«Today’s Lyrics Are Pathetically Bad» Rick Beato

@ezwind: The two times I saw Iris at The Troubadour, the room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop between songs. It was kind of uncomfortable. Iris didn’t speak much, and at one of the shows I think there were a few groups from churches in the audience, with their kids.

At the two shows here in Portland, Iris was having a lot more fun, and was actually quite funny. Lots of self-deprecating humor. God I love her so.

@slaw: I just picked up a coupla Secret Sisters albums at Music Millennium. All it takes for me is to see that T Bone Burnette produced. He or Buddy Miller. Has anyone else heard the Healing Tide album by the Gospel duo The War & Treaty (Michael and Tanya Trotter) that Buddy produced? Fantastic! Buddy (and his wife Julie) come from the Contemporary Christian music community. Coincidentally, so does T Bone.

In what alternative universe did T Bone Burnett record anything remotely close to “contemporary christian”?

Bet this conversation has been had by every generation as new music evolves.

I bet you are right.

Secret Sisters are really good. How to classify them may take some thinkin'.

Going back a few years ago, I remember hearing He's Fine on the radio a few times so I bought the CD for that song.  I cannot say that, for me personally, anything except that song really grabbed me.  I'll have to give it another listen.

@ghastley: I take it then that you haven’t heard T Bone’s latest album The Other Side. If you go way back to his first solo album from 1972 (entitled J. Henry Burnett, The B-52 Band & The Fabulous Skylarks) you will find a song written by T Bone entitled "I Don’t Mind No Light Sermon". In between those two albums, his others include lyrics with spiritual references, just as do Dylan’s. And just as do his albums as a member of the trio known as The Alpha Band, with David Mansfield and Steven Soles.

But remember, I said T Bone "came out of the Contemporary Christian community." That doesn’t necessarily mean he recorded and released any album in that format/genre. T Bone was a member of a famous church in Southern California (I don’t recall it’s name), where Dylan also went to study the Bible.

T Bone’s ex-wife Sam Phillips also started as a Contemporary Christian artist, then going by the name Leslie Phillips. I have her four CC solo albums (all on Myrrth Records, the last---The Turning---produced by T Bone) on CD. T Bone and Sam met as a result of their Christian activities, as did Buddy and Julie Miller. Julie also had some solo albums put out as a CC artist, which I also have on CD.