Christian Musician Magazine - Sep/Oct 2015

Improving Musicianship | Inspiring Talent

Benji & Jenna Cowart: Return to Nashville

Guitar Review Faith’s Hi-Gloss Venus FVHG-HEX Acoustic Guitar

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Toby Mac Josh Wilson Jon Foreman Burlap to Cashmere JJ Heller Cheri Keaggy

Product Reviews w w w w

Takamine P1D

Boss ES-8 Jamstik+ Nord Stage 2 EX The Mighty Minnie by Demeter Amps

Baker’s Dozen Tips for Independent Christian Artists by Keith & Sue Mohr

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Shure QLX-D.........$107200 disengaged. fader to control authentic-lookin instruments to are excellent, fader to about the cabinets, the master volume and handsmaster volume cost-effective alternatives to traditional More info on pg. 63 Set thewireless wooden As you go, adjust wireless systems. that matches free convenience. instrument overall level.

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CONTENTS Setting the Record Straight When I was a young teenager my dear mother gave me $6.00 every 2 weeks for allowance. I would go to the local record store (there were a lot of them back then, large chain stores and local mom and pop shops) and buy 2 records (they were $2.99 each). I would play them on the family stereo system. There was something to reading the liner notes and looking at the record covers while listening to the music. Plus the words were readable! Have you ever tried reading CD liner notes? Also, now in the digital world many folks just cherry pick the “hits’ from a new recording and miss out on the “album flow” intended my the artist and producer. Some artists back in the day wanted to take you on a journey as you listened to Side A and then Side B. At this rate by record collection started to grow. Then as I turned 16 and got a car (a blue 1966 Dodge Dart… again, thanks to my Mom, it was her car) it opened up the door for me to get a job after school. As the pay checks started to come in the first thing I did was buy a stereo system for my bedroom. Now that was hitting the big time! A brand new system and my records sounded even better. Oddly enough, the second thing I purchased was an 8 Track player for my car (OK, you can stop the old guy jokes now). So now both vinyl records and 8 tracks began to start piling up.

Then as I got married and started having kids CD’s hit the scene and record collections began getting harder and harder to pack up and move around with. I had become a Christian too and some of the records weren’t the right content for me to listen to. I remember packing them all up one day and selling them to a used record store for grocery money to feed the family. God provides and I was grateful for it then.

Now fast forward 30 years and I wish I had sold only about one fourth of those records, as many of them were really good ones that also were the sound track of my life back then. So, I have been buying vinyl again. I found a few goldmine garage sales and now have what Judy would only describe as “too many” records. Ha! She does like listening to them with me though so there is a happy balance there somewhere.

Some of the new Christian recordings are coming out in vinyl again now too. I used to manage a Christian record store back in the day myself so this is encouraging. I just heard a report that vinyl sales are up 52% over last year in the mainstream marketplace and it is not just the baby boomers like me revisiting vinyl, it is millennial that are contributing to the resurgence in sales. I welcome this reverting back to analog over digital. To me, analog just has more soul. Some of these records I have reacquired are like old friends when I listen to them.

Another off shoot of this resurgence in vinyl will be the Continued on page 46

Features 8 Product Review

by Bruce Adolph Faith’s Hi-Gloss Venus FVHGHEX Acoustic Guitar 10 Bassic Communication

by Norm Stockton Fun Bass Grooves (Part 5) 12 Guitar Workshop

by John Standefer Guitar Instead of Piano?

14 Drumming Dynamics

by David Owens “Over the bar line” Paradiddles 16 Vocal Coach’s Corner

by Roger Beale Singing is More Than Just Breathing!

18 The Groove of Grace

by Rick Cua Haywire 25 Taking the Stage

by Tom Jackson Wow! There are Giants in the Land!

26 Selective Hearing

by Shawn McLaughlin Toby Mac Josh Wilson Jon Foreman Burlap to Cashmere JJ Heller Cheri Keaggy 30 Product Review

by Michael Hodge BOSS ES-8 Effects Switching System 32 Product Review

by Eric Dahl Jamstik+ Practice on the Go!

34 Product Review

by Doug Doppler Nord Stage 2 EX 36 The Indie Mechanics

by Keith Mohr & Sue Ross-Mohr Baker’s Dozen Tips for Independent Christian Artists 38 Guitar From A 2 Z

by Roger Zimish Summer NAMM Top 3 on a Budget 39 Product Review

by Jack Mao The Mighty Minnie by Demeter Amplification 42 Good For the Soul

by Bryan Duncan Missing the Downbeat 44 CODA

by Bob Bennett Dateline: The Pasture

Interview

20 Benji & Jenna Cowart: Return to Nashville

by Bruce Adolph cover photo by Sarah J. Bridgeman

4227 S. Meridian, Suite C PMB #275, Puyallup Washington 98373

Adolph Agency Direct Line: 253.445.1973 Fax: 888.391.4440 Email: bruce@christianmusician.com Website: www.christianmusician.com Editor & President: Bruce Adolph VP/Office Manager: Judy Adolph, judy@christianmusician.com Customer Service: Brian Felix, brianfelix@christianmusician.com, 888.391.4440 x.1 Street Team: Mike Adolph, Jesse Hill & Winston Design & Layout: Matt Kees Director of Advertising: Steve Sattler, steve@creativesalesresource.com 626-836-3106 ©2015 Published by the Adolph Agency Inc.

CHRISTIANMUSICIAN.COM

SEP/OCT 2015

7

PRODUCT REVIEW

by bruce adolph

Faith’s Hi-Gloss Venus FVHG-HEX Acoustic Guitar

You gotta’ have Faith! Well, actually this is a different type of faith I speak of here in this product review.

It is a brand of guitar that is designed in the United Kingdom by Patrick James Eggle (they have been around for 13 years now) and expertly built by a family run guitar-making plant in Indonesia. But after you read about the quality materials used to build this guitar, whom their employees are that build it and the end result of the sound of this instrument… then the price – well, you might just echo my words and say, “I gotta’ have Faith!”

I met marketi manager Faith at S u m m

the ng of the e r

NAMM Show in Nashville (Steve Greenfield) and we hit it off immediately. I told him I already knew that Faith guitars out of England was not meant to be a Christian company but that their name still worked good for our Christian musician readers and that a believer could look at it as his personal statement regardless of what the company brand is. Steve turns out to be a Christian (he even plays lead guitar in worship at his church).

I told him the type of guitar that fits well for our folks was a smaller body cutaway with a solid spruce top and he replied that we have to try the auditorium sized Hi-Gloss Venus FVHG-HEX model. When it arrived at our headquarters I pulled the nice hardshell case out of the shipping box and was surprised to see this beautiful guitar in it. After pulling it out I was even more surprised to find that is set up correctly right out of the plant. The fretboard plays effortlessly. Even with a signature of the person who set it up on the fact sheet card that dangles from the tuners.

Like I said, Faith guitars are designed across the pond in England and crafted in a workshop in Indonesia that is a family run business that employs 80 trained staff. Each member of staff receives 5 months training before being allowed onto the workshop floor and – with a national heritage of craftsmanship - the majority are all graduates of the West Java woodworking colleges. They have very high staff retention, as not only are they highly trained, but they work in a pleasant environment and have all the kind of rights that we would expect… regular breaks, an hour lunch, working from 8am till 5pm with holidays off etc. This isn’t a sweatshop and the proof is in the pudding.

The top, back and sides of each guitar are cut and molded in the traditional way using bandsaws, and then heat and water for bending. The curve-cut lining and bracing is cut in-house, by hand. The bracing is positioned and glued by hand. The top, back and sides are hand glued and clamped. The binding and purfling are hand positioned, glued and taped. The necks are hand sanded and contoured and are Faith’s bolt on design (hand drilled, hand bolted and fixed). Fingerboard fret slots are cut by machine, but hand glued, hand

8

SEP/OCT 2015

CHRISTIANMUSICIAN.COM

positioned and hand fretted. And like I said, each guitar is setup and tested before leaving the workshop in Indonesia and then re-checked again before heading to the stores in England where Faith is a known brand and now here… being introduced to the United States for the first time.

This Venus sounds solid; looks solid. Good strong bass, clear mid range and bright highs.

All in all, a very good tone (with some airy resonance to it that I love) and sharp looking… coming in at a low price tag. $1,149.00 Street.

Why does it sound so good you ask? How bout a solid European Englemann Spruce top (lacquered finish), solid Indonesian Rosewood back and sides (hi-gloss finish), quartersawn scalloped spruce bracing, one piece Indonesian mahogany bolt-on designed neck, Macassar Ebony fretboard (feels great on your fingertips), a two way truss rod, Grover tuners with Ebony buttons and a Tusq nut and saddle.

Wow – no wonder why this guitar sounds so good… it has quality parts with hands on attention to detail.

What about the electronics? Faith has prevailed here as well. The Venus FVHG-HEX is fitted with Shadow’s L4020 HEX system.

The L4020-Hex is a stereo pickup system.

The undersaddle HEX pickup is a Nanoflex model, but has a single strip with 6 individual pickup elements. This pickup is matched to the preamp, which has all the regular controls you would expect, plus a tuner. But… it also has individual trim levels for each string, and a ‘pan’ control. When using a stereo ‘Y’ cable (stereo jack to 2 x mono jacks) the output of the guitar spreads the 6 strings across the stereo spectrum. In plain English – that means big sound! When using a regular mono guitar cable, it works just like a regular guitar.

So there you have it… I vote this Venus the best acoustic guitar quality build out there (with a finish that is second to none) for a little over $1000… all made in an ethical workshop environment.

Go play one today… you might find that you just gotta’ have Faith!

List price is $1,429.00 Street/MAP $1,149.00 In the US http://www.connollymusic.com/ faith-guitars-available-in-the-usa and also http://www.faithguitars.com for more general info.

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BASSIC COMMUNICATION

by norm stockton

Fun Bass Grooves (Part 5) I hope this series so far has been helpful in illuminating different ideas for creating your own bass lines!

By the way, profuse apologies that an incorrect chart appeared in the last issue; this chart for “Everyday”, the Hillsong United classic, should have been published with the article last time. Sorry for the confusion!

In today’s installment, we’ll be looking at one of my favorite lines from the live con-

certs I did with Lincoln Brewster for many years. It’s the bass part I played during the guitar solo/breakdown in “Let The Praises Ring” and involves a bit of unison playing with the lead guitar.

notes in bar 5.

A couple things to note: The guitar figure was played using open strings, so is quite a bit easier to play than on the bass…but we aren’t going to let that stop us, right? :^)

As you can see in the chart, the bass pedals a low E during the first 3 measures of the guitar solo, then slides up and doubles the fourth bar up high. It then immediately shifts down an octave for more unison 16th-

The passage in bars 3 and 4 that is indicated as “8va” should be played an octave higher than written (refer to the tablature)—so look

Bassic Communication Fun Bass Grooves (Part 4) Joel Houston "All to You...Live" CD (Integrity Music)

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ahead to anticipate those very quick register shifts.

