A season for new music

I decided that I needed to dig into a little new music for use at church and received a few iTunes gift cards for my birthday last month to assist me in my endeavors. So far, I have to say I'm pretty disappointed in my options where corporate worship is concerned. It's not that there isn't some good music being made, it's just that so little of it seems to have application for where I'm at.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to have to set to work and write what I can't find. It's not a new revelation to me, it's just that finding time and energy between one full time job, two part time jobs, volunteer commitments with both kids' schools and simply trying to be husband, father and friend is proving to be a difficult endeavor. I'm only able to write anything today because Xander is home sick from school and Amy's recital is this week. Not a good week for her to be around sick kids.

But, I did find a few things worth commenting on...

The first is John Mark McMillan's "The Medicine." I have to thank Hal Swift for indirectly putting me in touch with this artist since Hal loaned me a CD from another artist that included McMillan's song "How He Loves" which has been working me over for the last few months. We decided to introduce it at church about a month ago and in the process of tracking down resources, I came across McMillan's site which includes a music player with songs from his new album. I waited patiently until the album became available on iTunes (again, the gift cards) and downloaded it. Easily my favorite of the latest round of acquisitions including offerings from Charlie Hall, Matt Maher and Coldplay (all of which have merit of their own).

The thing I love about McMillan is he has a great sense for poetic lyricism set to creative melodies. The production is at times, raw and visceral, at times eclectic and experimental and at times simple and straight forward. At times I'm reminded of Mason Jennings, at other times Waterdeep. Certain songs continue to roll around in my head either because they stuck melodically or because they ignited a thought in me that simply needs to be meditated on. There are even a few that I expect to see us incorporate into our worship settings at Mercy.

Today brought another great find. This one for free!!! Phil Whickham has become one of my favorite singer/songwriters in modern worship and he has released a free album of live acoustic settings of some of his best songs mixed with traditional hymn interludes that I'm listening to as I write. Singalong is free just for signing up to receive email updates from Phil and is a great, low risk introduction to his music. "Singalong" is a great showcase for the songs and is a good resource for anyone looking for songs for acoustic worship.

If you like what you hear or wonder what the songs would sound like in all of their envisioned, studio glory then definitely check out his self titled album and "Cannons" which I think are two of the better artistic efforts in the worship genre in recent years. "You're Beautiful" has become one of our favorite modern anthemic hymns and "True Love" is still the song that I wish I would have written. Absolutely stunning imagery.

If anyone has any other suggestions (other than Michael W. Smith or Chris Tomlin) for me to check out in pursuit of great new congregational songs, then please feel free to leave a comment.