Peg Luke’s “My Faith Looks Up” Breathes New Life into Sacred Music with Celtic Grace
Some songs aim to entertain. Others, like Peg Luke ’s latest single “My Faith Looks Up”, are written with the weight of lived experience and the soul’s deepest need for solace. It’s not just a reimagining of a 19th-century hymn; it’s a spiritual resurrection—delivered through Celtic instrumentation and a voice that has known both silence and suffering.
Peg Luke, an Emmy and Grammy-nominated artist, doesn’t just play music—she channels it. Her flute, ever the centerpiece of her sound, returns here like an old friend: haunting, deliberate, and pure. But it’s the unexpected textures—like the ache of bagpipes and the earthy pulse of a bodhrán—that make this track feel like more than a modern hymn. It’s a reverent nod to tradition, yes, but also a risk. One that pays off.
What sets Luke apart isn’t just her musicianship—it’s her authenticity. Diagnosed with an autoimmune condition and forced into pandemic-era isolation, she’s continued to create with an urgency that feels sacred. “My Faith Looks Up” isn’t worship for the sake of performance; it’s worship born from necessity. The kind of faith that’s forged in quiet rooms and sleepless nights.
Her earlier work, like “Kyrie Eleison”, hinted at her ability to walk the line between liturgical reverence and contemporary accessibility. This track leaps further into that space. It’s cinematic. It’s joyful. And yet it carries a subtle melancholy, the kind only someone deeply familiar with pain can convey.
The composition unfolds with care. Luke rearranges the original hymn’s structure, altering verses and inserting instrumental interludes that breathe air into the lyrics. The result is less church pew, more forest glade—a hymn for those who believe in the divine but might not find it in stained glass.
Luke describes the song as a rich “Irish green,” and it’s hard to argue. You can picture the barefoot woman she speaks of, wandering through mossy woods with sun filtering through the canopy. There’s healing in that image, and that’s exactly what the song offers. It’s not a sermon—it’s a salve.
In a music landscape dominated by algorithm-driven ephemerality, Peg Luke offers something ancient, enduring, and utterly personal. “My Faith Looks Up” is not just a hymn—it’s a reminder that music can still be a form of prayer, and that some prayers sound better with a reel and a flute.
A transcendent blend of ancient faith and modern artistry, “My Faith Looks Up” invites you to feel something deeper than nostalgia. Peg Luke isn’t just looking up—she’s lifting others with her.
