Audio Adrenaline Extends Farewell Tour

While I'm not personally a big Audio Adrenaline fan, I thought it was worth noting that the band announced plans to extend their farewell tour. I guess saying goodbye is hard to do.

In a recent press release, Hoganson Media Relations stated:

After seeing the excitement from the fans during the fall leg of the Coming Up to Breathe Tour, MercyMe asked Audio Adrenaline to continue touring with them into the spring. "When MercyMe asked us to extend our farewell tour into 2007, we weren't sure what we were going to do," said Audio Adrenaline member Will McGinniss. "We had been planning to end in 2006, and all four of us were busy trying to figure out what we would do after AudioA ended. Tyler and Ben had already found other gigs, but with their blessing, we decided to carry on in the spring of 2007 to be able to see a few more fans one more time."

Accepting MercyMe's invitation, AudioA extends its fall touring with an encore 40-city winter/spring tour that kicks off February 16 in Tulsa, OK and wraps up April 28 at the final farewell concert in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The complete tour schedule can be found on the band's official website.

Review of Slugs & Bugs & Lullabies

The Short of It

Artists: Andrew Peterson & Randall Goodgame
Release Date: December 22, 2006
Label: Square Peg Alliance
Audience: Children ages one to six (and their parents)
Available for Purchase: Randall Goodgame Store


The Long of It

Several months ago, my two-year-old daughter, Olivia, and I checked out a Laurie Berkner CD from the library. While Olivia loved the songs, I was concerned that she was listening to nonsense all day long. It was my desire to find a CD that was just as fun, but at the same time communicated spiritual truths, especially since she sings along to everything. About a month ago, I stumbled across an ad for Slugs & Bugs & Lullabies, a new children's CD from CCM artists Andrew Peterson and Randall Goodgame. Being an avid listener of Peterson's music, I immediately ordered the project.

The album -- whose linear notes read at one point "No children were eaten during the making of this record" -- is broken into two parts. The first two-thirds of it contains fun kids songs (many of them very silly), while the remaining one-third is tender lullabies. Styles range from swing to folk to jazzy blues to what Olivia calls "yeehaw music." There's even a little bit of pirate "yo-ho-hoing."

As a whole, the project has a very organic feel. What I mean by that is you'll find no auto-tune happening here. There are several songs where Goodgame could've used a bit, such as in "God Made Me" and "Beautiful Girl," but instead a decision was made not to use the tool. And frankly, it's refreshing. There are times when I want to hear a human voice sing without all the bells and whistles of technology. To me, children's music is perfect for this; it shouldn't be too polished.

While I know little about Goodgame, I've come to expect much from Peterson. In my book, he's one of the master storytellers in Christian music, able to beautifully craft songs that make me smile, cry, and think deeply. After listening to this CD, I've had to add laugh to that list. For anyone who picks up this album, get ready to be very amused.

The album contains songs that are simply silly, such as "Piggy Little Toes" (or "The Yeehaw Song" as Olivia calls it), "Bears," and "Tractor, Tractor," as well as songs that communicate spiritual truths including "Stop" and "God Made Me."

"Piggy Little Toes" tells the story of a dad (Peterson) looking for his daughter at a square dance. He sings:

Hey, little Skye girl, where did you go/Out of the holler in the rain and snow?/Maybe she's down at the Do Si Do/Just kicking her feet with the piggy little toes

My girl's got one bellybutton and two elbows/A cute little face and a pretty little nose/And one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten piggy little toes

In "Bears," we hear:

No grizzly bears don't wear underwear/Socks, or jammies, or gloves/No baby bears don't wear diapers/No Pampers, no Huggies, no Luvs ...

No panda bears aren't so scary/They're eatin' up China bamboo/But if you don't mind your mama/They might just come and eat you

One of Olivia's favorite songs on the CD, "God Made Me," uses humor to teach kids that God made them:

God made slugs and bugs and rats and bats/And nasty bees that don't say please/They'll sting your elbows and your knees if you chase them

But God made me like he made the sea/He filled it up with green and blue/He sent His Son, His Only One/To fill me up and make me new

What's great about this CD is that Peterson and Goodgame have managed to do what VeggieTales has done -- make an entertaining product for both children and parents. For example, kids may not understand the humor in a song such as "Chicken Wiggle," but any parent who's had problems burping their baby will love hearing:

You've got bubbles down in your tummy/And they'll be trouble if they don't rise/Well I know that milk is yummy/But the doctor says no matter how much the baby cries, you've got to ...

Burp, burp, Chicken Wiggle, don't spit up ...

It also has the distinct touch of "dad." Written, performed, and produced by two dads, it's no surprise to find an entire song about eating beans that ends with:

Why did you eat them beans, boy/Why did you eat them beans?/The neighbors done up and they moved to Queens, all 'cause you ate them beans

"Who's Got the Ball," also known as the "ballgame song" at our house, celebrates the fun of kids playing ball with their daddy. The track includes a sports announcer midway through the song, adding a fun touch to what would have otherwise been too repetitive if left solely to its lyrics.
The one complaint I have about the silly tracks is that I think Peterson and Goodgame were unknowningly influenced by already existing children's songs. The music to "God Made Me" reminded both Ted and me of something off of Blue's Clues, while "Dreams" brought to mind VeggieTales' "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything."