Strive to play these 16th notes as evenly as possible; if doubling a guitar player playing Linc’s solo, their shifts will require minimal gymnastics…so strive to make your line have the evenness and apparent ease of the guitar part (it’s always cool when difficult bass passages can be phrased well enough that listeners can’t tell that it’s a finger-buster!).

energy and interplay without being distracting or overtly showy. I encourage you to experiment with weaving these sorts of moments into your playing as the musical context allows. Again, there aren’t usually right vs. wrong choices, but rather, more effective and less effective ones…so ensure that you are utilizing your best discernment and “producer ears” whenever you’re thinking of going down this road!

(Note-for-note video bass tutorials for this and many of Lincoln Brewster’s tunes are available at ArtOfGroove.com) Norm Stockton is a bassist/ clinician/solo artist based in Orange County, CA. Following his long tenure as bassist with Lincoln Brewster, Norm has been focused on equipping bassists around the world through his instructional site (www.ArtOfGroove.com), as well as performing or recording with several Grammy winning artists. His book, The Worship Bass Book, is published by Hal Leonard. Also visit Norm at www.normstockton.com, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Happy woodshedding & see you next time!

I always enjoyed this unison interaction with Linc in concerts; it added a fun bit of

Blessings- Norm

Bassic Communication Fun Bass Grooves (Part 5) Bass Line - Live Version (During Guitar Solo) from "Let The Praises Ring"

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GUITAR WORKSHOP

by john standefer

Guitar Instead of Piano?

Here is something that occasionally happens in church, especially in smaller churches. The hope is to always have at least one pianist, organist, guitarist, bassist and drummer on hand for every service (hopefully a more expanded mix of electric and acoustic guitars, hand percussion, synth, brass, woodwinds and strings as well). However...

I’ve been in churches where there are 5 guitar players and a trombonist - and that’s it! Even when you have a piano player, there are always sick days and vacations to deal with. The point is that if you’re the guitarist and there is no piano, you have to figure out how to be the pianist on piano-centered tunes. A contemporary example is 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman, which is typically driven by piano. There is a piano intro and, in some versions, a short solo midway through the tune that are particularly important to the arrangement. In a case like this, you need to be able to pull those piano parts out of your guitar. You have to figure out the melody line and the chord progression and put something together that works - something like this...

Check out John’s 5-DVD set ‘Praise Guitar Lessons’ at the ‘store’ page at www.johnstandefer. com. You get 52 video lessons similar to these CM articles, but you can see and hear the lessons!

Includes charts. Also consider private lessons with John via Skype!

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DRUMMING DYNAMICS

by david owens

“Over the bar line” paradiddles Last time we looked at a few roll strokes rudiments and played them in an “over the bar line” style. This time around let’s take paradiddles and do the same concept to them.

In all these exercises I wrote the traditional way of playing a paradiddle at first, and then wrote the “over the bar line” way afterwards.

It is very important to play these with a metronome. Make sure to tap both feet to quarter notes to begin with. Once you get comfortable doing that you can play all sorts

of different foot patterns underneath these paradiddles. Try a bossa nova, samba, or songo foot pattern to make it more challenging. You can also play rim shots for the accented notes if you play them on a snare drum.

I hope you find these rudiments challenging and a practical way to improve your independence. Till next time.

David

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David freelances in and around Los Angeles and is currently playing for Franklin Graham events worldwide. He has played with Fernando Ortega, Sara Groves, Bebo Norman, Tommy Walker, Lincoln Brewster, Thomas Dolby, The Righteous Brothers and Peter White as well as spending 2 plus years playing The Lion King at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. He is also an adjunct professor at Biola and Hope International Universities. His home church is Plymouth Congregational in Whittier, CA. Feel free to contact him at DavidOwensDrums.com.

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VOCAL COACH’S CORNER

by roger beale

SINGING IS MORE THAN JUST BREATHING! This summer at my studio, The Voice House, I had some very concerned collegiate students show up for lessons. They were all concerned that their collegiate vocal instructors spent way too much time on breathing and not enough on a complete approach to vocal development. These students were from well-respected and elite schools from all over the country. Every one of them realized that there was more to singing than just breathing. They knew that a vocal coach’s responsibility is to assist singers in singing better. We went to work, and had them ‘balance’ their voice.

To ‘balance’ the voice the singer is asked to take the voice to its extremes and establish an efficient or ‘balanced’ singing technique. The extremes, in regards to the singing function, are called hyper and hypo. Hyper function is having too much effort; hypo function is having too little effort. What the singer needs to discover lies right in the middle. You guessed it, ‘balance’.

The concept of ‘balance’ is used to correct problems in all areas of vocal production, such as posture, breathing, phonation, resonation, and articulation. When addressing these areas, the singer must understand that they can be examined individually, but during that act of singing they function as a unit.

One item affects the other.

To learn how to ‘balance’ the voice one must start with posture. To experience the extreme of hyperness you must over elevate the sternum and rib cage, raise your shoulders, tuck in the chin, and tense the back muscles. It will look and feel ridiculous. Now try the opposite, hyponess. This is called slumping.

Cave your sternum and rib cage in, shoulders down, and raise your head. This also looks and feels ridiculous. But this is the way most people go through life. A good friend of mine, who just happens to be one of the country’s leading researchers on commercial, contemporary singing and belt voice techniques, claims that most singers have gotten used to “the pain of bad posture”.

When examining hyper and hypo, a singer must split the difference. This new ‘balance’

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posture will have the sternum and rib cage in a comfortable elevated position. This will get the rib cage off of the lung tissue and will allow the lungs to fill with air fully. This will fix ninety-five percent of your breathing-in problems with that simple adjustment.

use hypo articulation. Choirs usually use hyper articulation in the extreme effort to over enunciate. Remember to try all three kinds until your find a ‘balance’.

The next function is phonation. Hyper phonation is also called ‘pressed’ phonation. It is a too tight closure of the vocal folds. Hypo phonation on the other hand is a too loose closure of the vocal folds. In some instances, this can be called breathy singing.

Keep in mind that when you are working on these exercises you must try to find the extreme so that the ‘balance’ is clearly defined and understood. Remember that all components of singing can be addressed in regards to ‘balance’. Some of these are vibrato, initiation of tone, etc. In the textbook that I use in my vocal pedagogy class at Point University, there is a drill using this hyper/hypo and ‘balance’ approach for vibrato problems. You direct a singer who is struggling with vibrato issues, usually hyper, to imitate a bad opera singer with a horribly wide vibrato. This usually breaks the lesson down into a laugh-fest, but the point is made and the singer finds a ‘balance’ for their vibrato. Finding ‘balance’ serves as a wonderful tool to help singers sound better.

Once again split the difference between the two functions and you will find ‘balance’ or ‘flow’ phonation. This is the efficient function of the vocal folds and results in the most tone for the least effort. Make sure you experiment with the two extremes to find vocal ‘balance’.

A ‘balance’ in all these areas can identify the direction in which you need to go and definitely where you do not need to go. My collegiate singers worked very hard on these fundamental singing techniques this summer and they now sound better. I am very eager to hear from them after the fall semester starts.

Let us now focus in on breathing. To feel the sensation of hyper breathing one must tense and raise the shoulders, over expand the chest and rib cage, then suck air into the lungs with a mighty gasp. Be careful to not hyperventilate. Now let’s hypo breathe. Barely take any air into the lungs. This lack of energy when attempting to breathe does not allow enough air into the lungs to supply the necessary breath pressure for singing.

After phonation is resonation. Simply stated, resonation is the amplification of sound.

Try hyper resonation by singing extreme dark, woofy, and lower frequency sounds. Now try hypo resonation using bright, thin, treble dominate sounds. A ‘balance’ in resonation uses both bright and dark tonal qualities together. To describe this ‘balance’ the Italians use a term called chiaroscuro (bright/dark).

The resonation that is shaped in the throat, mouth, and nasal cavities (“Uh-oh, Ethel, he said nasal”) leads us right to articulation.

Articulation is described as creating intelligent language. Hyper articulation can be described as overly done. To experiment with this, try singing a song with every syllable and consonant overly pronounced. It won’t sound natural! Hypo articulation consists of slurred, sloppy, or unintelligent pronunciation. Blues singers and most rock singers

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Now go sing well!

Roger Beale has been writing the Vocal Coach’s Corner for over sixteen years. He is one of the nation’s foremost vocal coaches. He presently works with professional singers in all areas of musical performance.

His teaching and coaching facility, The Voice House, is involved in the management and care of the professional voice.

Many of his students have won prestigious vocal competitions and scholarships. In addition, he has worked with Grammy and Dove award winners and nominees. He also offers vocal clinics and seminars, as well as assistance in recording sessions. Roger is an adjunct professor in the Fine Arts department at Point University (formerly Atlanta Christian College), website: www.point.edu. Roger can be contacted at: The Voice House, 1029 Peachtree Parkway, Suite 276, Peachtree City, GA 30269, (404) 822-5097, e-mail: rbeale251@gmail.com.

s ’ n o t s n i W & e c u r B

GUITARS FOR SALE

1975 Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar - Classic Black Fender Strat with Maple neck just as Clapton liked it. 9.5 mint condition with original case! $2,950

1971 Martin D-35 Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar Spruce top with rosewood three piece back & sides. Comes with original hardshell case. Sounds big and full like a Martin should! $2,750.00

(buyer is responsible for shipping and insurance expenses on any guitar purchases)

If you have a vintage guitar that you’d like to sell please contact me, maybe we can work something out...

Interested? Contact Bruce Adolph ~ 253.445.1973 / bruceadolph@mac.com

1980’s Guild D25 12 String Acoustic Guitar Beautiful 12 string Guild.

Comes with original hardshell case. Top shows some pulling due to time. Action is really good on this one - rich tone too! $1,095.00

If you call on the phone, ask for Bruce… because Winston is one tough negotiator!

THE GROOVE OF GRACE

by rick cua

HAYWIRE When life seems to go crazy, feels like it’s barely manageable, and everything has sprung into a big mess...it’s gone haywire!

Funny how that expression quietly snuck into my speech at a very young age and hasn’t left yet. Sometimes the tangled situation resembles fishing line backlashing on your old bait caster when you failed to stop the motion of the spool with your thumb before your lure hit the water. But, sometimes your conundrum is really bad, like spools and spools of ornery wire wound under tension springing into an uncontrollable snarl. What ever it is, it’s no fun.

I was maybe 7 years old when my Uncle Joe brought a very cool Italian made electric car home. I can remember riding that thing up and down the sidewalk like I was on some twisty road in the Dolomites with a flat top cap and a red scarf flying behind me in the wind. One day my friend Danny came by and, with every bit of wide eyed sugared up kid passion, convinced me that we should take the electric motor out and replace it with a gas motor so we could have a real race car. Well, I bought the idea and pretty soon we were pulling parts out of that car left and right. We used a few appropriate tools, but whenever the removal of something gave us a problem we went for the hammer, which, by the way, became our favorite. By the time we were done there were mangled parts big and small everywhere. You should have been there when my dad came home. He took a look, and I’m sure with great restraint said, “You boys better put that thing back together.”

