamplight: ABC Scripture Songs and a symbol of a 20 month journey of learning how to create without having to prove anything. I’m so glad to share it with you.

I hope this album serves as a helpful tool for you and yours as you meditate on God’s Word. For me, the hours I spent plunking out piano parts and re-re-re-recording the vocal parts became a sort of meditative practice. These scriptures are truly hidden in my heart, and have come to mind often to soothe me, guide me or encourage me through the years since the album came out in 2020.

No spiritual discipline has been more rewarding, life-giving, or transformative than memorizing scripture. The more I learn about God and His character through His Word, the more I recognize His movement in the world and His work in my life.

Yoto has been a critical creative outlet for me. In 2022, when I began writing scripture memory songs again (this time for my Bible study group), a friend encouraged me to create a Yoto playlist so everyone could listen.

Over the next year, I added 50 word-for-word scripture songs. That same friend urged me to submit the Know Your Bible: Scripture Memory Playlist to Yoto’s first Content Creator Contest, and the response was overwhelming. Now, Lamplight is available to the Yoto community, and I’m excited to keep creating content!

I'm currently tracking my next album! It doesn't have a name yet, but I hope to release it in early 2025. In the meantime, you can listen to that Know Your Bible: Scripture Memory Playlist still housed in the Yoto’s Content Creator Contest space. A few of my favorites from that playlist that will be on this next album.