We just returned from our family vacation in Estes Park, CO where we had a wonderfully refreshing time, thank you for asking. The highs were in the 50’s and it was sunny just about every day. Coffee somehow seems to taste better with the sting of crisp mountain air, but it’s good to be back. These first two pictures serve as just a slight indicator of the difference between our two oldest boys.

Miles was perfectly content to fish,

while Owen would rather jump from the nearby rocks.

We were able to do some hiking, some fishing, we saw some elk, we went to Focus on the Family’s Whit’s End and the boys were able to spend some time with their cousins, which they loved. Here are some more pictures:

The wide, wonderful world of the blogosphere holds treasures unknown. Stuff you didn’t even know interested you until it did! Here you’ll find some links to things that, for whatever reason, interested me during this past week and caused me to think. Sometimes you’ll see the interest, sometimes you won’t. If you don’t, just let me know and I’d be happy to share! And remember, linking does not equal endorsing. Not as much to report this week since we’ve been out of town, and for the most part, away from computers, but enjoy:

See what I hear at Last.fm.

Sign up for eMusic, find lots of DRM-free downloads and help me earn free downloads in the process. Everyone wins!

Read about the German politician who wants to put a 7-year expiration date on all marriages.

Read as Stylus examines how several “indie” labels are tackling the digital market.

Read as my review of Jeremy Casella’s Recovery album has been picked up by Infuze.

See a neat way to display your Pez dispensers (because I know you collect them too!).

Marvel as my wife has updated our family blog!

Read as Apple admits that a “small number” of its iPod Touch units have problems displaying “dark” images.

Watch about the artist who paints using worms.

Read about the last Jew in Afghanistan celebrating Yom Kippur alone.

Browse Steve McCoy’s tips for sermon preparation.

Read about Sotheby’s selling one of Vincent Van Gogh’s final landscapes, “The Fields.”

Read Kim Riddlebarger’s “Reply to John MacArthur’s 2007 Shepherd’s Conference Lecture on Self-Respecting Calvinists and Premillennialism,” in which MacArthur asserted that “Every Self-Respecting Calvinist is a Premillennialist” (ht: Matt).

Frown as “French mime artist Marcel Marceau dies.”

Read about the “Christian right” looking to regain its political clout.

Read about the president of Baylor University refusing to comment on his school’s silencing of Intelligent Design on campus.

Read as John Stackhouse explains why he’s not “in love” with Jesus.

Read as our friend Jeremy Casella posts some thoughts on Rich Mullins.

Browse the “faith-based” jewelry at Imperishable Beauty.

Read about the senior citizens protesting to be able to have doughnuts.

Read as Al Mohler reflects on the coming Anglican schism.

Read Christianity Today’s review of the new David Crowder Band album Remedy.

Read their review of the new Tree63 album Sunday!

Read as Christianity Today looks for “Glimpses of God” in the new Smashing Pumpkins album Zeitgeist.

Visit the updated Album Reviews page.

Read what John Piper said at his granddaughters funeral.

Read as Books & Culture posts “An Evangelical Critique of An Evangelical Declaration Against Torture.”

Read as Christianity Today profiles the Saint John’s Bible, with 1,150 pages of hand-written text and art.

Read about the recent study which found that depictions of gay characters are decreasing on network television, while increasing on cable.

Read about Starbucks giving away free iTunes downloads to promote their new partnership.

Read about the two leading “Creationist” ministries settling their differences.

Read as Barna claims that the next generation of youth are “frustrated and skeptical” about Christianity.

Visit the newly created/updated “Interviews” page.

My family are in Estes Park, CO for some much needed family vacation.  In the meantime, I’m pleased to announce that today is the first in what I hope will be a series of “collaborative” posts. I’m hoping to draw in some perspectives other than my own. I’m still pondering just what this will actually look like but the hope behind it is to hear from a variety of people who are exploring the balance between the Christian faith and creativity. Today we begin with a review of the new David Crowder band album Remedy, from Brannon McAllister, Creative Director for Portland Studios in Greenville, SC.

If you have suggestions about what this should look like, issues you would like to see addressed, people you’d like to hear from or if you would like to participate yourself, please feel free to contact me.

I don’t remember what initially led me to download A Collision from iTunes, perhaps just raw curiosity, but over a few months of listening on and off, it started to make sense to me. I connected with what he was trying to do: an odd convergence of electronica, arena rock, and evangelical exuberance. I’m a “singer/songwriter guy” by nature–––not the sort of person to lose myself in a sea-wave of modern worship anthems. But A Collision started to take down some of that reticence, at least for one hour. As I listened to Crowder’s music, there was a beautiful undulation of overjoyed peaks and sorrow-filled troughs that truthfully captured my personal Christian experience.

