Christian Acoustic Music
Matthew Pollina
really gained appreciation for music played on it (this is unusual for me,
as I'm generally an electronic keyboardist!). Are there any good Christian
acoustic/folk musicians around???
Also, I'd be interested in corresponding with other acoustic players about
music/tablature and such, of which I've been able to find none (right now
I'd be happy to get the chords to "Amazing Grace", still my favorite hymn)!!!
In Christ,
Matt
Andy Whitman
JeffD1195 <jeff...@aol.com> wrote:
>Check out Phil Keagy "Wind in the Wheat" CD. Also there is a fantastic
>folk quitar player in the Secular market who by his own admission is a
>Christian (A light in the world!) His name is David Wilcox and you would
>do well to own everything that he has done.
>
>Good luck w/ your guitar playing, I am a fellow acc guit player.
I'm fairly ambivalent on Wilcox's music (he's talented, but a little
too much of the mellow folky for my tastes), but I did want to note
that his first six albums have recently been released in a 3-CD
boxed set for the astoundingly low price of $23.99. Yep, you read
that right. If you like Wilcox's music, and you like a lot of it,
there's a wonderful deal out there for you.
Andy Whitman
AT&T Network Systems
Columbus, Ohio
a...@ncms1.cb.att.com
JeffD1195
Christopher Bennett
: In article <3ect8l$2...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>,
Andy, do you have the name of the boxed-set handy? I'm not *that* crazy about
Wilcox's music either, but 6 albums for $23.99? That's worth the guitar
alone, and he is, IMHO, a fine acoustic guitarist. I've already
stolen several of his licks, so why not learn *all* of them?! (-:
-Chris
Newbs
releases, and one independent release, but that's it (aside from live
stuff on various artists compilations).
I saw Dave two months ago in clemson, sc. He's great live, much better
than on the studio recordings. In fact, he's working on a live album
now; it's just taking him a few months to listen through all the DAT
recordings.
The David Wilcox songbook was just released in November and should be
available through your local music store.
Lori beth Kruse
or is it the normal price?
Ivan L. Chong
In Christ,
Matt
Matt,
My favorite musician by far is Steven Curtis Chapman. He's a *very*
talented songwriter and musician. Both in his albums and in concert, he
plays mostly acoustic guitar (Taylors). I always enjoy listening to him
play. Like yourself, I've really come to appreciate guitar players ever
since I started trying to learn how to play the acoustic guitar myself.
If you're into finger picking on the acoustic guitar, you'll like the
following songs by him:
* His Eyes
* Heart's Cry
* I Will Be Here
* The Mountain
* Waitin' for Thunder
* Remember Your Chains
* Still Listenin'
I haven't found any tablature -- but I would be very interested in getting
some. Does anyone know where to get guitar tablature for CCM music?
-Ivan
Andy Whitman
Lori beth Kruse <JVS...@prodigy.com> wrote:
>What store did you see this 6 Album for 23.99 deal? Was it just a sale,
>or is it the normal price?
MediaPlay, one of those general-purpose music/books/videos/computers
kinds of stores the size of a small suburb. There was nothing on the
packaging to indicate that it was a sale price.
Andy Whitman
I'm admittedly not that familiar with David Wilcox's music, but the
package that I held in my hands a few weeks ago definitely contained
3 CDs, and was advertised as containing "6 Albums". I have no idea
where the other music came from, but each CD seemed to contain
20 - 25 songs, which would seem to bear out the "6 Albums" claim.
No, unfortunately I don't recall the title. I have been warned upon
peril of my life to avoid music stores for the next few weeks, and
since I don't want to risk my marriage by blowing the money for
winter heating on music, I'll probably heed the warning. It may be
a while before I can check. If I blow it, you'll know. I'll be
the lonely, solitary guy in the parka huddled in front of the stereo
speakers.
Claude W. Anderson
I'd suggest his "Lord of The Past" compilation album as an introduction to
his music. I'll bet you'll then want to get everything else you can find by
him. Not all of his music is acoustic or folk, but the majority is.