As a parent, my favorite part of the album is the lullabies. Let's just say, they've brought me to tears on many occasions. While auto-tune is clearly missing from Goodgame's "Beautiful Girl," I love this song because it reminds me of the times I've heard my husband singing our girls to sleep. In it, Goodgame sings:

I've got you swaddled and I've got your bottle/And you're too loud to ignore/Your mama is sleeping/The angels are keeping/So cry no more

Hey, beautiful girl/Daddy loves you, he loves you/Most beautiful girl in the whole wide world

However, my two favorite songs on the album are Peterson's "May the Lord Bless and Keep You" and "My Baby Loves to Dance." In "May the Lord Bless and Keep You," we hear:

Goodnight, my dear/Be at ease/Till you're floating like the sunlight through the trees/Be at ease

May the Lord bless and keep you/The Lord shine His face upon you, child/And give you grace/May the Lord turn His face toward you, love/And give you peace

In "My Baby Loves to Dance," Peterson sings:

My baby loves to dance/She loves to spin around/She's only two feet tall, but I don't mind at all/She hears a song in every little sound ...

My baby loves me so/She loves me as I am/She lifts her little hands/Her wish is my command/I'll pick her up forever if I can

In the end, the lullaby portion of this album is more than songs meant to soothe and settle down kids. It's also a beautiful testament to the joys of parenting; hence the reason it brings me to tears at each listen.

Slugs & Bugs & Lullabies. It's silly. It's moving. And to borrow a popular phrase, at our house, it's kid-tested. Parent approved.

Review of Behold the Lamb of God

In Psalm 79:8-9, the psalmist cries out,

Oh, do not remember former inquities against us!
Let Your tender mercies come speedily to meet us,
For we have been brought very low.
Help us, O God of our salvation, For the glory of Your name;
And deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins,For Your name's sake!

Atonement. Regardless of time, location, and race, men and women have been seeking atonement. Seeking to make right what they have wronged. Whether they realize it or not, seeking to satisfy the wrath of an angry God. In his article From Kali to Christ, Nathan Zacharias describes visiting the Kali temple located in Kolkata, India, "one of the remaining sites to still perform animal sacrifices." It is here that he witnessed an animal sacrifice -- an Indian family's attempt to pacify an angry god. Whether it is a family in modern day Kolkata performing animal sacrifices, a people group in ancient Hawaii providing human offerings to their volcanic goddess, "civilized" members of society trying to make amends with their good deeds, or the Israelites crying out, "Deliver us!", we all have the same thing in common: the need for atonement.

I'm a firm believer that Christmas music shouldn't be reserved strictly for the holiday season. And, this morning in March, I found myself listening to what has become one of my favorite Christmas albums -- Andrew Peterson's 2004 release Behold the Lamb of God.

The project took Peterson, a singer and songwriter reminiscent of Rich Mullins, five years to complete. It was truly a "labor of love." An album that, as he told Christianbook.com, he wanted to approach "from the tradition of the old bards who traveled from town to town telling stories with their music and recording history that way. I thought it would be really neat to make a record that did that, one that was lyrical in its content, and whose songs followed the progression of the Christmas story through the Old and New Testaments. " In doing so, Peterson beautifully captures the need for atonement. The need for, as Psalm 79 addresses, mercy and deliverance. In the song Deliver Us, he sings:

Our sins they are more numerous than all the lambs we slay/These shackles they were made with our own hands/Our toil is our atonement and our freedom yours to give/So Yahweh, break your silence if you can/Deliver us, deliver us/Oh Yahweh, hear our cry/And gather us beneath your wings tonight

While the song Passover Us cries:

So the years went by and the people they whined and they wandered/And only sacrifice atoned for the sins of the land/So you see the priest he placed upon the holy altar/The body of a spotless lamb/And he prayed, "Lord, let your judgment Passover us/Lord, let your love hover near/Don't let your sweet mercy/Passover us/Let this blood cover over us here"

Yet, he doesn't stop there. On the remainder of the album, he goes on to paint a lyrical masterpiece of God's response to the cries of His people: Jesus. The once and forever atonement for our sins.

So sing out with joy/For the brave little boy who was God/And made Himself nothing/Well He gave up His pride/And He came here to die like a man

By far, my favorite song on the album is Labor of Love. Of the track, Peterson told Christianbook.com, "I try not to write songs that have already been written. So, in this case, the song 'Labor of Love' is about Mary, but not the peaceful Mary we see in nativity sets holding Baby Jesus. I have three kids, and I was there when my wife gave birth to each of them. Now, if my wife had given birth in a barn, in the dark, in the middle of the night, there is no way she would have looked as nice as Mary looked in these scenes. Childbirth is violent and painful, and so the first line of this song is 'It was not a silent night/There was blood on the ground.' I think there’s significance in the fact that God chose to come into the world that way –- bathed in blood and pain." Jill Phillips provides the vocal on this song. A song that never ceases to bring me to tears.