Now to this week’s new release: Remedy. I’d wager that this might be the first time an album covering Charles Wesley’s “O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing” has made it to number 5. The record is a concise collection of ten fine-tuned but accessible songs. While I miss the long track title/short interstitial track quirks of A Collision, there’s certainly nothing missing in either the production or songwriting here. Crowder’s crew, along with mixer Shane D. Wilson have masterfully crafted a flawless sonic landscape. It feels just right. This is the sort of record you need your headphones to enjoy.

The songs–––sometimes restrained, sometimes epic–––all carry an alarming earnestness that draws in the listener. I will say that my initial hearing of the record left me feeling that the song sequence doesn’t ring as true as the last album–––not quite the sweeping emotional arc of A Collision. But this is still a very, very good record; polished and well thought-through. It even embraces the sort of revival-tinged fervor that’s likely to make the skeptic squirm in his stadium seat, or at least the introvert while still pleasing the extroverts.

I’d ask that anyone who’s perhaps avoided Crowder because of the excesses of much of today’s “worship music” to give this guy a chance. Give Remedy an extended listen, in fact. With something that’s this popular, I find myself tempted to call this sort of music a “guilty pleasure,” but that would be a proud and unfair way to put it. I’m just going to say its great.

• Purchase Remedy for yourself
• Visit the official David Crowder Band website

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Brannon McAllister (www.brannonmcallister.com) spends his day as Creative Director at Portland Studios (www.portlandstudios.com), a design, illustration, and animation firm based in Greenville, SC.

Doug Burr is quickly and rightly rising in prominence in the Dallas music scene. He has been nominated for and won several songwriting honors and opened for Bill Mallonee, The Great lake Swimmers among others. While his first album was an independently released gospel record called The Sickle and the Sheaves. His newest album, On Promenade, is co-released by Velvet Blue Records, home of Starflyer 59, Joy Electric, Fine China and others, along with Spune, promoters of the Dallas Wall of Sound music festival.

Doug Burr plays music that feels like it’s been part of your life all along. It’s music that’s at once challenging and comforting, “subtle yet commanding”. Burr performs music that broadly falls in the “alt. country” and modern folk genres, drawing from many of your favorites, Wilco, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Neil Young, Will Oldham and others. But Burr weaves all of these influences into a sound all his own, both familiar and new.

The album draws heavily on country, rock and pop influences filtered through Daniel Lanois‘ shimmering production approach and the fog of the blues. Burr weaves together strong hooks and melodies in in both the electric and acoustic arenas. Lyrically, the album is less straight-forward about issues of faith as its predecessor The Sickle and the Sheaves, Burr’s Gospel project, but faith remains at the center of these songs as the foundation that remains unshaken through the sometimes rough times of life. Though Burr deals with issues of love and loss, he upholds it all with the light of redemption always shining through the cracks.

Burr skillfully balances the melancholy of country twang with the hope of redemption. The album opens with “Slow Southern Home,” which for many, will be the defining song of the album, setting the mood from the start with the opening lines: “I lay awake for a night, drenched in anguish and bright light.” The album intersperses quieter but no less moving numbers such as “Come to My Senses” featuring the rapture imagery: ” There’s werewolves standing on Jordan’s shores” and “Whippoorwill,” with its optimistic eye towards Spring, which use sparse instrumentation to full effect. But it’s the more fleshed out numbers that carry the bulk of the weight. “Graniteville” tells the tale of a town caught sleeping while a train filled with poison crashes in its midst. Using guitars and fiddle to mimic the screeching train, the song lumbers to the crescendo of a lover’s plea that his love be remembered in the face of an uncertain future.

The album centers around a pair of tunes dealing with the Van Gogh brothers, “How Can the Lark (My Dear Theo)” and “Should’ve Known.” The first excerpts correspondence between Vincent Van Gogh and his brother Theo about Vincent’s love for young woman, which ended in the desperate act of chopping off his ear and sending it to her. “Should’ve Known,” centers on Theo Van Gogh, the great-grandson of the original Theo, who was murdered in broad daylight for his film about Muslim abuses of women. These two songs, with their mixture of hope and disappointment, their shimmering electric guitars, and swelling melodies, form the center of a beautiful and moving album.

While the album is most easily categorized as “alt. country,” there is enough variety and song-craft to appeal to a wider audience than the tag might suggest. Burr has succeeded where so many fail: harnessing and balancing hurt and hope, love and loss while making you feel as if it’s all just a letter from a longtime friend, one you hope to hear from again soon.

Highly recommended.