If you like excellent acoustic guitar as part of a pop/alternative sound,
along with haunting vocals and lyrics, I suggest any of the CD's by "Out of
the Grey". All of them are good. I like their first, self-titled, one
best, and their latest, "Diamond Days", least.
Phil Keaggy is an outstanding (most of us here would say the best) acoustic
guitarist, but he does very little that could be classified as folk.
And then there's Bruce Cockburn. I'll leave it to Andy to recommend the
best albums to start with.
If you can find John Michael Talbot's first two albums, self-titled, and
"The New Earth", you'll hear some excellent acoustic folk, as well as a
masterpiece album by John and Terry Talbot, called "The Painter". I think
Longs Christan Music has all of these in their catalog. I know they have
"The Painter".
--
Claude Anderson ande...@cs.rose-hulman.edu
Associate Professor, Computer Science NeXT mail is welcomed
Rose-Hulman Inst. of Technology (812)877-8331
5500 Wabash Avenue
Terre Haute, In 47803
Aaron L. Dettling
Phil Keaggy is the best. He is king of all guitar worlds. His album
"Beyond Nature" is all instrumental acoustic guitar along with small
string and brass ensemble on some tracks. Very good album!!! Most
recently there is "Way Back Home" acoustic/vocal. Also a great album as
regards songwriting, lyrics, and guitarmanship. IMHO Keaggy is in a
class by himself in the Christian music world. He is #1, head and
shoulders above everybody else. Thank you.
: And then there's Bruce Cockburn. I'll leave it to Andy to recommend the
: best albums to start with.
Also excellent, but I'll also defer to someone else's better judgment for
specific album rec's.
Paul DuBois
> Phil Keaggy is the best...
>
> : And then there's Bruce Cockburn...
Doesn't John Fahey have an album out that's oriented toward Christian
music? (I mean besides the Christmas album.)
--
Paul DuBois
dub...@primate.wisc.edu
Andy Whitman
Aaron L. Dettling <adet...@liberty.uc.wlu.edu> wrote:
>: Phil Keaggy is an outstanding (most of us here would say the best) acoustic
>: guitarist, but he does very little that could be classified as folk.
>
>Phil Keaggy is the best. He is king of all guitar worlds. His album
>"Beyond Nature" is all instrumental acoustic guitar along with small
>string and brass ensemble on some tracks. Very good album!!! Most
>recently there is "Way Back Home" acoustic/vocal. Also a great album as
>regards songwriting, lyrics, and guitarmanship. IMHO Keaggy is in a
>class by himself in the Christian music world. He is #1, head and
>shoulders above everybody else.
That's a funny comment about a guy who's, what, about 4'8"? :-)
This is all purely subjective, I realize, but I'll take any number
of people in the Christian music world over Phil. Personally I think
he's a great guy, and he's certainly a wonderful guitarist, but I
*don't* think much at all of his songwriting abilities (he's gotten
better, but some of the songs on "What a Day" and "Love Broke Through"
remind me of everything that's wrong and sappy about CCM), and I just
plain don't like his voice. But that's me.
Here are a few of the Christian acoustic/folk musicians who mean a
lot to me:
-- Bruce Cockburn. Bruce has been around since the days when dinosaurs
roamed the earth, and he's gone through some stylistic changes, so I'd
recommend anything from the seventies or anything from the nineties if
you want to go the folk route. He's a great guitarist and a great
songwriter. "Joy Will Find a Way," "In the Falling Dark," "Dancing
in the Dragon's Jaws," "Humans," and "Dart to the Heart" are all very
fine folkie albums with wonderfully poetic Christian lyrics.
-- Mark Heard. Lots of stylistic changes too. Mark got better with
age, so I'd recommend "Dry Bones Dance," "Second Hand," and "Satellite
Sky" as the folkie albums of choice from late in his career. And lyrics
written from a Christian world view don't get any better than this.
-- Brooks Williams, David Wilcox, Pierce Pettis. A trio of "pure" folkies.
