oh yeah, and something I'm REALLY excited about

So anyone familiar with this blog will know that Don Chaffer is my favorite songwriter but I've never seen him live. After Miles and Ruby were born he and Lori took a break from touring so I have missed the goodness of Waterdeep live. BUT NO LONGER.

Derek Webb.

Sandra McCracken.

Alli Rogers.

WATERDEEP.

Eddie's Attic in Georgia. A venue I've always wanted to go to (the Indigo Girls play there fairly often).

Morgan and I are committed to going.


I'm also definitely going to the Art, Music, Justice tour with Sara Groves, Derek, and Sandra that's coming near me in PA. I've never seen Sara Groves though I love her songwriting and, come to think of it, that will be my first opportunity to hear Sandra live too which is totally exciting for me. So yay for concerts!

woo!

noisetrade.com is up and fully functional- I'm actually a bit surprised at only having to tell three friends. Three of the albums I already own and would like to tell ALL my friends. Check it out!!!

november?!

From Alli Rogers mass email update:

in November she's going to be out on the road with Derek Webb, Sandra McCracken, and Waterdeep!!!

FRICKIN RIGHT THREE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!

I'm excited to see Alli.

I'm excited to see Derek and Sandra.

But that PALES in comparison to how excited I am to see DON AND LORI!!!!



I have been really annoyed with myself recently for not packing my stuff for Kansas City for one of the FEW shows they've had since I've known of them and lived within 10 hours. But, seriously, I'm certain nothing is going to stop me come November....

Also HERE is an interview I wish I had gotten to have with Don. Fascinating.

more mix CD goodness

I met a Catholic musician recently who expressed his frustration with the lack of artistry and authenticity in most Christian music, a genre he's pretty much given up on. I decided to make him a mix CD to remedy this. He's primarily a pianist, and I knew he liked Burlap to Cashmere and admired Rich Mullins. So here's what I came up with:

1. I Don't Wanna Waste Your Time: Over the Rhine
2. The Dress Looks Nice on You: Sufjan Stevens
3. The Things We Can and Cannot Keep: Alli Rogers
4. She Held My Hand: Steven Delopoulos
5. Mercy Moves Me: 100 Portraits
6. Springtime Indiana: Sandra McCracken
7. Mansions: Steven Delopoulos (from his live album)
8. On a Night That Felt Outdated: Waterdeep
9. May I Always Keep My Feet Upon the Ground: Steven Delopoulos
10. A Savior on Capitol Hill: Derek Webb
11. Have You Fallen on the Cornerstone: Don Chaffer
12. Eve: Sandra McCracken
13. Work to Be Done: Steven Delopoulos
14. Used to Love: Judd & Maggie
15. Lonely Sometimes: Waterdeep
16. For the Morning: Alli Rogers (from "At Sea")
17. Ohio: Over the Rhine
18. To Be Alone With You: Sufjan Stevens
19. Pieces: Enter the Worship Circle
20. 18 Bullet Holes: Waterdeep

good sounds

At my Starbucks every once in a while I hear a song that rings familiar and it's never on a playlist that I can pull up on the system- annoying! But recently I have heard Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek) floating over to the bar and I asked my friend Holly (a gifted musician and songwriter in her own right) if she was familiar with their music. She wasn't so I made her a mix CD of some of my faves with a few bonus tracks thrown on. The playlist was:

1. This Side: Nickel Creek
2. Let it Fall: Sean Watkins
3. Doubting Thomas: Nickel Creek
4. When You Come Back Down: Nickel Creek
5. Reasons Why: Nickel Creek
6. The Lighthouse Tale: Nickel Creek
7. Run Away Girl: Sean Watkins
8. Spit on a Stranger: Nickel Creek
9. No Lighted Windows: Sean Watkins
10. When in Rome: Nickel Creek
11. House of Tom Bombadil: Nickel Creek
12. The Fox: Nickel Creek
13. Art of Virtue: Adrienne Young and Little Sadie
14. The Things We Can and Cannot Keep: Alli Rogers
15. I Boast No More: Sandra McCracken
16. Wedding Dress: Derek Webb
17. Pieces: Enter the Worship Circle
18. Kingdom of Noise: Judd & Maggie
19. And: Waterdeep

so proud of my sissy...

I like to share the things I love. Part of it is just enjoying being right but also when you love something you share it, right? In addition to brainwashing my sister into appreciating the music I love she has written about the two concerts she just went to (the "same" show twice that is) and it's scarily like something I would write.

Derek Webb, Sandra McCracken, Alli Rogers

My sister went to see the aforementioned trio Friday night and wrote about it on her blog. In typical "us" fashion she decided to drive to West Virginia this evening to do it all over again...