God's gift of atonement. A "brave little boy," as Peterson calls Him, sent to sacrifice Himself for the sins of the world. Let us now, not only at Christmas, celebrate "the maker of the moon ... the Author of the faith," Jesus, the baby born to save us all.

All lyrics included on this post written by Andrew Peterson

Review of Chris Tomlin's Arriving

Next to Watermark's The Purest Place, Chris Tomlin's Arriving has been one of my favorite albums of 2004. It is a project that each time I listen to it, drives me to worship God.

I remember clearly one Sunday morning as I was in my car on the way to church. It had been a difficult week for my family. We were facing a new season in our lives that was uncertain. Yes, we knew that God would take care of us and provide all of our needs, but still it seemed a bit overwhelming that the road ahead was unclear. As I drove, Arriving played in the background and the song "Indescribable" came on. I remember listening to the lyrics of the chorus:

Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky
And You know them by name
You are amazing, God/All powerful, untamable
Awestruck, we fall to our knees
As we humbly proclaim
You are amazing, God

Suddenly emotion washed over me as I was reminded once again that if God knows the name of all the stars, then surely He was aware of our needs and had good things instore for my family.

The songs on Arriving are destined to become well-sung not only by listeners at home and in their cars, but corporately at churches. They are, as Tomlin says he strives for, clear and simple. It didn't take long before I was able to sing along, not to mention find myself singing the songs later on my own. For example, take "Holy Is the Lord," in which Tomlin sings:

We stand and lift up our hands
For the joy of the Lord is our strength
We bow down and worship Him now
How great, how awesome is He
And together we sing
Holy is the Lord God Almighty
The earth is filled with His glory

The lyrics are pretty basic, yet powerful. Other songs include "How Great Is Our God," "Mighty Is the Power of the Cross," and "You Do All Things Well."

Arriving is an album I would recommend without reservation. And, for those of you looking for a good Christmas gift for a relative or friend, look no further then Arriving.

All quotes taken from Chris Tomlin Arriving PR Materials.

Review of FFH's Still the Cross

The first time I popped in FFH's fifth album Still the Cross I only had time to listen to the first three or four songs. "Hmmm ..." I thought, "this sounds like a fun project. I think I like it." Let's just say it made a great first impression. However, upon further listen I had to recant my enthusiasm. Why? Well, for me, I thought the album sounded very familiar -- familiar in the sense that it sounded a great deal like the past four FFH releases. Additionally, the production felt almost too fun that I had a difficult time taking it seriously. And, with a title like Still the Cross it was a release I wanted to take seriously.

Despite these feelings on the project, I have to say that FFH's renewed desire to focus on the cross is encouraging and convicting. Of the release, member Michael Boggs stated, "I think it’s pretty cool that after five records and thousands of concerts, as a band we’re still committed to the same thing we were on the first record. We’ve written lots of songs and we’ve talked about a lot of different things. But when it comes down to it, it’s still all about the cross." If there is one thing to praise this album for, that's it -- it's still about the cross.

Review of Bebo Norman's Try

For years, I have counted Bebo Norman's song "A Page Is Turned" as one of my favorites. So much so, that my husband and I used it as the processional in our wedding almost 2 years ago. Having one his songs included in such an important ceremony in my life has forever endured me to his music. Even so, I still listen to each new release knowing that I may suffer disappointment if it doesn't meet up to the expectations I have set for Norman's music. However, I can confidently say that his fourth studio album Try is far from disappointing. Instead, it is yet another shining chapter in his almost 10 year career.

With this album, Norman has continued in the acoustic "folkish" pop style I have grown to love and expect from his music. However, this time he has gone for a more organic, simple sound by striving to make production secondary to lyrics. Of this, Norman explained that he wanted to "find out what the essence of the song is and build around that." Also, that "on this album you don't hear the production, you hear the songs, and that's what I like most."

While proving to remain true to the melancholy feel Norman's projects have become known for, the release does contain a new sense of optimism. Perhaps this is in part due to his recent marriage and the inclusion of a couple love songs such as "Standing In Your Silence," replacing songs of brokenness in relationships or longing for the one God has intended. Overall, Try is an album of hope featuring compelling thoughtful lyrics drawing the listener to the Savior. Of particular note are "Nothing Without You," which speaks of "Take these hands and lift them up/For I have not the strength to praise you near enough/I have nothing, I have nothing without you ... All my soul needs/Is all your love to cover me/So all the world will see/That I have nothing without you", and "Soldier," where Norman sings, "When everything is closing in on me/I know you set me free the day you died for me/And who is this man who calls me by name/And covers himself with all of my shame/But not even death could make you surrender/I remember."

Try is a perfect album for listening to on a cozy autumn evening, when the rain is gently falling outside and a fire quietly warming the room. An evening with your thoughts prove to be stilled in such a way that you find yourself especially reflective and thankful of God's goodness to us and love for us.