Posts Tagged ‘music’

How Much Does Excellence Cost?

December 18th, 2009
Never good enough

I found a great article on Swerve. It made me think a little bit about how we often understand “excellence” and “effectiveness” as a destination or product rather than a byproduct of how we’re doing what we do and how we measure ourselves by what we see around us.

For example, I have a friend who’s a drummer at another church.  All of their worship leaders are not only worship leaders at the church but are also professional recording artists.  When he auditioned (yes – auditioned) to be on their worship team, there were several other drummers who couldn’t keep up.

But here’s the deal – nearly anywhere besides Nashville, these other drummers would have been a shoe-in as a church drummer.  Even at many other churches in Nashville. That’s a “relative baseline” that is very high.

What’s most important

» Read more: How Much Does Excellence Cost?

Church Music Rocks!

November 24th, 2009

I don’t normally do this but I’m going to plug an album today. If you haven’t already checked out the David Crowder Band’s newest project – Church Music, you really need to give it a listen. While it may not be your musical cup of tea (so to speak), I think it would still be a good listen for you.

I’ll say this up front – Church Music is heavily electronic but is definitely not a 1970s Moog synth over disco. Oh, no – this album has passion, bite, and lyrical truth and grace. It is very strong lyrically as well as musically.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that this Church Music is one of the best-produced new albums I’ve heard recently (not something often heard from me as my wife can attest). The album simply flows from start to finish as a singular work with thoughtful musical transitions joining individual tracks into nearly seamless a cohesive whole.

Big kudos from me to The David Crowder Band.

Check out the sample of Church Music below. If you like it, you can get the entire album on Amazon.com (affiliate link).

If you can’t see the video below, you can view it by clicking here.



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In Honor of the Rain

July 28th, 2009
Glass houses
Image by Daniel*1977 via Flickr

It was raining this afternoon in Nashville. I popped out a question on Twitter, Facebook and around work because it seemed like the thing to do. I received some amazing responses, so I thought I’d post them here. Props are given and links to Twitter profiles (since they’re public).

Here’s the question I asked:

It’s raining in Nashville. What’s your favorite rain song? Mine is Raindrops are falling on my Head – B.J. Thomas.

Here are your kickin’ responses:

@stevegrossman – Purple Rain (Prince)
@thefourmckays – mine is “Singin’ In The Rain!”
@RAM1950 – Mine is Penny Lane. (…the fireman rushes in from the pouring rain, very strange.)
Derek Evenson – Feels like Rain (Buddy Guy)
Joe White – Raindrops are Fallin’ on my Head – B.J. Thomas
Nicole Vilhauer – I sing…”Rain, Rain Go Away!” especially in the winter! Although today it would be “Sing in the Rain” we need it!
Mindy Rott Mateuszczyk – I Wish it Would Rain Down – by Phil Collins.
Nicole Moore Batey – ‘Rainy Days and Mondays….’ : The Carpenters!!!!
Joe Veil - Lluvia caei by Enrique Iglesias Its in Spanish
Pamela Jean Syverson – Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain & Bring On The Rain
Jamie Crabtree – Thunder- Boys Like Girls. Shameless and unabashedly romantic.
Jesse Fletcher – CCR-Who’ll Stop the Rain
Rodger Shimp – It’s Raining Again – Supertramp
Kenn Stilger – My God Rains ! :)
Jamie Crabtree – Not necessarily a rain song, but Sara Bareilles “Come Round Soon” has some good lines in it about rain and thunder.
Chris Unick – “Thunderstorms and Neon Signs” – Wayne Hancock
Mike Wrye – God didn’t make little green apples and it don’t rain in indianopolis in the summertime (Roger Miller)
Katherine Entzminger – Rainy Days and Mondays

And my absolute favorite of the bunch (though I didn’t think of it): » Read more: In Honor of the Rain