Perhaps I’m a little behind on this news, but I sort of stumbled across a solo album by uber worship songwriter Marty Sampson on iTunes. It is really an EP, called Let Love Rule, and can be listened to in its entirety at http: //www.MartySampson.net.
Marty, as may not be aware, is the writer of the string of hits such as God is Moving, Seeking You, All Day, Carry Me, King of Majesty, Now That You’re Near (one of my personal favorites to lead), Son of God (with Lincoln Brewster!), To The Ends of the Earth, Tell the World, Look to You, What the World Will Never Take, All I Need Is You, There Is Nothing Like, For Who You Are, Take It All, Came To My Rescue (makes me weep like a baby), My Future Decided, Saviour King, and at least about 40 more that have probably worked their way into your ears.
After Fred McKinnon and Travis Paulding posted about the new Hillsong 2007 conference vid, I called Fred and said it would be so cool if Marty would release a solo album, just like fellow Hillsong writer Reuben Morgan did a few years back with World Through Your Eyes. Imagine my surprise to search iTunes and find that Marty has the album out, but he didn’t exactly follow Reuben’s lead conceptually. After I got past the eerie feeling that Keane and Coldplay might be looking at some competition in the pop charts, I just sat back and enjoyed the music.
For the record, I’ve had a mancrush on Marty since Hillsong’s For This Cause album. The man can sing. For my other mancrush, please see McKendree Tucker, a friend from town that came down from Nashville to play at the benefit concert for Brooke and I two weeks ago. Check out his new project, Kid Fits Logic. So Beautiful is so beautiful. I hope he remembers the little people when he’s touring the world. Leave us some tickets at WILL CALL, please. Chris Moncus and I joke about starting his fan club site. It could happen.
I’ve been playing guitar for over 15 years and if there is one thing that drives me completely nuts it would have to be the addiction that musicians have with gear. Whatever we have right now is typically never enough. I’ve gone through a dozen guitars and half a dozen amps over the years but I’ve reached a point where I’m less concerned with impressing my contemporaries with my latest greatest gadget and more interested in contributing the closest aural presence that a band leader is envisioning for the song.
As you might have noticed in the picture above, I’m a Strat guy. Right now, I’m a one Strat guy, but I would love to have something that could serve dual roles and be a backup for my #1, preferably an American Standard with piezo saddles and a stereo output, for those moments when I want the acoustic sound but can’t justify lugging my Gibson around.
See what I mean? Gear addict. Me wants more.
I’ve had a Gibson SG for backup in the past, but that was sold during a lean period to pay bills. In dreaming of its replacement, I started thinking recently about all the excellent guitars that I’ve parted ways with in an effort to please my insatiable hunger for gear. One guitar in particular that I miss greatly is a mid 90’s seafoam green Peavey Predator that I picked up at a local pawn shop. This guitar is a perfect example of how overlooked Peavey has been over the years. It was setup better than most Strats that I’ve played, the stock pickups were hot and crisp, but that wasn’t enough. Despite the advise of local guitar hero Jim Mason, who is now a Nashville session guitarist, I swapped the pickups for Fender Texas Specials. These are the pickups I so loved in the Fender SRV guitar that I’d sold in 1999 to buy my wife’s engagement ring, a decision I don’t regret. Add to the Peavey an lsr roller nut and custom wiring, and you’ve got one hot axe. That I sold for $120 a year later. ‘Cause I’m stupid.
Now I have my eyes on a Fender Jeff Beck model and I see how I could have saved myself the trouble and just kept what worked best and stopped trying to show off my gear.
Musicians, unlike construction workers, like to make the very mistaken connection between name brand hardware and skill. How many people do you know that throw $2,500 at a Gibson Les Paul when an Epiphone would do (with or without a pickup upgrade)? When a construction worker goes to buy a tool, he evaluates the needs of the job, the cost, the quality of the tool, and how long its useful life will be.