"real" reviews

I don't know how people work with a deadline. I mean, I *do* I have worked with deadlines before and created art under them but for some reason music seems different. For example, when I first downloaded Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken's Ampersand EP on Valentine's Day I had this great idea about a review; except it was really complicated and involved a compare/contrast with the Indigo Girls' "All That We Let In" as well as reflections on seeing a couple renewing their wedding vows at daily mass. So it never happened. Then I got a mysterious CD in the mail the other day and when I opened it I was surprised to see the actual hardcopy of the EP, although I guess somewhere in my head I knew it was coming. But the review still hasn't happened, though if anyone (MORGAN) would like to anticipate what the connection between the aforementioned songs would have been, please feel free to share.

Also, I have been meaning to listen/think about/review several new albums: the mix CD Trey made me, the new stuff I've downloaded. But instead I've felt a driving necessity to listen to weird things like Rich Mullins-> Andrew Peterson or wake up and listen to Kelly Clarkson-> Saving Jane. Yeah.

So how to "real" reviewers do it? Phew.

You And The Evening Sky

So Alli's new album officially releases tomorrow and I hope that many people get to interact with her words, music, and emotion.

You and the Evening Sky opens with the kind of electone organ drama which is sure to ignite the excitement that any fan of Alli’s is sure to be feeling when they slip this CD into their car or computer. And the record lives up to its beginning.

The songwriting is a bit different than on her other albums which makes me curious about the ways she is evolving as a songwriter- are we seeing a truer voice, simply a movement away from conventionality, the influence of co-writers?

I think the reason I love Ms. Rogers’ songwriting is her strong use of imagery. In the interviews included on the bonus downloads from discrevolt.com Alli and Don discuss their differences as songwriters and Don mentions that Alli is a very visual songwriter. I would be interested to unpack that a little more (because Don Chaffer can conjure an image more realistically than any illusionist) because I think this album is even more poetic than her others. Poetic in the sense that images tell the stories and the songs are further stripped of narration than some of her previous. I think this works in varying degrees; it really works on “How Long Until We Get There” but (as I have already discussed ad nauseum) I think it detracts in “New Today.”

Not to say her songs are spastic leaps from vision to vision- some have explicit narrative progression (“Baby I Believe in You”) and my favorite marriage of ecstatic imagery and clear narrative has to be “Things We Can and Cannot Keep.”

I wanted to display some snippets of image but perusing the lyrics I’m delighted to say I don’t think it works to pull them out of context- this is so pleasing because it makes me feel like these songs are really tightly woven. In the interview with Don she talks a lot about the emotions poured into the songs and evoked in their completion and I think that gets more to the core of Alli’s songs- they resonate in ways that are abundant, the way the word “sun” barely captures the thing that warms and enlivens our planet, the way “wind” scarcely covers the phenomenon both of a warm and gentle caress of air and also the destructive power that can rip buildings apart and trees up by the roots.

I've been mulling over this record for a few weeks now and the more I listen to it the more I like it. It's artistic, thoughtful, and it's poetry continues to impress me more the more I get to engage it.

Carry A Light: Firstly, I want to know if the line about a ,i>gift on the riverbank is a reference to Moses or if I am (as usual) reading too much into it.

I love the images and ideas here, it's like skipping stones across water and ripples in the same way. I can't help but think of Galadriel's phial for Frodo, the dark places in all of our lives and how to bring the light there, I love the memory of this song. Also the hopefulness- that's what light is, right?!

Don't Wash Your Hands of Me: I like the narrative of this song; it's sort of ambiguous and I like that. Also! Includes a section of "lalalaladada"s that I like. The lyric that stands out is I don't need you to feel my pain/I just need you to know my name. I also appreciate the boldness of saying I am innocence and I am truth.

Closer to the Moon: Besides being on my own Buechner kick which makes me appreciate this song, I like the conversational tone. It's full of strong imagery and word choice, when the silence gets accusing, the word "accuse" just has such heft to it.

I like the stars as a sign, the way the music in the song changes- it actually reminds me of some of Don's songs, I love the way it sort of wanders. I love the building background vocals of a kind of chanting, I love the piano interlude, I like the lack of words following the questioning and gives the listener time to respond.

At Sea: As a FL girl living in two different COLD places these past few years I love the bend of the song- it reminds me of A Severe Mercy, there are some great adjectives and turns of phrase.

This was another song that was on the live album but immediately I noticed the SWEET addition of mandolin! I'm a total sucker. :)

Things We Can and Cannot Keep: WHAT WILL SHINE LIKE GOLD WHEN THE STORY'S TOLD- that is a great lyric and such a beautiful, important statement. We all are so starved for meaning- this is where I want Buechner's journey to have an influence. It's a great song of self-discovery. I like the homage to Tim O'Brien and the strangeness of what we end up keeping- what shines like gold retrospectively. To take the analogy further it tends to be the times where, as Christians, we might say we are bing "refined," always a surprise.

PLUS, the writing is so tight! The line breaks are so well engineered, I also like the musing spirit, in a way. WHY ARE THESE THINGS THE ONES WE KEEP? I like the combo of question and answer, authority and apprenticeship.

I Caught Sight: I love to come to songs like these!! It REALLY CAPTURES the joy of unexpected glimpses of divinity, childlike in a way; delighted. I like the bits of vocal padding- it really is working. The vocals have a splendid exuberance to them.