This stuff conjures up too many images of earnest singers in Greenwich
Village coffeehouses for me, but if that style is to your liking, these
three guys do it well. Pretty good voices, outstanding lyrics. Pettis'
"Chase the Buffalo" has really grown on me, and contains a wonderful
cover of Mark Heard's "Nod Over Coffee" and the most amazing song about
AIDS that I've ever heard -- a ballad called "Stickman" that will break
your heart.
-- Vigilantes of Love. The first three albums, "Jugular," "Driving
the Nails," and "Killing Floor" are pretty much my idea of acoustic
music heaven. Not folkie in the "pretty" sense, but certainly
acoustic, and Christian songwriting to die for.
-- The Williams Brothers. Two albums -- "The Williams Brothers" and
"Harmony Hotel". Sort of a Simon and Garfunkel sing in church kind
of sound. There's a great cover of Julie Miller's "Broken Things" on
"Harmony Hotel".
-- Victoria Williams. Yep, the sister of the aforementioned Williams
Brothers. You'd never know it from the voice, though. As anti-slick
as her brothers are slick, Victoria sounds like a cross between Dolly
Parton, Kate Bush, and Olive Oyl. Her songs are beautiful, though --
simple, often childlike expressions of faith and love.
-- Bob Neuwirth. Dylan's protege from way back. He's still around,
and making some starkly beautiful Christian music. "Back to the Front"
and "99 Monkeys" are probably the only albums to be had these days, but
they're worth having. This is more country folk, along the lines of
"Harvest" era Neil Young.
-- Bob Dylan. What the heck, might as well throw Dylan in here too.
His last two albums, "Good as I Been to You" and "World Gone Wrong",
are throwbacks to his early folky days, and contain brillaint covers
of a lot of traditional folk and blues material. Some great, highly
underrated albums.
-- John Michael Talbot. Many quiet, reverent, worshipful folk
albums. Try "Come to the Quiet" for starters.
-- Peter Case. "The Man with the Blue, Post-Modern, Fragmented, Neo-
Traditional Guitar" ought to be in any self-respecting folk lover's
music collection. This is the best "conversion" album I've ever heard,
and makes a convincing case that even the most self-absorbed jerks can
find new life in Christ. The solo albums before and after this one --
"Peter Case", "Six Pack of Love", and "Peter Case Sings Like Hell" --
are good too.
-- John Austin. See Peter Case above, except I have no reason to think
that John is a self-absorbed jerk. He sure *sounds* like Peter Case,
though, and a couple songs on "Authorized Bootleg" could have come
directly from Peter's "Blue ... Guitar" album. A real talent in the
Christian music world who deserves to be plugged as much as possible.
-- CCM from the seventies. The folk decade. I don't know why, but
*many* CCM albums from the seventies consisted primarily of
folk music. Try early albums from Malcolm and Alwyn, Honeytree,
Paul Clark, Phil McHugh, and Lamb. Personally I don't find much there
to like, but that's just me again. Your tastes may vary, and it's
certainly blatantly Christian.
I hope this gives you some pointers.
Andy Whitman
AT&T Network Systems
Columbus, Ohio
Kyle Griffin
(all sorts of good recommendations - deleted for the sake of brevity)
You might also want to check out Jan Krist's 2 CD's on REX's Storyville
label, "Decapitated Society" and "Wing and A Prayer". I've enjoyed the
CD's quite a bit. (Although I must admit after seeing her perform at
Cornerstone last summer I have less of an appreciation of her. She seemed
very angry and bitter about life in general, and was pretty condescending
toward her backup players and especially the stage hand. Her between song
comments also made it very clear that she was very pissed off at men. ALL
men. Maybe she was just having a bad day, or going through a rough time,
and I don't expect Christians to always "wear a happy face" and lie about
who they are and what they're struggling with, but I found the whole
"vibe" at her concert a bit disturbing and uncomfortable. Just my 2 cents.
I'm actually hoping she'll be back this summer, because I'd like to give
her a chance to prove me wrong.