Danny and I stood there, hammers in hand, totally stumped. It’s one thing when things go haywire on their own, but we authored this one. Putting it back together wasn’t an option, but it was a lesson learned.

When things go haywire it can be an annoyance, but when people go haywire it can be a tragedy. From time to time in our marriage counseling, Diana and I come across a spouse that, well, goes a bit crazy. This phe18

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nomenon is not gender specific. Diana calls it an alien abduction, as if they got hijacked to the space ship and came back looking like themselves, but a totally different person.

Pulling them back to center is something only God can do. 1 Corinthians 14:33 reminds us that God isn’t the author of confusion. It’s like they became disconnected to God...even though He was still with them they were no longer listening and confusion set in.

So what do we do when things like this happen to those we love? How do we help untangle the mess? The first thing to always remember is that our counsel needs to be wrapped in genuine love and kindness or it will fall on deaf ears. People who are in trouble and have walked away from God’s way have already tuned out anything that would hinder them from continuing on their broken path.

Romans 2:4 says, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” It’s easy for our concern to turn to anger, and that’s one of the many cards the enemy plays when we are trying to undo his evil work in the life of another. Remember, he holds a full deck of deception...that’s his job and nobody does it better. We need to meditate on God’s word while taking every thought captive that would slow down the reconciliation process.

We have to know the enemy’s schemes and not let any of them cloud our focus.

Many times one word, facial expression, or body language can shatter the peace and pit one person against another. This is especially true if 2 people are alike. In this situation phrases like “Take the high road” or “ Be the better person” are the motivators that we hope we all would adopt. For some it’s easy, but for others this healing posture seems to butt up against our fighting nature.

The enemy deceives us into thinking that winning a fight at any cost is the goal. One person gone haywire is bad enough, but two

CHRISTIANMUSICIAN.COM

makes the reconciliation trickier and longer to manifest.

It takes two to fight, but if one is unwilling there’s a better chance that things will improve. The timing on this is so unpredictable; it’s actually all over the map. Healing and reconciliation depend on how deep the wound, how far the root of deception has burrowed in, and how quickly people will turn their hearts back to God. Many know the truth and that the truth will set them free, but the human condition provides a counterfeit sense of freedom by exercising our free will to do whatever we want.

Sometimes the person that went haywire isn’t even willing to engage with anyone about what they think. In that case we ramp up our prayer and, in the case of the believer, trust God that the good work He began will be completed. Regarding an unbeliever, we pray and believe that the good work will begin with a heart change. Prayer isn’t a last resort. It should be engaged always. Praying without ceasing is critical for ALL we do... for everything!

Speaking of prayer, my prayer for all of us is that our ‘haywire’ is nothing more than benign annoyances and mild frustrations. And, better yet, let’s pray that our only knowledge of haywire is the ornery stuff they use to bale hay. So carry on...love God and love others...there’s no greater mission!

Not just a musical artist, Rick knows the business of music as well. Besides being a music publisher, artist manager and booking agent, he founded and ran his own record label, UCA Records, in the 1990s which led to a position for five and 1⁄2 years as Vice President, Creative/ Copyright Development at EMI CMG in Nashville. There he managed a large songwriter roster and exponentially grew revenue through film and TV licensing, song promotion and print music development. He is currently on staff as the minister of Pastoral Care and Visitation at Grace Chapel in Franklin, TN.

Benji & Jenna Cowart: Return to Nashville

photo by Sarah J. Bridgeman

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CMS Northeast photo by Bob Hardick

When I first met Benji and Jenna Cowart they were hosting our first Christian Musician Summit in Buffalo, NY at the church where they led worship - The Chapel at Crosspoint. I knew I was going to like these guys a lot when I went into Benji’s office and saw a pair of numchucks hanging on the wall with Bruce Lee’s image on them.

When I asked him why the numchucks, he stated with his wry smile, “Oh, those are for the next person that walks in here and complains about the worship here at the church.” That was an endearing comment and I knew we would be fast friends. Meet Benji and Jenna Cowart...

CM: Benji, most singer songwriters dream of moving to Nashville, You and Jenna both grew up in Nashville. Tell us how you got started in music?

Benji Cowart: We did both grow up in Nashville and we even met at Belmont University (I was a Music Business Major and Jenna was a Commercial Music Major) thinking that we would stay in Nashville…

but it wasn’t until about 13 years after leaving Nashville did any doors open for us. God always has an interesting way of telling the story and called us to spend 15 years in vocational ministry serving in churches all over the country as worship pastors. It was through songs that we had written for the church we were serving for that God began to open the doors and open our hearts to the thought of moving back to Nashville.

Jenna Cowart: I have been singing my whole life and always loved the stage. I was one of those singing receptionists in Nashville… working at a publishing company in country music and they found out I sang so I started doing some demos. I had no set plan or track that I was on but did envision myself on stage somehow. I did not become a Christian until my senior year of college, which is when I began being part of a team, leading worship for a youth group in town. I loved doing studio work, performing live, and I loved singing country music; however, God began to re-shape all those desires and here I am using my gifts in a way I didn’t ever expect and I am grateful… and I am grateful I get to share that with Benji.

CM: How did you two meet?

Benji: We both went to college at Belmont University and Jenna and I met in a choreographed performance group at Belmont. When Jenna saw me crush the choreography to Michael Jackson’s thriller, she knew I was the one.

Jenna: Actually, we were paired as a couple for a dance number where he had to pick me up and do some sort of swing thing, so I think he envisioned us dancing like that in our living room one day, and he knew I was the girl… you decide (laughing).

CM: You actually left Nashville to pursue a music career, how did that come about?

Benji: Well, it was more like dying to my music career when we left Nashville but we felt called to go into music ministry so in many ways, it felt like we were leaving the whole Nashville dream on the altar. I had no idea that God just was going to use our season of serving churches all over the country as a way to prepare me for the dream that I thought I had died to. But as I said earlier, God has a funny way of telling the

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story. I honestly don’t think I was ready to be a songwriter when I came out of college.

Nashville is a very first impression centered town so, though I might have gotten some doors open right out of college, I was not ready to keep those doors open. Having spent 15 years serving the local church and just walking through life with the people that make up the church, I am now more able to write prayers of worship in a language and melody that they are more likely to embrace.

CM: When did you realize that you had a shot at being a songwriter for Christian Artists?

Benji: Ha! Well… I’m not sure if I have realized that yet. I think more than anything, I began to feel restless in my calling as a full time worship leader and after spending a couple years really praying through it with my pastor in Buffalo, NY. I began to sense that I was being called into a new vocation and season of my life. Any time somebody would say “God used you when you “___________”, the blank for me was always songwriting and I felt led to go ahead and leverage all of my working hours towards the thing that God really seemed to

be using.

In the midst of that two year season of praying, I was writing songs like Redeemed and The Only Name that were starting to get some attention beyond the walls of the church I was serving in Buffalo. So by the time we made the jump, there was enough momentum and even financial flow that, though we were still jumping off the cliff of faith, we were responsibly aiming for the deep end.

CM: How did Redeemed come about?

Benji: Redeemed came from the place that I’m beginning to believe most great songs come from… an honest conversation. One of the craziest things about Redeemed is that it was the first time Mike Weaver and I had ever written together. We had met over coffee on one of my trips to Nashville and we had a lot in common, so we decided we’d give co-writing a try. So over Skype a few weeks later, we got together and for the first hour we just talked about some of the stuff we were walking through. The more we talked, the more we began to realize how important it was to understand our identity in Christ.

Mike already had part of the chorus written and so from there we just filled in the blanks of the identity that Jesus has paid a high cost to give us. Once the song was finished, I think we both knew that if that message was so important for he and I to get, then there was a good chance that there were a lot of people in the church at large that needed to get it too.

CM: How did your adoption come about and how has that transition been with expanding your family?

Benji: Jenna and I from early on in our marriage both kind of knew that we would adopt at some point, we just didn’t know when. Three amazing kids and a few years later, Jenna went on a mission trip in 2012 to Sierra Leone, Africa with an organization (LTLOL.com) based out of our church that focuses on digging fresh water wells. LTLOL had also built an orphanage in one of the villages where they had dug a well and Jenna “just happened” to be on the trip when they opened the orphanage. So on opening day, a little 3 year old girl named Fodie (pronounced foody) was dropped off with nothing but the clothes on her back. Jenna

photo by Sarah J. Bridgeman

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photo by Sarah J. Bridgeman

felt an instant connection to her but at the time, the village chief did not want children being adopted out of the orphanage so adoption really wasn’t an option. Jenna came back from the mission trip and she couldn’t get Fodie off of her mind. So a little less than a year later, Jenna went on another trip to Sierra Leone with the same organization to see if that connection was legitimate or was it just a emotional mission trip thing.

The connection was still there but they still weren’t allowing adoptions out of the orphanage. It wasn’t until after we moved to Nashville in 2013 that we got news that there was an opportunity to try and adopt her, and at that point we knew it was time to pursue getting Fodie over here. So prayerfully, we began the process in January of 2014, and we had here home by September 2014.

Jenna: I am grateful our process was so quick and honestly not very common for an adoption to move so quickly. In the beginning my only prayer was “Lord, I need you to show off!” And He did. There were moments where my only words were “I can’t do this, I can’t do it, I don’t know if I can fight to get this child here.” He was gracious and the transition has been good. The first two months were tough for us and tough for her as it is with any adopted child. But now, a year later, it feels like there was never a time that she wasn’t with us. When I look at family pictures taken before she was with us, it feels like something is definitely missing, so even more than being an addition to our family, Fodie is the completion of our family and it has been an amazing journey so far.

CM: That is so cool Jenna! You guys have a new record, tell us about that?

Benji: Yes, we do… it’s called “Surrender” 24

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and I am excited to share these songs. The one benefit of being a full time writer is that when it comes time to record your own record, you really have a lot of great options… so a lack of songs has not been a problem. What we tried to capture with this record are songs that resonate deeply with our journey for the past few years and God’s abundant faithfulness through it. We have “led” most of these songs so they’ve been “field tested in the church” but they are also songs that we have really connected to emotionally. Dwayne Larring produced the record and Dwayne has been involved in the worship scene for a long time having produced records in the early days of guys like Tim Hughes and Matt Redman. Having spent some time in the Los Angeles, CA rock scene since those early days, Dwayne also brings to the worship conversation a musical sensibility that isn’t just confined to the Christian genre. So it has been a great partnership having the opportunity to not worry about anything… except what serves each song in the best way creatively.

Jenna: I think I was hesitant at first about doing another album. More the fear of it not being “good” or getting “critiqued” etc., especially now that we have moved back to Nashville. Sometimes there is usually a looming under tone of “needing approval” when you get in a community like Nashville.

However, just like with our first album, I always go back to the thought that if the music we put out ministers to a few people and gives a congregation a new song to sing… then that is enough.

