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Peter Gabriel, Scratch My Back: If I had to pick one artist above all that I crave listening to, that I wait for new work with baited breath, it would be Peter. Truthfully, no one else comes close. His record So is one of the most important albums of my life. Scratch My Back is a new album of covers, arranged just with orchestration – no drums, no guitars. Very challenging, and very beautiful. There are a couple of songs on here that I knew, but it still took me some time to even recognize them because the arrangements are such a departure from the original recordings. I love it.
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Patty Griffin, Downtown Church: A record of arrangements of classic hymns, this time done by this eternally critically lauded folkie, and produced by the always amazing Buddy Miller. “All Creatures” really knocked me out. If you like Patty or Alison Krauss/Union Station, this record is right up your alley.
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Andy Gullahorn, The Law of Gravity: Andy is probably my favorite songwriter on earth – funny, heartbroken, irreverent, and worshipful all at the same time. I’m typically very much a band guy, but Andy’s arrangements are so supportive of the lyric that I don’t miss that with his music. There are many gems on this record – some that are guaranteed to make you cry, and some that will make you guffaw. I first heard “New Pair of Eyes” at a live show last year with my community group, and 3 of us wept like crazy during the song – it’s the most powerful description of parenthood I’ve ever heard.
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Audra Lynn, Vow: A really challenging, beautiful album, artistically. Audra is part of the International House of Prayer movement, and this record came to me completely from left field – it wasn’t what I expected at all. Definitely not a conventional worship record at all, although the lyrics are almost all straight scripture. I hear a lot of Tori Amos’ influence here, and Audra is not afraid of dynamic shifts or changes in time signatures at all. This may not be for everyone, but I love, love, love it.
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Melanie Penn, Wake Up Love: I first read about this record at rabbitroom.com, a website/community put together by Andrew Peterson & his buddies in the Square Peg Alliance. It was recommended there, and I wholeheartedly agree – this is amazing stuff, especially for a debut album. It’s an interesting mix of Nashville singer/songwriter and eclectic pop, and it was produced by Ben Shive, who has become one of my favorite musicians on the planet.
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The Rocketboys, Live at Antone's: I kept seeing live cuts from this performance from Antone’s on METV, the local music channel, and they just kept growing on me. I think this sounds like what local instrumental group Explosions in the Sky would sound like if they added vocals to their work. High energy, but also really ethereal in a way that this boy from the 80s loves. And Phil Ellis (who now plays with Aaron Ivey @ the Austin Stone, and who makes his own drums, for goodness sakes!) is really, really outstanding.
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Ben Shive, The Ill-Tempered Klavier: Ben is a first call session player and arranger in Nashville for the vast majority of CCM folks, and he's worked with virtually every one of my favorite singer-songwriters in Nashville. All of them love him, and all of them said to get this record, so I did . . . and it blew me away. Amazing songs about the Church, about marriage, about fatherhood. This is wonderful stuff. You can also get it at rabbitroom.com, a site you should check out.
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