Andy Whitman
Paul DuBois <dub...@primate.wisc.edu> wrote:
>From article <1995Jan12.1...@liberty.uc.wlu.edu>, by adet...@liberty.uc.wlu.edu (Aaron L. Dettling):
>> Phil Keaggy is the best...
>>
>> : And then there's Bruce Cockburn...
>
>Doesn't John Fahey have an album out that's oriented toward Christian
>music? (I mean besides the Christmas album.)
Really? I haven't followed Fahey's career that closely, but the Christmas
album I own has lots of songs about holly and snow and sleighbells and
chestnuts roasting on an open fire and all that kind of stuff, but nary
a reference to Christ and nary a single song that would indicate that
Christmas might actually have a smidgen of spiritual significance. The
total *lack* of any Christian references gave me the impression that he
might have an ax to grind. But the album I have is probably twenty
years old. Does he have *another* Christmas album, and is it really
Christian oriented?
>Paul DuBois
>dub...@primate.wisc.edu
Andy Whitman
AT&T Network Systems
Columbus, Ohio
Christopher C Parks
writes:
>[snip]
>.... I haven't followed Fahey's career that closely, but the Christmas
>chestnuts roasting on an open fire and all that kind of stuff, but nary
>a reference to Christ and nary a single song that would indicate that
>Christmas might actually have a smidgen of spiritual significance. The
>total *lack* of any Christian references gave me the impression that he
>might have an ax to grind. But the album I have is probably twenty
>years old. Does he have *another* Christmas album, and is it really
>Christian oriented?
I bought a Fahey Christmas CD this year. It was a compilation from two
Christmas albums: "The New Possibility" (Fahey's first Christmas album)
and "Christmas with John Fahey (?)" Most of the tunes on the CD were
traditional Christmas carols ("Joy to the World", "Silent Night", etc.)
rather than more "secularly" oriented Christmas songs. I think "White
Christmas" is on the CD, but those kinds of songs were definitely in the
minority. (If you're really interested, Andy, let me know, and I will
email you a list of tunes: the CD isn't handy as I write this.)
I really loved the CD...folksy and even jazzy treatments make "Joy to the
World", "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear", and so on sound fresh.
Once upon a time, I heard someone play a tape of cajun renditions of Christmas
carols. I loved it, but I didn't get the name of the group, and I
haven't run across it again. I am almost wondering if I imagined the
whole thing.
Peace,
Chris
"The world is poor because her treasure | Chris Parks
is in heaven and all her treasure | cc...@csd.uwm.edu
maps are of the earth." -- Calvin Miller |
Jerry B. Ray
>-- How 'bout Billy Crockett? Good accoustic guitarist, clever lyrics...
>all around good stuff as far as I'm concerned. Reminds me of some of
>the older Stonehill stuff.
I saw Billy Crockett in concert once, at a retreat thing a campus Bible
study goes to every year. I really enjoyed his music, but I haven't been
able to find it anywhere. Is it still in print, and is it generally
available in Christian bookstores?
JRjr
--
'Summer's going fast, nights growing colder
Children growing up, old friends growing older
The innocence slips away...'--Rush, Time Stand Still
##### vap...@prism.gatech.EDU ######## Jerry B. Ray, Jr. ################
Tom Senor
[a lot of good stuff that I've cut; I left in only the part that I wanted
to argue with. (-: ]
> -- Mark Heard. Lots of stylistic changes too. Mark got better with
> age, so I'd recommend "Dry Bones Dance," "Second Hand," and "Satellite
> Sky" as the folkie albums of choice from late in his career. And lyrics
> written from a Christian world view don't get any better than this.
I'm really surprised to find "Satellite Sky" listed here as a 'folkie'
album or as a record that fits the admittedly nebulous category of
'acoustic music.' While it is true that a mandolin is the featured
instrument of this album, it is a "plugged in" mandolin that has much more
an alternative/rock sound than it does an acoustic/folk sound. Don't get
me wrong: I like "Satellite Sky" very much and there are folkie *moments*
but to my ear they are few and far between. If you want to hear lots of
acoustic guitar, get "Second Hand."