CM: What are the challenges you face with being a full time writer, and as a couple, now an artist?

CHRISTIANMUSICIAN.COM

Benji: As a writer, it reminds me that artists are always having to not just write great songs, but write great songs that they would cut. As a writer, sometimes you do wonder why an artist doesn’t cut what you think is a great song. But being on the artist side of it, I realize that I’ve gotten to be a part of writing a lot of great songs that will not be on this record… only because you can only record so many songs. And you have to be really connected to those songs.

To be honest, it’s weird to even think of ourselves as artists, but it’s valid in the sense that, I don’t just want to “write the songs”.

The one thing I greatly miss about leading worship every week is that moment where you share a new song you’ve written and you get to really impact people by letting them see what you’ve seen, feel what you’ve felt, and know what you know… in just 3-5 minutes with a song. I think that is the joy for all of us who are wired for that moment, whether that moment is in a small group of five people or a stadium of 10,000.

CM: Where do you dig deep to find inspiration for your songs?

Benji: I write best when I have been reading a lot. I am primarily a lyricist and that’s usually what I’m brought in for. Sometimes, it feels like a radio station running through my head non-stop. So, it’s not so much finding the inspiration as it is learning to filter out all the lame ideas going through my head and capturing the good ideas. The material is never sparse, it’s the good material that can be hard to find.

(You can find follow them at Benji And Jenna Cowart Music on Facebook)

TAKING THE STAGE

by tom jackson

Wow! There are Giants in the Land!

I just had an incredible month! Sometimes my job is a combination of rewarding, fun, great music, great people, relationship building, and work!

While a lot of my work is helping independent artists (which I love a lot) and teaching (like at New Music Seminar next week, or Berklee College of Music and Canadian Music Week in March), I also work with some of the most well known artists in the world.

While exhilarating, it can also be awfully

stressful at times! At times I feel confident, like I belong, and they need me; at other times, I look around and see people who work with Pink Floyd, Pink, Prince (a lot of p’s here!). And I feel out of my league… because it’s just me. These guys are giants!

Who am I kidding?

Then I hear a still small voice that says, “You were meant to do this. This is your calling.” So I push on.

And so should you! I don’t care where you are in the process. If this is what you feel you

are called to do, what you were created to do, what you should be doing… do it!

At times it may seem overwhelming. But find the courage to take at least the next step – it’s usually obvious. You’ve heard me talk about vision… well this is the place you need to have the faith and courage to take that next step, even if the vision is a little fuzzy.

Then take the next step, and then the next step, and then the next step… at some point in the future, you’ll get that clarity and vision again. There are seasons for everything.

If I weren’t a Live Music Producer I’d probably be an interior decorator. I constantly have people come into my office or other rooms I’ve decorated and say, “Dude, could you come do my room?”

What they don’t realize is that I don’t always have a vision for the room. But I do always have a next step, which leads to the next, which leads to the next… When it’s all said and done, it’s an awesome room. I love it and it’s a design that feels right and pleases the eye – and most people love it.

So I encourage you – have the courage and the faith to take the next step! And the next step, and the next step, and the next step…

Even if you’re breaking new ground and going into areas where you’ve never been before. That’s exactly what you’re supposed to do. Don’t shrink away from it. You can do this. It’s not the end; it’s just the beginning.

Tom Jackson is a Live Music Producer & master of creating moments onstage. Author of the book “Tom Jackson’s Live Music Method,” he helps artists at every level create a live show that is engaging and memorable, exceeding audiences’ expectations, creating fans for life. Tom has taught 100’s of artists of every genre and worked with major artists like Taylor Swift, Le Crae, Home Free, The Tenors, Sean Mendes, The Band Perry, Jars of Clay, & more on their live shows. He also shares his expertise as a highly demanded speaker at colleges, conferences & events worldwide.

Follow Tom on Facebook & Twitter www.onstagesuccess.com

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SELECTIVE HEARING This Is Not a Test Toby Mac Gotee TobyMac just keeps on rolling. “Beyond Me,” This Is Not A Test’s first single, released way back in the mid-winter, was a bit underwhelming. But thankfully, the rest of This Is Not A Test is chock-full of diverse sounds and sing-along That Was Then,This Is Now Josh Wilson EMI Christian Whatever else you choose to call Arkansas native Josh Wilson, you have to hand it to him: he’s an eternal optimist. Indeed, doubters need look only as far as infectiously breezy, positively-inclined offerings like “What A Mystery” and “Pushing Back the Dark” from his last album for proof. Taking over where those tracks left off, the title song and “This Is the Day” kick off Wilson’s latest record with an ingratiatingly invigorating one-two punch that rivals even the most sun-drenched moments on his previous record. Not content The Wonderlands: Shadows Jon Foreman Independent Following on from the recent success of the Sunlight EP, Jon Foreman, frontman of Switchfoot, has released his second EP, Shadows, from The Wonderlands series, which is set to see two more releases later this year. Shadows is a connotation for an hour of the day, and it is through this EP that we see Foreman venture into shade and its unknown realms. Foreman has created an incredible flow all the way through both Sunlight (the first EP of the 4 part release) and Shadow, but it isn’t until “Your Love Is Enough” that you begin to see the similarities.

Freedom Souls Burlap to Cashmere Independent Getting to know a new Burlap album can be frustrating.

At first hearing, the songs have plenty of promise,

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by shawn mclaughlin

tunes that show that Toby has not lost his ability to meld sounds and genres like a master chef. The lead off track, “Like A Match,” features a snazzy horn section and funky beat that lifts up the album’s theme of taking life (and spiritual life in particular) seriously. “Backseat Driver” features the album’s best hook and TobyMac’s son “Tru” on his best guest verse to date. “Lights Shine Bright” may be the most interesting tune of

them all, with a proto-Lorde style, minimalist beat with a reggae twist and chanted vocal courtesy of guest vocalist Hollyn. The guest list can be overwhelming at times, but the dc Talk reunion “Love Feels Like” is a welcome return. Overall, This Is Not A Test is a great, creative mix of uplifting sounds that proves that there is much more left in TobyMac’s gas tank.

to run that sugary-sweet groove into the ground, Wilson wisely complements such shimmering pop ditties with gritty, all-out rock numbers (“House Divided”), simmering neo-soul pieces (“Don’t Let Go”), and sparkling acoustically-based instrumental works (“Ode to Joy”) - the last of which should silence anyone who up to this point has doubted the stories they’ve heard about his amazing fret-based proficiency.

off this sort of pop/worship far better than most. Placed next to the new record’s more spirited material, though, their relative lifelessness is only brought into that much sharper focus. Wilson is an undeniable vocal and instrumental talent and his new album has much to recommend it to both newcomers and the already-converted alike. One can’t help but wonder, though, what the intrepid singer/ songwriter could accomplish if he were to toss caution - and that which the average radio listener and worship leader are hankering for - to the wind and release that non-stop blistering, soul-filled rock and roll album that he almost surely has inside of him.

Elsewhere, however, and perhaps inevitably, Wilson makes the nod toward radio-ready adult contemporary fare on offerings such as “No More,” “Coming Home” and “The Songs I Need to Hear.” To their credit, the songs are hardly unbearable, and Wilson pulls The penultimate track explores the intensity of humanity. It enables the listener to find inner peace amongst the daily chaos of life.

It is a message of hope through all the darkness and “Here in my maker’s arms, I find my soul” reinstates that. There is not an active artist who does what this man does. This album, like all of his albums, morphs a little every time you spin it. They’re all palatable right off the bat, but that’s not why we choose Jon Foreman. You sit down to Foreman when you’re ready to have your mind blown by unrivaled lyrics and intricate arrangements. Every song has its moment, and as far as beauty is concerned, this album, with its 6 songs, surpasses most full length mainstream releases this year.

That being said, I keep going back to “Ghost Machine” as the clear winner of this EP. It’s gorgeous picking and thoughtful depiction of the power that time has over our decisions should make you consider the way you spend your time and what that says about the true value you place on these aspects in your life.

The 4 EP setup is a terrific way for Foreman to present his solo work because it really gives you the time to properly dissect his music.

This isn’t a big, sexy hook given 100% at face value. It’s carefully crafted art prepared over 8 years and assembled for your consideration. So please consider the poetry that was so beautifully presented to you. For best results, play this album through at least three times before making any judgment one way or the other.

but often feel a little unfinished. Then, on subsequent airings, the gaps between these promising moments shrink, leaving a fairly solid – if somewhat short – release. The two main sounds that define the band are Steven Delopoulos’s gritty, slightly life-worn vocals, and his cousin John Philippidis’s vibrant, Greek-inspired guitar work. With Freedom

Souls they have added extra styles (as well as removing most elements of the Simon and Garfunkel vibe that stole the spotlight on their last release). They reach their apex at the end, when they improvise around “Dialing God,” except that the somewhat downbeat vocal track bears no relation to the fizz and life that pours through its glorious instrumental coun-

CHRISTIANMUSICIAN.COM

terpart. With a heady mix of Balkan dance and Greek bouzouki style guitar work, this is the only piece that really captures that live sound, which is when the band is at its best. The next nearest is “The Great I Am,” a song of turning away from selfishness (the ‘great I was’) towards God. This is classic Burlap and could have come from the career-defining Live at the Bitter End release. It again has an energetic Philippidis solo and a whole batch of ‘lai-lailai’s. “Agape Mou” reprises the lai-lai-lais and gives Philippidis space for some delicate fretboard work with his flamenco-colored Mediterranean guitar. There’s a beautiful crispness to the sound captured on this disc, not just on the guitar strings, but also in the percussion, whether shaken or brushed, and some spare, Sound of a Living Heart JJ Heller Independent JJ Heller’s latest is called Sound of a Living Heart, and to put it simply, the sound is excellent. Continuing the arc established by 2013’s Loved, Heller has established a confident, modern musical platform that allows her room to explore new sounds while seamlessly integrating the quiet piano ballads that have always been her forté. Producer Jonny Macintosh (Third Day) takes the reins this time around, and the music that has resulted reminds us of Heller’s versatility and her ability to speak wisdom and encouragement into listeners’ hearts through bright, accessible songs. Many of the songs on Sound are the product of a trying season in Heller’s life, and as is so often true, painful periods often produce the most profound statements of faith. A particularly powerful example is “This Year (Happy New Year)”. It’s a wonderful “proclamation song” meant for anyone determined to take lessons learned from a hard time, grow as a person, and move on. Plus, it has an instrumental harmonica break, and what’s not to love about an instrumental harmonica break? In a similar thematic vein, “Daylight” is a soft, reflective piano throwback, as good as anything you’ll hear in CCM. The title comes from a thoughtprovoking image in the lyric: “There is an inch of daylight underneath the door / It’s enough to fill up my canteen.”

There are moments on the album when the sentiment strays near maudlin. One sappy love song, “Meant To Be,” is made more palatable by the playful music. The doubly sappy “Father-Daughter Dance” is saved by the lovely piano waltz, and it highlights a great vocal pairing with Matt Hammitt. The music is excellent throughout, with only a few questionable

nuanced keys. Besides these cuts, which are how we love to hear the band, most tracks have something different to mark them out.