Baby I Believe in You: My only complaint about this song is that it is totally MARRED by the "boys" making fun of it on the bonus sections! :) I think I like the use of the word "sexy" in songs like this (see Derek Webb). I love the idea of being led into the sea, something is great in that.

More sweet mandolin. And Alli's brother (Michael?) does a great job on percussion. I also like the you're a good man. I want to pray that part alone over so many of my brothers- I deeply appreciate the underlying confidence in the song.

How Long Until We Get There: This song is downright seductive. In the best way possible; a great example of Alli's emotional vocal range. I love the simile, head bowed like a child reciting grace.

I'm not always like this/I can't always find something this good

As an artist, I LOVE that line, for some reason that lyric just condenses this whole song- it's so HEADY, the strings take it over the top.

Come Now, My Love: I'm really into the use of the first person in this song- something about the perspective is slightly different and challenging.

there's nothing to keep you from me

...it sort of changes the perspective as an invitation not an invasion. It's a genuine love (agape) song, I like that I feel it could be about marriage or Jesus could be sweetly singing this into each of our hearts.

Go listen.

Caedmon's Call Review

About two hours into Caedmon’s set on Saturday I glanced over at the friends I was with and their almost-two-year-old Goddaughter was sprawled across their laps fast asleep as Andy and Derek wailed the harmonies of “Hold the Light,” and that moment encapsulates the beauty of the evening for me: the combination of love and familiarity mixed together with new things that fit as if they’ve been long worn in.

As soon as Derek walked on stage and picked up his 12-string to start playing I felt the expectancy in the whole room spill over and wash towards the front and it was like all of that energy was precisely funneled back in the howling acoustics of the songs. I thought Derek nailed his set 100%- reformed theology! wry humor! powerful vocals! intense guitar! convulsive twitches away from the mic! By merit of being a popular favorite I sometimes resent the seeming omnipresence of “Wedding Dress” as part of Derek’s set but hearing it Saturday night the sound was so fresh it was like walking in my homeland, along the Gulf of Mexico at night with the air so full and the pulse of waves at my side, it was that good.

When the “small army that is now Caedmon’s Call” came out together there was a palpable rising of excitement which finally bubbled over when everyone stood up to clap and dance to “Two Weeks in Africa” which was great. I was so happy to be part of a crowd who seemed to feel the joy I did at getting to be a part of this tour- I bought tickets months ago which was just the culmination of my excitement that Derek collaborated on this album at all. My enthusiasm for Derek’s presence noted, Andy Osenga brings something undeniably awesome to the band.- he writes songs that are slightly different for them, he ROCKS and writhes with the guitar, when he hammers on a string you can’t help but take some serious notice, and when he talks he’s hilarious, to boot. As delighted as I was to hear Derek blended with Danielle and Cliff again, the truly thrilling thing for me (on the “Overdressed” album, too of course) was getting to hear Derek and Andy together. I already mentioned the wonder of “Hold the Light” but Andy’s solo set was superb too and made all the more elegant by Derek’s slightly wandering presence stage left nodding along, totally immersed in the music. Not to mention one of the hands-down highlights of the show was the power combo of Andy, Cliff, Danielle, and Derek totally soaring through the harmonies of “Expectations.” So hats off to Andy O.

There were so many other great moments though- there is something so lyrical and primal about Garett on percussion, as someone else noted Josh totally filled in when Derek was doing some crazy multi-tasking after breaking a string on “Faith My Eyes,” it blows my mind to have as much percussion as Caedmon’s does but what would the sound be like without Todd?! A few songs in I started to feel the bass through the pews and have to reiterate my earlier question in regards to Jeff who just manages to make the songs feel so much fuller. I agreed with whoever commented that Danielle seemed under-utilized. Her voice is so much that trademark Caedmon’s sound and I don’t think she actually spoke at all. Someone noted that during their first show Andy seemed to sort of be the extra guitar player on the side and I couldn’t help but feel like Cliff and Danielle didn’t get to carve their unique places. The trio of voices during many of the “old” songs was exhilarating but I would have liked to get more personality coming through. My most outstanding memory of Cliff during the show was his hilarious “transition” to talk about DFN and analogizing the possibility of forgetting the words of “This World” to when your kids run around the corner and you can see in their eyes that they’ve chosen the moment to poop. “Anybody been to India?!”

As others mentioned it was definitely a long set but I was engaged during every song and walked away in disbelief that I only paid $15 for the ticket- who gets a three hour concert for that!? Once again Caedmon’s established LIVE why they have remained one of my favorite bands for the past ten years. Two things would have made that show better (1) SANDRA (2) Far from stoning whoever suggested it, I agree that a song or two off of “Long Line of Leavers” (which I still maintain is their most underrated record!) would have rounded out the set- we’re not all married and settled yet!

Overall, though, left me thoughtful, joyful, and content- who can ask for more than that?

originally published here