• Visit Doug Burr’s official website
• Purchase On Promenade from Velvet Blue

Great music is everywhere for those with ears to hear. In other words, you have to be listening. My wife and some of our best friends had the unexpected treat of being as affected by an opening act as the headliner when we went to see local Dallas/Denton singer-songwriter open for Bill Mallonee, formerly of the Vigilantes of Love. Burr thoroughly impressed us all. Plugged says: “If Doug Burr’s not your new favorite singer/songwriter, it’s because you haven’t heard of him yet.” Leaving such hyperbole aside, we recently caught up with Burr on the release of his new album On Promenade to discuss life, art and everything in between:

• Where and when were you born?

Dallas, 1972

• Were you raised in a musical home?

Not very musical. No one composed music anyway. Mom played old hymns on the piano a good bit. But nobody creating any music.

• When did you begin playing music? When did you begin writing?

I began playing guitar at sixteen. I probably began writing finished songs at about eighteen. Nothing from that era that I claim today though.Took me quite a while to hit my stride as a songwriter.

• Do you have employment other than music at this time? If music is not your full-time job, how do you balance a “work life” with your “creative” life?

Yes - I’m the breadwinner for my family - two kids and one on the way. So music can’t afford much but music gear and some recording here and there. I work by day as an HRIS systems analyst. It’s always a struggle with a full-time day job to try to consistently write songs, record, and perform live shows. But especially with kids since you don‘t have any time to yourself until awhile after they‘ve gone to bed. But then there‘s still the household chores to think about. So I’ve just gotten to where I stay up later and later to fit in time to create music.

• You have been nominated for and won several songwriting awards. Artists in your position often gain a lot of ground by having other artists cover their material. What song of yours would you like to see covered and by whom?

I’m open the idea of having a wide variety of artists cover virtually any portion of my material. I see it as a healthy thing for art in general, and also a great way to sustain a career in music. I love what Johnny Cash did near the end of his life with his records put out by the Rick Rubin’s American Recordings label. He covered songs by Danzig and Depeche Mode. I mean who would have thunk it. But there it was - and it is just brilliant. I think that kind of cross-pollination can benefit both artists, and the material itself. So I’m certainly open to that and would just take it on a case by case basis.

• Do you hope to do music full-time? If so, what moves are you making towards that goal?

I certainly hope to do music full-time one day. It’s all that I think about all day, whatever I’m doing. It’s the thing I get most excited about; I’m just in love with the power of music.

• How do you balance the creative and business sides of music?

There’s not a huge business element to what I do with my music at this point. Really about the only business stuff I have to mess with is trying to be strategic about where and how often I book shows, what my website’s going to look like, what the t-shirt design should look like, who I’m going to follow up with regarding shopping my record…okay so there’s a few business items. But it’s all pretty small scale stuff. It certainly can keep me busy at times, but I’m just as eager to do those things because they pave the way for me to do what I love doing, which is making music for people. I also have to remind myself every time I hit a dead-end, that the songs - the music itself - is the one thing that has the power to drive everything else. So I try to never lose sight of the fact that there is nothing on the business end you can do to make this thing fly if the music is not excellent. And there is nothing that can stop it if the music is where it needs to be - it will find its way to the light if it’s good enough. So at the end of each day, I just focus on trying to get better.

• Are you married? Children? Is your family supportive of your art?

Yes - Twelve years. Two, and one more due in early November (2007). My wife is super-supportive, and I never would have made it this far without her constant encouragement and sacrifice to let me attempt such a ridiculously crazy alternate life.

• Were you raised in a religious home?

Yes. Grew up Southern Baptist. My parents, my parents’ parents - and on and on, from both sides.

• Do you consider yourself to be a Christian?

Yes, I do.

• If so, could you please share a bit about your salvation experience (your “testimony”)?

Well, growing up in a Christian home with good parents, it was a very logical decision for me, and at a very early age. I understood that Jesus presented me a choice - to choose His love or go without. As I grew, you begin to understand that at a deeper level, but it’s really still the same situation - the same choice. Depend on God, or depend on yourself.

• How does your faith affect your art?

It informs and inspires everything I do. My art is no exception to that.

• Are you involved in a local church? If so, what role does church life play in your faith?

Yes. My wife and I believe being involved in a local body of Believers to be an act of obedience to New Testament Scripture, and very necessary to ongoing growth in Christ. To be a part of a church body is to be used by God for others sake and to be blessed, challenged, and encouraged by others as well.

• What role, if any, do you believe local churches should play in the arts?

I think churches should embrace art as a way to engage culture. But it seems that rarely do churches train, equip, or even dare to lend much support to this idea. I think it requires Believers to walk a line that is uncomfortable to be able to enter into this conversation with culture, and requires abandoning some of our insecurities that have become a false holiness.