“Tonilou,” graced with some sweeping organ, is about keeping the flame burning, and is as near as they come to conventional rock. “Passover” is a straightforward, simple success. A ballad about seeking forgiveness, it is tender, engaging and honest. It knows how to be shade without sacrificing any of their appeal.

“River in my Head” branches off into new country territory while copping a Beatlesque vibe in the melody.

One or two elements don’t quite come off.

If the whole album was like the title track, it would be somewhat flat. Given over to a minor key soul mood, laced with wandering

synths, this one is completely off their normal map. The fascinating “Brain Fog,” built around a fairly staccato set of guitar and keys stabs and punctuated by some ambient synth noises, has oceans of character, but will not be for everyone. One or two tracks have both highs and lows within them. Alongside the many strengths of “The Great I Am,” the repetition of the title line can get wearing; and similarly, “16 Miles” has enough energy and poppiness to overcome the repetition and weak verse melody. So Burlap to Cashmere is branching out, feeling its way towards added textures, so that the sound remains fresh and unpredictable, while retaining that Mediterranean character that keeps us coming back to them.

SHUBB CAPOS

After

40

years

still the best! info@shubb.com • www.shubb.com 707-843-4068

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“Sound Check” continued from page 27

moments. The percussion is overwrought on “Meant to Be,” but it drives “Holy Ground” to a new level. Heller’s vocal is a highlight: bright, evocative, and appropriately emotional. Rather than settling into a comfortable acoustic-pop mold, Heller continues to push herself lyrically and musically. She’s an important voice, and Sound of a Living Heart is an encouraging sign of a continued upward trajectory.

No Longer My Own Cheri Keaggy Independent Few are the singer-songwriters who can craft melodies that are not only original, but also ones

which can prevail through the passage of time. Cheri Keaggy is an exception. Instead of regurgitating the same riffs and hooks that you hear on Christian radio, she takes time to construct melodies with an old fashioned tenacity, yet contemporary enough to rival the music that is on radio now. Utilizing the piano as her palette for her style of 90’s pop, these 11 tracks trump on Keaggy’s mettle as a songwriter. With her deft pen, she weaves not only memorable lines, but she covers topics cardinal to our faith often neglected by modern songwriters. Topics such as Christ being our Sabbath, parent/child relationships, and even the horror of the current ISIS’ crisis. Relative to CCM’s pioneer guitarist Phil Keaggy, Cheri has been one of CCM’s major female voices as she has

刀䔀䄀䐀夀 吀伀 唀倀䜀刀䄀䐀䔀㼀

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吀唀一䔀刀 倀䰀䄀䌀䔀匀 吀䠀䔀 匀吀爀漀戀漀䌀氀椀瀀 䤀一 䤀吀匀 伀圀一 䌀䰀䄀匀匀⸀

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∠ ㄀⼀㄀ 琀栀 漀昀 愀 䘀爀攀琀 䄀挀挀甀爀愀琀攀 吀甀渀椀渀最 ∠ ㈀㠀 匀圀䔀䔀吀䔀一䔀䐀 吀唀一䤀一䜀∡ 倀刀䔀匀䔀吀匀 ∠ 䌀愀爀戀漀渀 䘀椀戀攀爀 䌀氀椀瀀 搀攀猀椀最渀 ∠ 匀琀愀椀渀氀攀猀猀 猀琀攀攀氀 䠀漀甀猀椀渀最 ∠ 猀甀猀琀愀椀渀 洀漀搀攀 漀瀀攀爀愀琀椀漀渀 ∠ 䈀甀稀稀 昀攀椀琀攀渀 猀甀瀀瀀漀爀琀

⼀瀀攀琀攀爀猀漀渀琀甀渀攀爀猀

吀栀攀 匀漀甀渀搀 漀昀 倀爀攀挀椀猀椀漀渀 ꤀㈀ ㄀㔀 倀攀琀攀爀猀漀渀 吀甀渀攀爀猀⸀ 吀栀攀 琀攀爀洀猀 匀眀攀攀琀攀渀攀搀 吀甀渀椀渀最 愀渀搀 匀琀爀漀戀漀䌀氀椀瀀 愀爀攀 琀爀愀搀攀洀愀爀欀猀 漀昀 倀攀琀攀爀猀漀渀 䔀氀攀挀琀爀漀ⴀ䴀甀猀椀挀愀氀 倀爀漀搀甀挀琀猀Ⰰ 䤀渀挀⸀ 䈀甀稀稀 䘀攀椀琀攀渀 吀甀渀椀渀最 匀礀猀琀攀洀 椀猀 愀 爀攀最椀猀琀攀爀攀搀 琀爀愀搀攀洀愀爀欀 漀昀 䈀甀稀稀 䘀攀椀琀攀渀 䐀攀猀椀最渀 䌀漀⸀Ⰰ 䤀渀挀⸀

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graced Christian music radio with hits such as “Not with Jesus,” “Sweet Peace of God,” “In Remembrance of God,” “My Faith will Stay,” and many others. Along the way, she has also received three Dove Award nominations and one win. Of late, she has been utilizing Kickstarter in raising her own funds via her legions of fans to finance her own albums. One of which is 2012’s So I Can Tell. After setting her bar so high with So I Can Tell, one gets a little anxious in approaching her brand new album No Longer My Own. Safe to say, No Longer My Own not only passes muster, but it may be, on the whole, an even better album than its predecessor.

If So I Can Tell is her album of healing and restoration after her divorce, No Longer My Own is an album of surrender to Jesus. Most exemplary of this theme is “You Go Before.”

It is a gorgeous piano-led ballad that speaks of God’s sovereignty over the events of our lives. Equipped with so many memorable lines, this song is a treasury for those of us who need to bolster our faith in the light of God’s greatness. For fans who love a wellcrafted piano-based crescendo-building ballad, look no farther than the stellar “Lead Me to Your Love.” Inspired by the recent beheadings on the news, the anthemic sounding “Overcome” gives assurance that even though evil may seem to triumph, Jesus, via the Cross, has, in fact, the victory. The theme of surrender takes a practical turn with the pop-ish “Be My Sabbath.” One of the very few songs that deal with issue of taking a Sabbath out of our busy week to worship and rest, “Be My Sabbath” is a quintessential track. Perhaps no song brings out Keaggy’s creative side as a songwriter better than the lilting “I Love Your Company.”

Told from the vantage point of God the Father, “Company” reveals with perspicuity God’s desire to spend intimate time with us.

With such an infectious melody under-girding a paean of thanksgiving to God, “Lucky to be Breathing Your Air” is a treat to the ears.

However, those who are religiously rigid may find fault with the word “lucky,” considering the pagan connotations often associated with its usage. Perhaps a better substitute for the word “lucky” may be “happy” or “blessed.”

Filled with great melodies over ruminative lyrics, No Longer My Own creates its own space in Cheri Keaggy’s catalog and is a clear triumph for the artist. A bracing testimonial of a God who never changes in a world that is changing, daily.

Shawn McLaughlin is a hard-working, dedicated, tireless worshipper of Christ.

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PRODUCT REVIEW

by michael hodge

BOSS ES-8 Effects Switching System

It was clear to me something big was going on at BOSS during the 2015 Winter NAMM show. The new ES-8 switcher and DD-500 Digital Delay (next issue), both have Switchcraft like metal switches instead of the classic BOSS latch switches. This new line is very professional and exciting.

FIRST LOOK: I can’t help but notice that the black aluminum finish is the same as my Bradshaw rig.

It weighs about 5 ½ pounds, and is about 17 ½ inches wide and 5 ½ inches deep. There are two rows of 6 switches each on top with corresponding bright blue LED’S that can change to red for different functions. The first row of switches is slanted forward making them easier to get to. On the top left, an LED display shows big bright red patch numbers, and to the right of that is a backlit LCD Display for patch titles and editing. Further right are 8 small recessed edit buttons. On the back I counted 33 ¼-inch Jacks, two MIDI I/O jacks and a BOSS PSA power supply adaptor jack. I noticed that the new Roland and BOSS power supplies are pre labeled for their specific unit. It’s so nice to dig through your box of wall wart AC adaptors and find the right one quickly!

Thank you BOSS! On the bottom of the unit are two threaded screw holes for attaching it to a pedal board (screws included) as an alternative to velcro.

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GOING DEEPER: This is a true professional unit. Having a pedal board that is organized with a switcher is really nice. It takes a couple hours to wire up but the time spent is well worth it. Besides looking great, there are a lot of well thought out and logical patching options. You’ve got two Guitar Inputs, and the input buffer can be turned on or off as needed on a per-patch basis. Separate buffers can also be enabled per patch on the outputs. Next the signal goes into a set of 6 Mono loops, and 2 Stereo loops. There’s an additional Volume pedal loop assignable to anywhere in the effects chain, and a Tuner output. Included are two analog expression pedal inputs that are assignable to various functions, and either one can be routed to a number of controller outputs via midi or ¼-inch control out jacks for great flexibility. There are two main ways to set up the ES-8. One is to just use the switches to turn pedals on and off individually. This set up works great in the studio.

For live though, using banks made with individual preset combinations of pedals, tempos and MIDI controls, gives you a whole new level of creative possibilities.

Within those bank presets, you can call up groups of 8 patches at a time, allowing for creative sounds for different song sections or solos etc. The banks and presets could be labeled by song title in the LCD screen, and there are 800 patch memories.

CHRISTIANMUSICIAN.COM

Unlike many other patching systems, the ES-8 can change the effect order internally and even have a couple chains in Parallel like a Pro Bradshaw set up. I also like that the midi clock can be converted internally to send out tap tempo to non-MIDI effects. That’s a huge deal if you want to combine analog delays with your modern MIDI pedals. You can also tap the tempo to multiple pedals at once.

Last of all, a mute switch enables you to bypass the whole board.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I’m proud of the BOSS folks. The ES-8 is one of the best switchers I’ve seen to date.

It looks professional, roadworthy, and does more than most in it’s price range. BOSS has an ability to make really cool stuff at affordable prices. I like that you can change the effect order on the fly, and the way they thought about integrating analog pedals and amp switching as well as the two guitar inputs. To be able to choose buffered or true bypass is another plus. The manuals and setup instructions on line are very helpful and user friendly. Their real world examples will help you figure everything out quickly. I find laying out the actual pedals on the board usually takes the most time. I am setting up an ES-8 on the Lakewood Church pedal board. It’s perfect and straight-ahead for a board that needs to be rock solid, and available to multiple users. If you’re looking for something professional, simple, and yet able to incorporate both MIDI and analog pedals, the ES-8 is a great solution. At a street price of $699.00, it’s a solid investment that should hold up well. For more info: http:// www.bossus.com/products/es-8 Michael Hodge is involved with the music ministry and plays guitar for Lakewood Church in Houston, TX

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PRODUCT REVIEW

by eric dahl

Jamstik+ Practice on the Go!

