I have some Casting Crowns, Amy Grant, and a Cheri Keaggy cd. Can you recommend some others as well? Thanks! David
Female vocalists: Crystal Lewis, Susan Ashton, Darlene Zschech Male vocalists: Phil Keaggy, Michael Card, John Michael Talbot Best of CDs for most of these artists are available, and would be my recommended avenue for exploring their work.
riki michele newest push. early michael w. smith, margaret becker, Phil Keaggy, bryan duncan, brent bourgeous, cindy morgan. these are in the era you mentioned above. all passion personified and good songwriters too. keaggy is a guitar master on top of all that.
Gaither Vocal Band. Lots of different personnel over the years, but the chemistry between the vocalists in this particular incarnation of the band was truly something special. Some of the best vocal performances I've ever heard, secular or Christian. The three vocalists other than Gaither (Mark Lowry, Guy Pinrod, David Phelps) have also had extensive solo careers and are highly recommended (their solo outputs are a bit more "contemporary", but they retain that classic vocal style).
Here's the Christian Music mix cd-r I made for my friends and relatives - (1) The Lord's Prayer - Leann Rimes (2) Where There Is Faith - 4 Him (3) Joshua - Odetta (4) Warrior For The Lord - Marilyn McCoo (5) Father God - J. K. Jamieson (6) I Believe - Leann Rimes (7) Touch The Hem Of His Garment - Sam Cooke (8) Mary, Did You Know - Hayley Westenra (9) A Man Called Jesus - Mavis Staples (10) Jesus, Lover Of My Soul - Shelley Nirider (11) You Laid Aside Your Majesty - Derri Daugherty (12) God - Rebecca St. James (13) How Great Thou Art - Connie Smith
Susan Ashton (all-time favorite). Her four solo albums in that genre are outstanding. Highly recommended and easily obtained. Much of that credit goes to Wayne Kirkpatrick who, in my eyes, is a song-writing legend. But Susan's singing voice is the best. Amy Grant too. Along the Road with Susan Ashton (who else), Christine Dente and Margaret Becker is another must have.
Phil Keaggy - especially the live album How The West Was One with 2nd Chapter of Acts Bryn Haworth - start with his 1st solo album The Gap and then get everything else. He started recoding in the 60s and he's still putting out superb blues-based albums consistently. Ed Raetzloff - He has 2 highly recommended Christian Southern-rock type albums (It Took a Long Time to Get to You & Drivin' Wheels) available on vinyl only. Largely responsible for me getting back into vinyl. John Michael Talbot - I especially like his monk era acoustic stuff. My favorite album of his is Troubadour of the Great King. Wonderful but it's not rock. It's classical guitar and orchestra. Al Green - all the Christian albums he made in the 80s are excellent. Start with He Is The Light & Soul Survivor and go from there. Mali Music - His 2014 album Mali Is is great. I suppose I'd call it modern R&B? His 2009 album The 2econd Coming is also good. Walter Hawkins - Love Alive I, II, & III. Great "mass choir" gospel. Any of Walter Hawkins' stuff is good is you like the genre. Edwin Hawkins - Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord. More "mass choir" gospel. Awesome! Sister Rosetta Tharpe - a big influence on early rock music. Her music is soulful, often rocking guitar gospel. Highly recommended. Sister Gertrude Morgan - Let's Make a Record. Voice and tambourine. I guarantee you've never heard anything like this before. This album makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Wonderful! Bob Dylan's trinity of Christian albums. Sacred Steel - This term describes a genre of gospel music using pedal steel guitar in a church context. Firey inspired music. A good compilation is called Sacred Steel Live!. There's another good instrumental album called The Word with Robert Randolph and The North Mississippi Allstars that's very good. Also check out some Campbell Brothers and Robert Randolph albums.
Switchfoot I've been a pretty big Jon Foreman fan since 2003's, The Beautiful Letdown. New album releases since that time have generally been an automatic purchase.
In the 80s, Dion made almost exclusively Christian records. Since he's my favorite voice in American music, this would be my choice.
Contemporary Christian: Keith Green Amy Grant Country Gospel Christian: The Louvin Brothers, The Lewis Family, Carl Story are good places to start but there are too many great ones to list. Classical Christian: J.S. Bach, Antonio Vivaldi are good places to start but there are too many great ones to list.
I'm not religious at all, but I enjoy some stuff. The Staple Singers are nice. The Louvin Brothers as well.
My Fav's were: Larry Norman Randy Stonehill Malcolm & Alwyn Petra (1st two albums only) Sweet Comfort Mark Heard Bob Dylan There's a fascinating expos'e on Larry Norman called "Fallen Angel" that I would recommend for those who were fans of Larry's.
I'm sure that a lot of my favorite musicians are Christians. The thread title should be changed to "Favorite Musicians who play Christian Music.
My favorite bands of the genre in the early 2000's were: The Elms The Swift The Elms were sorta power pop-like on their debut album and then their next one (Truth Soul, Rock & Roll) was more like modern day Tom Petty - which was cool. The Swift were piano power pop with the catchy choruses, background ahhs, big drums and electric guitar and tasteful bass playing.
