My brother-in-law sent me an iTunes credit for my birthday, and I was able to pick up some new music. One of the new additions to my iPod is Laura Story’s “Great God Who Saves” album.

I’ve known Laura’s music since around 2000 when she was with the band Silers Bald.  It was Silers Bald that originally toured with Andrew Peterson’s “Behold the Lamb of God” Christmas tour.  And if I’m remembering correctly, she wrote (or helped write) “Labor of Love” (which may be the most beautiful song ever written).

Laura wrote the song “Indescribable” that you’ve probably heard if you’ve been to church or listened to Christian radio at any point in the last couple of years. “Great God Who Saves” features these two songs, and some others that (in my opinion) are even better written (”Immortal, Invisible” and “Grace”).

I’m not really a fan of worship music. That’s an understatement. I’m on the verge of being able to say I hate worship music. I’ve found that so much of the worship music that has become popular is full of shallow (or worse - incorrect) theology and cheap, predictable rhymes. Laura’s lyrics on this album aren’t cheap or shallow. In fact, like the rest of her music that I’ve heard, it’s actually quite deep and very well-written.

If you like really good songs that make you think, you’ll probably appreciate the writing on this album. Even if you’re like me and have a borderline hatred for the worship genre, you should at least give it a listen. Some of these songs are really good.

And if you’re a big fan of the “worship” style of music, you’ll probably like the sound of “Great God Who Saves,” but you may be shocked to find depth and truth that you’re not used to finding on your CCM radio stations.

(You guys like that? Bashing CCM radio and recommending a Christian artist at the same time! Only at moreron.com) 

I’m very excited about this new site launch:

Check it out - NoiseTrade.com

My wife and I spent Saturday night in Chattanooga, celebrating 11 years of marriage. On the way back, my wife slept. Yes, it was like 10:00 a.m., but she slept. She’s got this condition that keeps her from staying awake longer than 10 minutes when on an interstate. It’s crazy. I tease her about it, and still we’ve been married 11 years. She’s a patient woman.

Anyway, with the realization that we’re on our way through decade #2, I’ve noticed some “marriage” themes coming out of my iPod lately. Eric Peters singing “These Hands,” Andrew Osenga’s “Dance Away The City,” Andy Gullahorn’s “Give it Time,” and so on.

On the way home through the rain on Sunday, I had one of those moments where I heard a song as if for the first time. I’ve listened to Jeremy Casella’s song “Darkest Night” probably no fewer than 100 times. It’s one of my favorites from the album “Recovery,” and even though I know every word, Sunday morning I heard it for the first time as I listened to Jeremy paint a beautiful picture of marriage:

When you’re all alone and you’re counted out
When you’re swallowed up inside the shadow of a doubt
With your faith worn thin as your sorrows rise
And your forced to find the words to say your last goodbye

Your tears will be my tears
Your tears, love will be my tears
On the darkest night

I’ve never been one to write anything profound.  You regular readers of this blog know what I mean.  Even now, I’m fighting for words to close this post.  How does one become a better writer?  I suppose that’s a question for another day.  For today, see the links below.  Go get some time alone to listen to Jeremy’s music.  Listen to it - really listen to it - and let yourself be captivated by it.  It’ll be the best hour of your day.

Related Links:
Jeremy Casella’s site
Jeremy Casella at virb.com (listen to the songs here)
Review of “Recovery”
Buy “Recovery”

I saw Jill and Andy this weekend, once up at Acoustic Jeremiah in Canton, and once over at a church in Oxford (Conyers/Covington area).  My favorite snippet of conversation from the weekend came from Saturday night:

Jill: Do you know if any web folks will be here tonight?
Ron: I think Jeff will be here.
Jill: Really? Geof is here? Cool.
Ron: Yeah, he and his wife are coming.
Jill: (look of confusion)
Ron: He mentioned they were getting a sitter for the twins.
Jill: Geof has twins? I didn’t even know he was married!

At this point, I realized we were talking about different people.  Granted, this may only be funny if you know Jeff, Geof, or Jill.  The look on Jill’s face was almost as priceless as the thought of Geof having twins.

Music is powerful. I’m amazed at how it can bring back experiences to memory with such vivid detail.

When I hear The Cardigans “Long Gone Before Daylight” my mind goes back to my trip to Australia this past summer. I can almost smell the inside of the airplane. (Fortunately, I don’t smell the guy with really bad body odor who sat beside me.)

When I hear Andrew Peterson’s “The Far Country” CD, I am taken back to when I was driving back from South Carolina after the funeral of my 98 year old great grandmother. It brought out so much emotion that I was weeping openly through most of the CD. I wanted to call Andrew and thank him for such a beautiful recording, but I wouldn’t have been able to say much, so I didn’t.

Arthur Alligood’s “Far From Today” takes me to that afternoon a couple of years ago when I got in my car after a long day at work and was ready to throw in the towel on my career and go get a job selling TVs at Circuit City (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Eric Peters’ song “I Know the Mountains” takes me back to several places in my life when I needed some encouragement from a friend.

My music collection is full of songs and albums that take me back and bring out memories.

Tonight my life will be changed by music once again. I’m going up to Nashville to see Andrew Peterson’s “Behold the Lamb of God” Christmas tour play at the Ryman Auditorium. If I could make it to only one concert per year, this would be the one. When I hear the Christmas story - the real Christmas story - told in such an amazing way, I’m left speechless every time.