Trying to find a balance between God, family, work and guitar practice is no easy task for any of us. In a perfect world I would love the ability to practice at least 20 to 30 minutes every day just to keep my chops up and put in more time on the weekends in preparation for playing at church, but frequently life and schedules get in the way.

This is an especially daunting task when traveling for work or pleasure and we can’t fit a full sized instrument in the overhead compartment or trunk of the car. Thankfully technological advancements in instruments are finally blending with other tech tools like our smart phones, computers and tablets.

Jamstik+ is a unique and intuitive teaching and practice tool, its creators have labeled it “The Smart Guitar!” It has six strings and frets similar to a standard guitar, but that is where the similarities end. It’s only 16.4 inches long and ways 1 lbs. 9 oz., the body is headless like a Steinberger and the strings require no tuning. All of the controls are on the top of the Jamstik+ and it hooks up to your iPhone, iPad or Mac via Bluetooth (or the included cable). The instrument arrived with a 3.6 volt lithium battery that at full charge allows for 8 hours of play time.

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When the demo model first arrived (the package includes the Jamstik+, guitar strap, usb cable, pick) I charged it up using the usb slot on my laptop and downloaded the app to my iPhone. The quick start manual helps you to start playing quickly and it’s very easy to can change octaves, add a capo and try out different instruments. Wherever you place your fingers on the strings is then transmitted and shown on the screen of your IOS device. The JamTutor educational app provides simple video examples showing you how to operate it. For gamers the “Arcade Mode” is a great way to sharpen your skills, but most of us that have played for a while will gravitate to the “Open Play Mode.” Will the Jamstik+ take the place of your favorite Taylor or vintage Martin for playing praise music? No, but it isn’t designed to either.

This is a play anywhere, practice anywhere tool that gives us the capability to practice and learn in places and at times when a traditional instruments would be impossible.

Besides the ease of portability where you can stow the Jamstik+ in a backpack, briefcase or suitcase, it also allows for silent practice with ear buds or headphones. To me this is a big plus for at home practice, practicing

CHRISTIANMUSICIAN.COM

in a hotel, or anyplace that you don’t want to bother other people - but still need some dedicated practice time. It’s perfect for running scales and picking up new chords that may require some extra attention. At this time the Jamstik+ is only available on line at http://jamstik.com/, and comes in blue, black or white plastic casing and left hand or right hand configurations. The price is $299.99 and if you want a case it’s an extra $30 bucks. I was also surprised, and pleased, to find out that it is manufactured in the USA. As Christian musicians we frequently use chords and scales that other musicians might not utilize in traditional rock, pop or country music. The Jamstik+ is a convenient, portable learning tool that might help some of us gain just a little more practice time for that upcoming performance as we attempt to achieve that balance of life!

Eric Dahl resides in Nashville TN with his wife and daughter.

He is the author of “B.B. King’s Lucille and the Loves Before Her” and he does a weekly TV gear review show called the FOX 17 Rock and Review.

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PRODUCT REVIEW

by doug doppler

Nord Stage 2 EX These days you’d be hard pressed to find a touring Christian act without at least one Nord keyboard on stage. The great sounds, ease of use, and rock-solid construction make NORD an equally great choice for the local House of Worship.

OVERVIEW Given the potentially daunting number of encoders and buttons on the face of the keyboard, the Stage 2 EX is incredibly intuitive to use. As you move from left to right there are separate sections for Organ, Piano, Synth, and Effects. Organ, piano, and synth sounds can be played individually or layered in real time with the press of a button and a twist of the level encoder for the desired section. Although the stock presets sound great on their own, these controls make it easy to craft tones on the fly – without having to wade through a sea of menus.

the larger installations incorporate Nord’s String Resonance functionality. This feature reproduces the resulting ambience of the fundamentals and harmonics caused by the sympathetic vibrations when you play acoustic pianos.

We know you may have legacy synths that might be collecting dust behind the stage at your Church, but the Stage 2 EX allows you add any of the sounds from the Nord Piano Library, Nord Sample Library, all the legacy sounds in the Nord Sample Library Archive – all for free! This keyboard was designed to give easy access to tons of great new sounds for years to come.

CLASSIC SOUNDS In addition to the stellar piano sounds, the Stage 2 EX also features a robust selection of organs, electric pianos, and classic synth tones – right out of the box. and reed electric piano sounds, Clavinets, and harpsichords. Although the Piano section does not include the dual-preset functionality found in the Organ section, you can utilize the Dual Slot function within each program to toggle between or stack two piano sounds or layers utilizing them.

Unlike the Preset I and II feature found in the Organ section, the Dual Slot function is global in nature and can be used with or without the Piano section.

STAGE PIANO? Although the Stage 2 EX is technically a stage piano, the description hardly does this instrument justice. For starters you have the freedom to add any of the sounds found in Nord’s massive library. That said, the piano section is one of the areas where this instrument really shines.

The Stage 2 EX has a total of 1GB of memory for piano sounds compared with the 512MB found in the Stage 2 (which is still available as of this printing). Most of the piano sounds in the library are available in four sizes that tend to range from 50MB to 200MB. Noting that most players tend to gravitate towards a couple of favorite piano sounds, I’d suggest finding one or two pianos you love most and loading the largest versions of those sounds available.

The Grand Lady D sounds do a brilliant job of capturing the magic of a 9-foot Steinway Model D. Unlike the small versions of the acoustic grand and upright piano sounds, 34

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The Organ section features lifelike recreations of classic Hammond B3, Vox, and Farfisa organs. The digitally controlled drawbars make it super easy to fine tune your organ sounds from the face of the keyboard.

The Preset I & II function allows you to store settings for two unique organ sounds within a single program (Nord-speak for memory location). Being able to toggle between separate drawbar, rotary, chorus, and drive settings without having to change programs is a dream come true for organ enthusiasts.

The Piano section features acoustic and electric grand pianos, upright pianos, tine

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The Synth section holds up to 380MB of classic analog, FM and wavetable synth sounds from the Nord Sample Library, and also allows you to load your own samples as well. The Rate, Range, and Master Clock controls in the Arpeggiator section make dialing in the appropriate tempo and subdivision a breeze.

MODELS The Stage 2 EX is available in three models differing only in keybed, range, and available accessories.

• The Stage 2 EX 88 features Nord’s top of the line, fully weighted hammer action keys and runs note range low to high A-C. $4,999.00 Street.

• The Stage 2 EX HP76 features the lightweight hammer action keybed found in Nord’s Electro ¾ HP and runs E-G. $4,499.00 • The Stage 2 EX Compact features a 73note semi-weighted Waterfall keyboard and runs E-E. $3,999.00 Noting that many Church keyboardists grew up playing pianos and not synths, the Stage 2 EX 88 will provide the most intuitive play without having to make octave shifts.

SPECIAL FEATURES While the Stage 2 EX makes it super easy to create layers, splits, zones, and octave shifts, there are some additional features

that make it clear that this instrument was designed for players by players.

Engaging the Live Mode function activates a bank of five presets that automatically remember every setting adjustment you make on the face of the keyboard – even after you power down! Using this bank of presets allows you to craft set-driven sounds with the greatest of ease, with added convenience of not having to store a preset in order to recall any changes you make on the fly.

If there are sounds you want to trigger from a legacy keyboard or soft synth, the Extern section makes it easy to control key MIDI functionality directly from the face of the Stage 2 EX. Another great feature is the Monitor In, which allows you to feed the signal from your mobile device, computer, or metronome for silent practice via the Headphone output on the Stage 2 EX. CONCLUSION If you’re in the market for a stage piano on steroids, you’re sure to get pumped up over the Nord Stage 2 EX. NordKeyboards.com

Doug Doppler is passionate about God, worship, and worship musicians.

In addition to his work coaching individuals and teams, Doug is also the author of “The Worship Guitar Book” which will be available in May 2013 via Hal Leonard.

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INDIE MECHANICS

by keith mohr & sue ross-mohr

Baker’s Dozen Tips for Independent Christian Artists As you may know, we have been working with Christian creatives for over a combined 30 years. We’ve learned and gained quite a bit of insight into the minds and hearts of those we have served and observed. Here’s our top 13 tips for artists, songwriters, or anyone who is creative and on a mission.

These were taken from a teaching we presented at the Christian Musician Summit in Buffalo, NY in May 2015.

Hope you enjoy them and receive a few Krispy Kreme’s of wisdom!

1. Discover who you are and your passion. What is the desire of your heart?

Do you feel called? Why? When you know who you are, it is more apparent to those who don’t know who you are, because your content will be more refined and defined. Knowing who you are focuses your content. Having defined content makes you more professional and guides the consumer towards you instead of confusing them and driving them away.

A desire of your heart is as important as a calling, but they are different. A desire is something you want to do, a calling is what God wants you to do. How do you know the difference? You won’t probably know right away. Calling is like fruit a farmer harvests, and desire is the seed.

2. Bloom where you are planted Be a whale in a fishbowl, not a minnow in an ocean. Many feel they must move to Nashville or even the USA for God to use them (or to feel they are of use to God).

What the issue really is, is that the person thinks it will be easier for them to “make it” if they relocate to where they think the action is. They come to Nashville, end up realizing it’s no different than their own town, and usually end up working a menial job, or moving back to their own town and starting over building their reputation. It’s a big waste of time and can break the heart and spirit of the creative. It is best to stay where you are, serve your church, your community, 36

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6. Persistence + Resistance = Definition This is what I called “The Creativity Equation.” If you do something often, overcome things that try and keep you from doing it often, you will see increased growth and refinement. Ask any bodybuilder what I mean, and they will tell you. Ask any successful songwriter or any activity that requires skill, and they will say this equation is right on.

YOUR WORLD. You don’t need to save the World; Jesus has that taken care of already.

3. Kirk and Spock Star Trek fans know that Kirk was an emotional rollercoaster. It was way over the top drama with Kirk, but he had great and creative ideas and took huge risks that accomplished his mission. Spock on the other hand thought things through, determining what was “logical” after he examined all the data. Both are needed in order to be a successful creative. Kirk is creative; Spock is all business.

4. Play catch with God Inspiration is like a ball that is thrown to us

by God. In order to catch the ball, you must see the ball. If your eyes are not on God and are elsewhere (your self, or your wants), you will not see the ball coming and the game of catch is over. But if you see it, catch it, and throw worship back to God, the game continues. The more you catch and throw, the better you get, and the more God unleashes creativity to you.

5. Bigger vs. Better Most want to get bigger, meaning being more successful, more popular, make more money, acquire more assets, etc. Most times, this mindset leads to frustration, disappointment, bitterness, and never being satisfied.

I say instead focus on getting better. First, being a better disciple of Christ. When you focus on getting better instead of being bigger, God sees this, and releases blessings, opportunities, and greater creativity.

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7. Be ready, willing, and able If you want to see growth in your music as a songwriter, or artist, you must be ready, willing, and able. Ready to move forward once things start happening, willing to put the time and effort into being ready, and able to be in a position to be willing and ready.

