Matthew Elmore-Calling All Navigators!

A customer at my store (thank you so much!) gave me a CD of a musician from Hudsonville, just up the road from Holland, named Matthew Elmore. The CD is called Calling All Navigators! His vocal style is reminiscent of Josh Garrels and to some extent Phil Ochs, an old sixties protest singer I've always enjoyed. In one of his songs his raw vocals remind me of Keith Green and his unapologetic passion. The final song, Rescue Me, Almighty God, could easily become a new hymn classic. It reminds me of the theological richness found in the hymns of William Cowper and Augustus Toplady. Needless to say, I look forward to hearing more from this gifted young musician. As I said yesterday at work, sometimes we get our best theology from the poets and musicians. This is an example of just that.

Discovering Josh Garrels

Last week a customer came in and was looking for music and in the process of talking music stuff I mentioned Derek Webb as an artist who spoke/sang with a prophetic voice. The customer then asked if I had heard of Josh Garrels. I told him I hadn't. He bought his stuff and left. Less than a minute later he came back in with a CD of Josh's and left it with me to listen to until his special order came in (an ESV Study Bible. Cool!). Well, since that night I've become thoroughly hooked on Josh's music, listening to him just about every day, whether the CD or through his website. His style is really unique, with a combination of folk, reggae, rap, all sung in his high alto voice. Amazing.