One of the most famous examples of backwards thinking would be that of Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstein guitar, which, depending on the accuracy of the story, cost him less than $200 to build and netted him MILLION$ due to his investment in wood shedding (meaning, committing to learning technique while blocking out distractions). Eddie has teamed up with Fender to produce a $25,000 replica of said $200 guitar. It is worth looking at that from a spiritual perspective, because the same type of logic has been produced in the church. Imagine the Sermon on the Mount reframed as the Sermon in the Megachurch Convention Center. My mind is all over the map on that one, so I’ll digress…
I’m learning to be satisfied with less and accomplish the mission at the least possible cost. I hope that my guitar bling doesn’t come to the point of impressing people more than my guitar skill does in the same way that I hope that the church building doesn’t impress people more than the message of the Church does. Europe has some of the most impressive church buildings in the world. They sit empty. Hopefully the American Church isn’t headed in the same direction.
There is something very surreal about paying to see a pastor speak. Some of the more cynical folks out there feel that way about church in general, but I’m speaking specifically about paying Ticket Master the equivalent of a Maroon 5 fare to sit and listen to Rob Bell teach. My wife and I are getting stoked about driving down to Orlando’s Hard Rock Live next month for Rob’s “The God’s Aren’t Angry” tour.
For the record, this isn’t a new feeling for us. Last year, we traveled to Jacksonville to hear him speak on his “Everything Is Spiritual” tour, which will soon be released on DVD. That night, we sat on the edge of our seats through 2 hours of very intense teaching. The DVD will be shorter, but I’m sure the editors know what they’re doing. If it had been up to me, I would have taken a 30 minute break to hit up Burger King and then come back for another 2 hours of teaching.
For the past four years, I have listened to the messages delivered at Mars Hill Bible Church. I’ve tried to get the messages prior to Week 205 01.05.03 The Land of Between by Jeff Manion. No such luck. I called and was told that they are “on tape and need to be digitized.” I’m about ready to drive up there and volunteer, assuming nobody can lead me to a copy online. I’m willing to pay, folks! I’d especially like to get a copy of the very first year’s study of Leviticus, crazy as that sounds.
Many of you listen to sermon podcasts. Maybe even Jeff Manion’s over at Ada Bible Church. Who’s your favorite?
But I’ve Never Been Unloved. That’s a reference to one of Michael W. Smith’s last albums, Live the Life. It is certainly too soon for us to reminisce his career, because he’s still around, but there are plenty of younger Christian’s that may never become familiar with his music. Some would call that a good thing, but you can’t deny the influence of the CCM pioneers on today’s spiritual music, especially the abundance of worship albums that sound so much like Pearl Jam’s Ten.
On the subject of worship albums, most of my regular readers are aware that I was one of the guitarists in the Worship Under the Stars event held over the past two years on Jekyll Island. I’ll be rejoining some of that team and others in a benefit that is being held in honor of my wife, Brooke, and I. I haven’t been faithful about blogging lately, but I should have brought attention to this event months ago. It’s called Baby Boom and can be checked out at http://www.thebabyjournals.com. Essentially, it is a fundraiser for our “in vitro fertilization” process which will be necessary in order for us to have children.
Fred McKinnon posted a good blog about the show, as did Chris Moncus, and Shannon Lewis, all of whom have been very sacrificing of their time and energy in getting this thing put together. The vision came from our dear friends T.J. and Kim Thompson. I was the only grown man crying like a little girl in Outback the night that they asked for our blessing on the project.
Tomorrow, October 8th, is my 31st birthday. I’m well on my journey away from my twenties, which I’m ok with, but it bugs me that now all of my milestones are measured by tens, meaning, let’s not talk about a party until 40. Goodbye 20’s, hello black balloons in the distance!
I’m actually staring out the window as I type waiting to be picked up by Fred McKinnon, as I was offered the rare opportunity to fill in on lead guitar today at Saint Simons Community Church. Our second car is in the shop, and Brooke certainly doesn’t want to get up at 6:00 today.
On the topic of second cars, please see Nooma - Rich and Shane Claiborne’s Irresistible Revolution. We’re aiming to give up our 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GT Convertible. Just typing that out makes me covet my own stuff.