• You are signed to Velvet Blue, which has been at the outskirts of “Christian” music for many years? What are your thoughts on “Christian” music?

Well, I feel like the term “Christian music” earmarks music as music that would be endorsed by the current-day Christian music industry. And as such reduces it to 3.5 minute sermonettes based on a pre-approved range of topics (not speaking to worship music here - music intended for corporate worship - that‘s a whole other topic). No longer is the artist free to write about anything that comes across his/her path - not free to follow the muse - no matter how important, urgent, or relevant, because it’s got to fit inside that list of approved topics. And that’s just not how life reads, and not how even the Bible reads. Certainly, there are bands that have been able to exist in the Christian music camp and still put out worthwhile and even great music. But I think it’s a very risky proposition, and it still virtually ensures that a ton of would-be fans who may exist outside the pews will never hear your name. So I guess I’ve found that I have the most freedom as a writer outside of the Christian market altogether. I think Velvet Blue is a good fit because Jeff Cloud - the owner - shares a similar perspective - he’s not out looking for Christian bands - just music he thinks is great.

• Do you listen to any “Christian” music? Are there any “Christian” artists you think are doing it right?

I usually avoid “Christian music” (talking commercial Christian radio and Christian record stores) because it gets annoying to me very quickly. But then again, so does mainstream pop country and pop rock these days. So to look for anybody doing things right, I try to pay attention to the live music scene - or publications that promote more independent stuff.

• Your first album focused much more openly on faith issues, but they are no less present in On Promenade. Did you approach this album any differently from the first?

The Sickle & the Sheaves is a gospel concept record. Much like Cash, Elvis, or Dylan put out gospel records, but that’s not all they wrote/sung about. There are other things also out there that warrant our time and attention, and that same gospel is ultimately part of those things, or those things are part of it.

• The connection between “How Can the Lark (My Dear Theo)” and “Should’ve Known” is obviously the Van Gogh brothers, can you elaborate a bit on how those songs work together?

Great question - “How Can the Lark” was taken from correspondence letters between Vincent and Theo Van Gogh. At that point, I had already written “Should’ve Known” which I wrote about a current-day descendant of the Van Gogh brothers - also named Theo Van Gogh - who was murdered as a result of making an independent film about abuses of women by Muslim men. I thought it interesting that Vincent had apparently gone insane, sending his severed ear to a lady for whom he had feelings, as if to say “Stop, and listen to me”. Was it coincidence that his descendent was stabbed in broad daylight on a German street for making a documentary that seemed to say ‘stop and listen’?

• What artists have inspired you?

Blind Willie Johnson, Johnny Cash, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Will Oldham, The Clash, Bill Mallonee, to name a few of the ones having the biggest impact.

• What music are you listening lately and what are some of your all-time recommendations?

My CD-player in my car doesn’t work very well and has slowed down my intake - but all-time recommendations would be: Bonnie “Prince” Billy (Will Oldham) Master & Everyone, Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, any Blind Willie Johnson recordings you can get your hands on (there aren’t many songs he recorded), the Anthology of American Folk Music by Harry Smith (put out by the Smithsonian).

• What are you currently reading and what are some of your all-time recommendations?

Currently: Flannery O’Connor’s Wiseblood, George MacDonald’s Phantastes.

All-time recommendations: Greil Marcus’s Mystery Train. I don’t know, I’m severely under-read, but I finished Moby Dick a year or so ago and loved it.

• What’s next?

Well I’m going to be embarking on a project to record some of the Psalms I’ve set to music hopefully this Winter. It’s just a crazy idea I got a few years ago when I spent some time between jobs and was in a writing lull. But as I began to move it forward, I really fell in love with this idea, and the power these seem to have. Then within twelve months from now, I’d like to be finishing up a follow-up full-length to On Promenade.

Thanks for taking the time to ask me these questions!

We’re heading out to Estes Park, CO for a week of family fun and relaxation (that’s always easier said than done, though isn’t it?). I have talked to a couple of friends about providing “guest” posts for the week so I hope to be able to introduce you to a couple of guest bloggers this week. I also hope to post an album review of one of my new favorite albums Doug Burr’s new album On Promenade as well as an interview with Burr himself. I’m not sure what my internet access will look like, so postings may or may not be sporadic. I’ve downloaded a bunch of sermons and I’m looking forward to listening instead of preaching! See you on the other side. In the meantime, visit my wife’s blog to see some mighty cute boys!

• Visit my wife’s blog
• Visit Doug Burr’s official website
• Order Doug Burr’s new album On Promenade