Religious music

Amanda has been encouraging me to record versions of some of my favorite hymns. Obviously I appreciate music, but the trouble is, with LDS music it's hard to be enthusiastic about it. Most of it is just so boring. And when an effort is made to make it so the music isn't boring, it's so corny it's embarrassing. Isn't a person's relationship with God supposed to be rewarding and fulfilling? And if that's the case, why does so much LDS music sound like the soundtrack for a coma? I don't know the answer to that. I'm sure it lies somewhere in our culture's tendency to celebrate the bland.

Anyway, here's a few of the songs Amanda has been encouraging me to record. Maybe they're embarrassing. I don't know.

just click the song titles:
Come, Come Ye Saints (download link)
All Creatures Of Our God and King
High On The Mountain Top
Reunion/The Spirit Of God (I did this one for Amanda right after we learned we can be sealed sometime soon.)

On a related note, I once did a story about a guy who knits all sorts of different clothing. He was very good at it and his life story was amazing. He said something though that was very insightful about life along the Wasatch Front. He said that he loves to knit. He loves knitting all sorts of items. He loves to knit colorful items. But here, people only like stuff if it's brown. If he makes a brightly colored hat, nobody will buy it. If he makes a brown hat, it sells quickly.

Amanda has a red sweater the guy made. I have the brown hat. Doesn't surprise me at all that Amanda went for the colorful one.

Here's one more song for you to check out. It's an arrangement of a hymn done by my friend Micah. I love this one. It's by his band Vista:Four. I was in the band for awhile (after they recorded this song) and it was one of the most rewarding times I ever had musically. I'll have to post some of the stuff we did at another time, but since I'm on the topic of religious music, I thought I'd share this one too.

Elders of Israel (download link)