Otherwise, you will not grow as fast as you desired.

8. Create momentum Do something every day that is related to your musical ambition. This could be writing a new song, answering email, finding an opportunity, or knocking on a door. Momentum is like rabbits. Put a few together and you get way more. Momentum breeds momentum.

9. Don’t be a Lone Ranger Being by yourself can lead to isolation, loneliness, or worse. It is good to get together with other creatives and engage in real life community. Hanging out on Facebook or other social networking sites is not real community. Be independent… together!

10. Have rational expectations An investor can only see a return if they invest wisely. Going to the Lord with capfuls of work and thimbles of expecting Him to overflow you with blessings is not rational.

God does His miracles when we first go into faith inspired action.

11. Be ready for rejection Not everyone will get what you are doing.

Continued on page 40.

let your message be heard

NAMM Is Looking for a Few Good House of Worship Buyers Are you the buyer or purchasing decision-maker for a house of worship seeking pro audio products to take your services to the next level?

At The NAMM Show, you’ll find all the products you need to create a production worthy of your message.

You also can attend TEC Tracks, offering education for sound, studio and stage and join a community of like-minded professionals at networking events, daily performances and nighttime concerts.

Register for your badge starting September 30 at namm.org/thenammshow/2016/attend and use code WORSHIP to save $50 on your badge fee.

JANUARY 21–24, 2016 • ANAHEIM CONVENTION CENTER • ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA • NAMM.ORG/THENAMMSHOW

GUITAR: A2Z

by roger zimish

SUMMER NAMM TOP 3 ON A BUDGET The Summer NAMM show in Nashville is the place where a plethora of musical instrument manufacturers and other related companies show off their newest gear, services, and the latest trends to musical product retailers, a.k.a. music stores. The event is attended by not only the music store owners and their sales guys and girls from behind the counters, but you’ll also find recording studio owners and engineers, along with the who’s who of top musicians and new artists checking out the new gear and performing throughout the show. Though the NAMM show is generally closed to the public, on the last day of the event you can buy a pass to attend the show.

Pedal-Links solved my problem. The Links are a figure eight shaped type of washer; one end mounts to your pedal with an existing screw the other end screws into your board (screws are provided with the links). Now my volume pedal stays where I put it. Pedallinks will help reduce setup time and keep your effects on your board. They are a cool add on for gigging players. www.pedalboardsupplies.com

This year I was able to spend some time in the “Collectable Guitar Then and Now” magazine booth with our founder and chief editor Bruce Adolph. Bruce is a busy man at these shows, with three magazines of ad space to fill, putting together a Saturday morning worship service and speaking at it; the guy is just awesome.

I think he finally got some sleep on his flight home, God Bless ya’ Bruce!

As a guitar player, checking out all the gear at the NAMM show can be overwhelming, I don’t think I have ever seen as many guitar effects pedals under one roof in my life. Okay, so I take a breath and set out to find three things as a guitarist on a budget that is worthy of my hard earned money. 1. My next guitar. 2. Something to help maintain my investment, and 3. If not a new effects pedal, then something that will be useful on my pedalboard setup. This is what I found:

Number 2 - Music Nomad equipment care for guitars, drums, keyboards, band and orchestra. . . these guys have it covered. I have cleaned and maintained a lot of guitars over the years, and recently started using Music

At number 3 - Pedal-Links, An effects pedal mounting system that is adhesive and Velcro free and is compatible with most pedals and boards. I use a Dunlop Volume (X) pedal on my board that Velcro will not stick to, and I don’t want to cut the rubber pad up on the bottom of it to get it to stick. The 38

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Nomad products on one of my day gigs before I saw them at the show. Their “Premium Guitar Care System”, “The Nomad Tool” an all in one string, surface, and hardware cleaning tool, and their “Cradle Cube” neck support are mainstays on my work bench.

Their line of guitar and case humidifiers I highly recommend to keep your guitar safe from drying out and cracking as the seasons change. www.musicnomadcare.com Number 1 - Fret King – Vintage Guitars. I must say that I am impressed with Trev Wilkinson’s line of “Vintage” guitars. I put the Vintage ICON Series V6MRBK, a Strat style guitar, to the test. After a little tweaking for my style of playing, I found this guitar to be rock solid for the money! The body is a glossless Distressed Boulevard Black made of American Alder, with a heavy wear ‘n’ tear scarring pattern. It sports a one-piece Hard Maple neck and fingerboard (also with an emulated aging process), with 22 Frets and a 25.5” scale.

The hardware is nickel, and the Kluson style tuners are Wilkinson MJ55 E-Z Loks. The vintage style Vibrato is a Wilkinson WCV. Continued on page 40.

PRODUCT REVIEW

by jack mao

The Mighty Minnie by Demeter Amplification Like many of you out there I love my tube amps and the tone that they get. However, they are also heavy, and I’ll have to admit not as worth it as they used to be in terms of the relative payoff of hauling them around to gigs as I get older. I’ve had a few solidstate amps over the years that have sounded “good but not great”, but for the most part have fallen short of the mark in tone. Enter the Demeter Mighty Minnie, which is a pretty spectacular combination of features and benefits packed into a small (10” X 7” X 4.5”) and light (about five pounds) package.

Before I get into the finer points of the amp specs of the Mighty Minnie, let me cut to the chase… I used the Mighty Minnie plugged into a 2 x 12 Orange Cabinet at an outdoor gig recently and had no trouble getting a great tone that was loud, clear, and musical – the (aptly named) Mighty Minnie using less than half of its capability. I also used a full pedal board driving into the input jack (the amp does not have an effects loop) the Mighty Minnie had more than enough gain and headroom to get tones from clean to overdriven and everything in between.

Bottom line - the tonal capabilities of this amp are nothing short of amazing. Frankly, I was skeptical that such a form factor could actually cut it in the real world, but trust me - it can.

with, The Mighty Minnie is being marketed

by Demeter as a pedal board amp: the amp definitely plays well with pedals. To that end, the amp is actually small enough to fit on a pedal board and can, in fact, be driven by a 9-volt power supply. The tone stack consists of Gain, Bass, Mid-Range, Treble, and Master Volume with a Push Pull 20 DB Pad. There is also a stomp box style Stand By switch with a Status Indicator switch.

Designed originally for Sonny Landreth, who wanted an amp he could easily travel

Depending on the speaker load, the Mighty Minnie generates 180 watts @ 4 Ohms, 100

Watts at 8 Ohms and 60 watts at 16 Ohms.

The amp features a hand wired TGA 3 Preamp driving dual 12 AX7 Preamp tubes (which are backlit by blue LED’s - very cool!).

The Mighty Minnie is extremely well built, rugged, and designed to stand up to continuous stage and studio use. All the parts - from the power switch, input and speaker jacks, to the hand wired interior construction features high end, audiophile grade components throughput. For the preamp section Demeter used a custom made Jensen transformer powering a D Class power stage.

While probably not suitable for every occasion, this really is a real world alternative to hauling around your favorite amp head to your next gig. It would also make an excellent backup or traveling amp given its size, weight, and portability.

The Mighty Minnie retails for $995.00 Contact www.demeter.com for more information.

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“Indie Mechanics” continued from page 36

Get over it and get on with it. Don’t dwell on those who don’t lavish you with praise Don’t let rejection turn into anguish. Look at rejection as a learning experience and carefully take into consideration why your content was rejected. Then, fix the issue.

12. Be good It’s very difficult for Christian creatives to self-evaluate their content. Try and obtain critiques and evaluations from a professional, or someone who is not emotionally attached to you. People generally know what is quality and what is not. Performance and craftsmanship matter. Conversely, do not get hung up on perfection. Be more concerned about excellence than perfection.

We’ll never be perfect, but sure we can be excellent.

13. Have fun!

What an awesome honor and privilege it is to create with the Creator! Don’t take that lightly. Be serious about what you are doing and want to do, but also have fun doing it! When something is not fun, it becomes a curse, not a blessing. Give your ambitions over to the Lord, and be willing to sacrifice it if He asks you to. Be content with what God is doing; yet set realistic and achievable goals.

Creatively His, Keith and Sue Mohr MOHR CREATIVE GROUP www.mohrcreativegroup.com

“Guitar from A2Z” continued from page 38

The pickups, 3 Wilkinson WVS single coils, are made like they were in the 50’s and 60’s and really sound great! They are made with 42-gauge plain enamel wire with staggered heights. They are hand chamfered, with Alnico 5 magnet pole pieces with fibre flatware. The wiring has 1 Volume and 2 tone controls with a 5-way selector switch. Add to this that they reverse wind the middle pickup (with reverse polarity magnets) and you get hum-cancelling in positions 2 and 4 as well.

I really like the fact that the bridge pickup has its own tone control too! The tremolo

Keith Mohr and Sue Ross-Mohr of “The Mohr Creative Group” have years of experience serving independent Christian artists, musicians and songwriters. Keith founded www.indieheaven.com in 2002, the leading portal for Christian independent music. Sue Ross-Mohr founded www.theinnervizion.com in 2003, a creative promotions /marketing/ consulting service to individuals and companies worldwide. Also check out www.indiemechanics.com for more helpful info!

has staggered string slots on the trem block, which is not your typical setup. I found this very helpful to keep the guitar in tune with heavy vibrato use. With its killer tone and playability, and a street price of only $489, this Vintage ICON V6MRBK gets my number one pick for this year’s NAMM Show.

Check it out at www.fretking-vintage.com Roger Zimish is a freelance guitarist / indie artist and clinician based in Hendersonville Tn. Contact Roger: Email rogerzimish@ yahoo.com, like Roger Zimish Guitarist on facebook.

Roger Z holding the Vintage V6MRHDX Summer of Love’ “Daniel Hahn” Art guitar with Fret-Kings Rick Taylor holding the Vantage V74MR Bass.

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The Quilter MicroPro Mach2 8 inch -

www.quilterlabs.com

18 pounds Up to 200 wat ts Dual inputs 1/4�/xlr Incredible tone

GOOD FOR THE SOUL

by bryan duncan

Missing the DownBeat It was 1812 before Dietrich Winkel came up with the metronome to keep musicians on time. Two hundred years later, musicians are still poor clock managers. We wouldn’t dream of playing behind the tempo in the studio. You know how it feels when the song just drags, or the drummer misses a beat in groove that nearly throws your back out.

And you surely wouldn’t have a regular job if you just showed up somewhere close to starting time. In the studio, they use the term: “down beat”. It means you are there, set up, instrument in hand, and staring at the producer at that moment. Of course, I’ve yet to see that happen.

On tour we actually had to invent a term for what our departure time was. We called it “waving”. In other words, “we are waving at six a.m.” meant you were on the bus, showered, luggage packed and loaded, and waving goodbye to the hotel exactly at Six, even as the wheels on the bus go round and round.