If you want to ride along, there are still tickets available. You just have to be at my office and ready to go by 2:30 this afternoon. If you can’t go with us, you should listen to “Behold the Lamb of God” online.

If you’ve read this blog much at all, or if you’ve known me over the past 7ish years, you’ve probably heard me say something about the music of Andrew Peterson.

Andrew has a lot going on these days. He’s recording a new album (”Resurrection Letters”), releasing a children’s Christmas book, releasing another book that I don’t know a whole lot about, getting his songs sung by vegetables, and gearing up for his annual (awesome) “Behold the Lamb” Christmas tour.

Earlier this week I was reading Andy’s blog when I came across a paragraph that really stood out. I read it about 5 times. I think that it (other than being very well written) really shows Andy’s heart. Here’s the quote:

What a gift it is to tell the old, old story. Listening to these resurrection letters, seeing the pictures in the book, traveling the country to sing these songs–these are reminders to me that our God is a good king, and that I am most unworthy to be in his kingdom. My sonship is a gift of the highest order, and it is a fine thing to live in light of it.

I don’t want to wear out the name, and I don’t want to preach to the choir (because I know many readers here are also fans of Andy’s music). I want to make sure that if you’ve heard me rave about this guy and have never taken the time to get to know Andy or his music, you really should. I’ll loan my music collection out to anybody who wants to hear it. Just ask.

Rich Mullins passed away 10 years ago today. I’ve been thinking for the last several days about today and what my blog post about Rich would say. The only problem is that I haven’t been able to come up with much.

Tonight I saw Brandy (one of my favorite internet friends) online. We talked a little bit about Rich and his life. I think it speaks a lot about a guy when after 10 years, a couple of friends get together and talk about his influence in their lives.

I’m not really sure what to say about the guy, but I think the words he wrote (which were later sung by Andrew Peterson) in “Mary Picked the Roses” are appropriate for a night like this:

I write songs, these songs I sing
I’d have none if not for Him
And I know whence came the tunes
Because Jesus made the roses bloom.

I will soon be leaving, I will soon be gone.
I will soon be leaving, but I leave for you my songs.
Though this life is fleeting, and time is no one’s friend
I will soon be leaving, Jesus never ends.

May the songs of our lives be sung 10 years after we’re gone.

This post is long overdue.

Before I left for Australia, I set out to find some new music for the 20ish hours of air travel. One of the things I’ve been trying to do is pick up some of the music that influences my favorite musicians.

Andy Osenga has gone on and on about how great “Long Gone Before Daylight” from The Cardigans is. I knew nothing of them, hadn’t listened to any online samples, and had no recommendations from anybody else (other than maybe, indirectly, Geof). It’s very rare that I buy music like that.

What else is rare is that I’ll absolutely love a new (to my collection) artist the first time through. Usually it takes me some time to warm up to some new music. Even if I think it’s good, sometimes I’ve got to hear it a few times before I’m crazy about it.

I managed to wait until I was on the plane from Atlanta to Los Angeles to start listening. I was amazed. And that plane ride was really quick. The Cardigans spent many, many hours playing on the iPod. I listened on the plane, in the data center (centre) setting up servers, walking around Melbourne, and even one night when I couldn’t sleep.

Bottom line: it’s not exactly a new release (2003 or 2004, I think), but it’s really good. If you’re looking for something different, and you have never heard The Cardigans before, I’d suggest trying them out. I’m glad I did.

Saturday night I saw people picking up roadkill. My wife insists it was a dog, but I’m not so sure. Roadkill. Eww.

I drove the family up to Spring Hill, Tennessee on Saturday to see Andrew Peterson (and Ben Shive) in concert. Spring Hill, in case you were wondering, is 3 miles east of the geographical center of nowhere.

Andy and Ben missed their flight in St. Louis, so they called back to Nashville and had Randall Goodgame and Ron Block (from Union Station) come out to be the openers for the evening. Randall and Ron did a great job before Andy and Ben showed up to take the stage. It was a real treat to see them.

Around 9:30, Andrew and Ben pulled into the parking lot and quickly rushed to the stage. AP played some of his new stuff that will be on the new CD “Resurrection Letters.” It’s going to be really, really good.

I got a chance to talk with Randall about the new Caedmon’s Call CD, which is excellent. We talked about the writing and about some exciting things he’s got going on. I rarely get to see Randall, and it was a nice surprise to see him.

Because of the late arrival, we got back extremely late. The kids were exhausted today, but they seemed to have a good time at the concert last night. I’m a little tired from the trip as well, but it was nice to pull away for an evening, hang out with some friends, and listen to some really good music.

I should do this more often.

This morning I saw that Bryan pointed out that Jeremy Casella’s album RCVRY was awarded a 5 star rating from Christianity Today.

Says Christianity Today: “in a sea of copycat pop/rock acts, Jeremy Casella’s artful music is refreshingly original sounding—both musically and lyrically.”

You may also recall that I wrote a post about the awesomeness of RCVRY earlier this summer. (That’s right, you heard it here first.) If you still haven’t got your copy, you’re missing out on some really, really great music.

(P.S. Congrats, Jeremy.)