> -- Brooks Williams, David Wilcox, Pierce Pettis. A trio of "pure" folkies.
> This stuff conjures up too many images of earnest singers in Greenwich
> Village coffeehouses for me, but if that style is to your liking, these
> three guys do it well. Pretty good voices, outstanding lyrics. Pettis'
> "Chase the Buffalo" has really grown on me, and contains a wonderful
> cover of Mark Heard's "Nod Over Coffee" and the most amazing song about
> AIDS that I've ever heard -- a ballad called "Stickman" that will break
> your heart.
Andy, I'm glad to hear that the Pettis album has grown on you. My earliest
memory of rmc is reading a post of yours (which I thought otherwise
excellent) in which you said that this record reminded you of 70's CCM.
Now I know that you take a higher view of that period than I do ('though,
of course, I acknowledge the rare good album from that period), but any way
you slice it, that is not a high compliment! And I couldn't agree more
about "Stickman."
> -- The Williams Brothers. Two albums -- "The Williams Brothers" and
> "Harmony Hotel". Sort of a Simon and Garfunkel sing in church kind
> of sound. There's a great cover of Julie Miller's "Broken Things" on
> "Harmony Hotel".
This made me want to suggest Julie Miller's "Orphans and Angels." Not
*exactly* acoustic/folk, but very close and chock full of some of the best
explicitly Christian (dare I say CCM?) songwriting around. (What do I
mean by 'explicitly Christian'? I dunno. But I'm thinking that the
writing of folks like Cockburn, the later Heard, and most of Mallonee as
not fitting that description--but that is not in anyway a slam of these
later folks who are probably my three current favorites. And there
certainly is a sense in which each of them is explicitly Christian, so
please cut me some slack on the term. (-: Thanks.)
>
> -- Victoria Williams. Yep, the sister of the aforementioned Williams
> Brothers. You'd never know it from the voice, though. As anti-slick
> as her brothers are slick, Victoria sounds like a cross between Dolly
> Parton, Kate Bush, and Olive Oyl. Her songs are beautiful, though --
> simple, often childlike expressions of faith and love.
I just finished raving about "Loose," her latest album, so I won't say much
except that if you are new to her, listen to "Loose" first. It is
certainly more accessible than "Happy Come Home" (her first) and (I'm told,
though I haven't heard it) "Swing the Statue!"
I'd like to add a suggestion: "Scenic Routes" by the Lost Dogs. Folkie,
bluesy, rootsy Christian music to die for.
Thanks for hearing me out.
> Andy Whitman
> AT&T Network Systems
> Columbus, Ohio
> a...@cblph.att.com
--
Tom Senor
University of Arkansas
se...@comp.uark.edu
Opinions expressed are entirely my own and do not represent those of the
UA.
M. Craig Walls
: lot to me:
-- How 'bout Billy Crockett? Good accoustic guitarist, clever lyrics...
all around good stuff as far as I'm concerned. Reminds me of some of
the older Stonehill stuff.
JMO
Craig
--
============================================================================
| Anyone can count the seeds in an || Craig Walls
| apple, but only God can count the || mwa...@sdf.saomai.org
| apples in a seed. "Who despises || Sometimes the most Godly thing we
Chris Fowler
>
>I saw Billy Crockett in concert once, at a retreat thing a campus Bible
>study goes to every year. I really enjoyed his music, but I haven't been
>able to find it anywhere. Is it still in print, and is it generally
>available in Christian bookstores?
>
>JRjr
He has three CD's in release right now, one of which is brand new. My wife bought it a
couple of weeks ago at when he did a concert at our church. I'm not sure if it is in the
the stores yet. You should be able to find the other two at a bookstore, or they should
be able to order it for you. He also had some earlier albuums, but I have never seen
them on CD, and it has been a long time since I saw them on cassette.
Chris