When it comes to music, I am all about the groove. But as a musician I have a defect of character that doesn’t fit the parameters of musician world. I’m terminally punctual. It means I kill a lot more time waiting on everyone else to show up. It’s what is often called “livin’ on Gospel Time”. The implication is we start somewhere around a set time but maybe we’re two hours behind the projection.

I imagine musicians have developed a bad habit of getting somewhere deliberately an hour later than they are told. Because we have all showed up to the sound check to find the sound crew still changing a tire on the equipment truck. That’s the reason we have Road Managers, Stage Managers, Career Managers, and occasionally a wife telling us where we were supposed to be 20 minutes ago.

And of course we all have that one musician you have to lie to in order to get them to the gig on time. You know the one, where you tell him the start time is an hour earlier than you tell everyone else because you just know he’s gonna be an hour late! But eventually he figures out what you are doing. Now he’s two hours late until you find his replacement.

One problem for me with clock management is that no two days in my life are the same. Sometimes I have to figure out for myself what the priority is or I will just wander around behind the little animals. I know from experience that the immediate distraction kills the important agenda more times than your bank can send default notices.

Another problem is songwriting. It doesn’t fall into convenient time slots for one thing. I’ve been known to start a song in the morning and not look up till the sun has gone down. I wish I had a good answer for that problem, but I don’t. I have learned to work on my songs in my head while I’m waiting for the clock to strike a couple people. But then I

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lose track of where I am in the moment quite often.

I was in a studio a while back where we had too many ‘flys on the wall’ (people who just wanna hang around) The most annoying thing happens then to music types. Suddenly there’s this need to start “name dropping”.

This is my biggest pet peeve in our kind of work. It’s the need to show our endorsements. It’s where the chitchat on the studio dime turns into these long stories of how you worked once with Mr. Big Time. That is then followed by another story to ‘one up’ the last story.

I must say, by the time everyone’s finished talking about all the stuff they’ve done, the people they know, and the places they have been, I’m just plain depressed about the new song I’m trying to record. It hasn’t had time to make the storyboard.

The older I get, the more appalled I become at my pathetic attempts at making my time count. If I put my life on a metronome it wouldn’t even make a good Polka. I read my devotional this morning and it was talking about spiritual priorities and obedience to Gods will. Bob Gass writes, “Intellectual darkness is the result of ignorance. Spiritual darkness is the result of something (God requires) that I do not intend to obey.” That hit me harder than any downbeat.

We like to think in terms of “waiting on God” most of the time, but I’d like to suggest it’s the opposite. God is usually waiting on us.

We’re not ready for the downbeat. “Why isn’t God blessing this effort?” I often say. But in a real moral inventory of my diligence, right when I’m asking God why he hasn’t hit the record button yet, I can hear him saying to me, you are not even tuned up!

Bryan Duncan/ Singer / Songwriter/ author / Publisher. Radio Show host for RadioRehab.com Inducted into the Christian music Hall of Fame in 2007. 40 years, 22 albums, Dove and Grammy awarded. www.bryanduncan.com

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SEP/OCT 2015

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by bob bennett

DATELINE: THE PASTURE

As with so many things, I’m way late to the party concerning an April 2014 blog post titled, “What Happened to Contemporary Christian Music?” by Don Chapman. What follows is a somewhat tidied-up version of a response I wrote (but didn’t post) after reading it for the first time this past May. I don’t know Mr. Chapman, have no animosity toward him, assume he’s a fine fellow who is kind to animals and pays his taxes ... disclaimer, disclaimer, etc. Of course, it would make the most sense to read his article online first:

be spoken about on the front end of things, but ultimately the relationship would eventually be (and, I boldly assert, probably always was) governed by the financial precepts of the music business. I have to tip my hand a bit and say that I don’t really blame “the CCM industry” for adopting a particular business model. (We weren’t always known for being innovators in music, so it makes a certain amount of sense that we broke no new ground in record company accounting.)

But I do take “the industry” to task for usu-

http://www.worshipideas.com/what-happened-to-contemporary-christian-music/

One of the net effects of “all worship, all the time,” to the exclusion of all other forms of musical expression, is that “stories” are almost completely missing-in-action within the contemporary Church. At least stories told by musicians.

As one of the modest purveyors of nolonger-necessary CCM Music (and I don’t believe I’m being “falsely modest” here as I have a commercially mediocre lifelong career as a musician as evidence), I have some additional thoughts that may provide a slightly different and, hopefully, useful perspective.

Although it is the oft-claimed and most widely accepted view of things to assert that the decline of CCM began in earnest with “secular acquisition”, I think that’s too simple an answer. From everything that I’ve been able to ascertain, before secular labels sensed there was lucre to be made, Christian labels, almost fully and without reservation, had already adopted the business practices of their secular-music-business counterparts. While we can debate the merits of whether or not that was ultimately a good idea, I think the fact that it happened that way is beyond dispute. The fact is that most first- and second-generation CCM artists still don’t own their masters or publishing several decades after their records came-and-went.

If nothing else, that powerfully demonstrates our full and binding participation in a bargain we entered into with little insight or savvy on what it might look like into old age with no retirement or pension in sight.

What made this so heartbreaking for many artists (at least it did for me) is a peculiarly “Christian” version of record-company/ artist relations. Generally speaking, the Christian-ese language of “ministry” would 44

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ally only being forthright about the precise nature of the deal within the daunting language of artist/publishing agreements. I can assure you these documents did not make anyone break out into a spontaneous round of “Kumbaya.” In other words, I don’t remember anybody saying, “We love you now, but if you don’t make us enough money, we’ll sort of love you less. Our professional enthusiasm for what you do is necessarily coterminous with your contract.” But to be fair, if they said it, I’m quite sure I wasn’t listening.

Lots of nice people meant well. A lot of them meant well for me. And in our hearts we wanted to believe that in doing business among the brethren, we were somehow “different.” But at least in those days, we simply weren’t as different as we thought. You walked through the door of “Let’s minister together” and exited through the door of “It doesn’t make business sense anymore”. Or, if you prefer to drink your poison disguised as a pseudo-sacramental cocktail: “We wouldn’t be good stewards if we continued

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any further with you.”

In the present day, “worship music” is the absolute juggernaut of the Christian Music Business. As with most things, that’s the good news and the bad news. One of the net effects of “all worship, all the time,” to the exclusion of all other forms of musical expression, is that “stories” are almost completely missing-in-action within the contemporary Church. At least stories told by musicians. And yet, we live in a culture where stories are (and have long been) “king” in the consciousness of most people. We don’t watch hours of Netflix only because we’re lazy and feeding our entertainment habit … we’re also instinctively hungry for story. And there’s lots of great storytelling out there.

Just not, for the most part, in or around Church.

As imperfect as the old, now-unnecessary CCM might have been, you could throw a rock back in the day and hit an artist who was storytelling. Musical testimonies in a life inconveniently populated by both faith and doubt. But now, if the lyrics are not projected on a screen, repetitive, and sing-able after the first round, there’s simply no place for it. When measuring interest or presence, we used to say that people voted with their feet. But in the case of music, the Church has voted with both its Events Calendar and Order of Service.

I have an admittedly cranky litmus-test for most modern and post-modern worship songs. My suspicion is that if you take each line of any chosen “worship” lyric and affix it to an individual refrigerator magnet and then a toddler randomly rearranges those lines, there will be little damage to either the thought-flow of the song or, God help us all, the theology. A broad-brush assessment?

Sure. But true more often than not? Maybe I’m not getting out enough.

Some people (and Mr. Chapman seems to state his preference pretty clearly) have no need for anything other than what’s on the platform at Church. If it’s not “worship” (“worship” as in the music genre as opposed to “worship” as a hoped-for result of some-

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one taking in a work of art), it’s apparently no longer worth it.

underside of the youth-obsessive culture that we helped build?

that old and mostly unknown duffer (what band was he in again?) Paul McSomebody.

If that’s truly indicative of the audience I was once able to reach, then I feel like a guy with a large warehouse full of hula-hoops.

The very people I wanted to serve into my old age have not only embraced this “new” with no care for anything else, but now I’m apparently being told (and this may be a blessed favor in painful disguise) that what I did in the past or, more importantly, what I’m doing now simply doesn’t matter in the present tense. My sadness is that I think Mr. Chapman writes for countless thousands in the Household of Faith.

But I think I just winced hard because I gave my heart and my life to something that, by what I understand the author to be saying, is now at best meaningful only as a curio from the past. Even though I, as they say, have a dog in the hunt, let’s forget my place in the thing. Let’s remove that flask of whine off the table.

But the true subtext of my complaint is that storytelling, for all intents and purposes, is gone in Church. And if the argument is, “Well, I don’t go to Church for that”, then it’s time to get out the Sharpies and start blacking out large swaths of Bible texts because stories comprise an awful lot of what’s actually in there.

But even then, what I fear most is that the Church, being likeminded, will discard something very important in our satisfaction with the artistic status quo. How ironic it is that Jesus’ chosen method of public communication was storytelling … and, at least in musical terms, those kinds of songs and artists are mostly gone and unknown or not missed. The fact that whoever’s coming to town or releasing a new album is no longer of interest? For goodness sake, it happens.

The most recent telling example of time marching on is Kanye West partnering with

So, although our collective production values are Vegas-good and we can sound great like U2 all day long, testimonies and stories in song are gone-like-a-ghost gone. And if that’s being “caught up to Contemporary Christian Music”, then I’m truly as thickheaded and irrelevant as I appear to be.

Please know that I don’t sense any ill-will in his article. My obvious pain at reading it and my reaction in response to it probably says more about me than anything else. I’m fully aware that my brief self-portrait here is probably not very flattering at all. Is there anything worse than a grumbling babyboomer who can’t quite deal with the ugly

Trust me here. Indifference to what I cared so much about (and still do) is a much more painful outcome than if people actively hated it. Hatred, at least, requires intention. Indifference pretty much deems you unworthy of any engagement whatsoever. And even if I’m too stubborn to fully believe it … it’s still hard to hear that you don’t really matter anymore.

Bob Bennett Bob Bennett lives in Costa Mesa, CA and shops at Trader Joe’s #35. He attends St. Matthew’s Church in Newport Beach.

He still thinks and hopes he has something useful to do. Of course if you hear him in a pizza parlor singing “Peaceful Easy Feeling” for tips and drinks, you can conclude he had that wrong. And, as always, he writes his own bio blurbs in the third person because he thinks that’s how magazines work.

“Sound Check” continued from page 7

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need for stereo gear again (stereo receivers, turntables etc.). I just traded an old Marantz Quad receiver (anyone remember Quad?) that has been in my garage for 20 years now for an old Pioneer turntable from a friend who may be opening a used stereo Mom and Pop shop up soon as a side business. I think the time is right for this to be a success. I had been using a pretty cheap turntable up to now.

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So it looks like everything has come full circle in my life as a lover of vinyl records.

I wonder if I can find that old blue 1966 Dodge Dart out there? I sure hope the 8-track player is still in it. :)

Current roster... WItH more beIng Added.

Lord Bless Ya, Bruce & Judy BOB BENNETT

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