The latest part of the ongoing series chronicling, in no particular order, the greatest 1001 recordings made by Christian artists

370. MATTHEW WEST - FAMILY TREE, 2010. From the album 'The Story Of Your Life', Sparrow.
Every now and again Nashville CCM rises above the shallows of feel good fluff and comes up with a song to minister deeply to the bruised and broken. Such a song is this magnificent item from the pen of the Nashville-based singer/songwriter. Inspired by the story of one Rebecca, raised in a broken family and seemingly caught in the repeated cycle of generational sin. On this modern classic this most gifted of songwriters has crafted a haunting pop song deftly executed by some of Nashville's finest musicians and with an arrangement from producers Brown Bannister and Pete Kipley which brings out the full power of the lyrics. And what lyrics. "You didn't ask for this/Nobody ever would/Caught in the middle of this dysfunction/It's your sad reality/It's your messed up family tree/Now you're left with all these questions/Are you gonna be like your father and his father was?/Do you have to carry what they've handed down?" And then comes the soaring response, "This is not your destiny/Yesterday does not define you/No, this is not your legacy/This is not what you're meant to be/I can break the chains that bind you."
Tony Cummings

371. STEVE BELL - LAMENT FOR A NATION, 1997. From the album 'Romantics & Mystics', Signpost.
Having recorded over 15 solo albums on his own Signpost label over the past 20 years, and toured regularly, Winnipeg-based Steve Bell has long been established as one of Canada's most loved musicians. Yet he still remains a largely unknown quantity this side of the Atlantic. His 1997 recording, the intriguingly titled, 'Romantics & Mystics', won Gospel Album Of The Year award in his homeland and contains some of his finest songs; craftily penned numbers performed in his distinctive acoustic folk-pop style and delivered by his sinuous and heartfelt vocals. While many of these tracks are wistful love songs, or pertinent reflections on various aspects of life, "Lament For A Nation" sees Bell don a prophetic cap as he mourns over the extent to which his country has departed from God's standards. "When I hear our nation's anthem/Of Canada I'm proud/(but) Where have our night watchmen been?". It is, of course, a sentiment that could, and should, be expressed for our own nation, and indeed any country in the Western world.
Tom Lennie

372. TBC - BEAUTIFUL, 2007. From the album 'Talk Of The Town', Movation.
TBC were never the kind of group that would gain much kudos with the critics. Afterall, their point of focus was young girls and in the rigid orthodoxy of most pop/rock writers, being a tweenie pop group was tantamount to an admission of throw away banality. The truth was though that the wise old heads Zarc Porter and Mark Pennells of Manchester's schools evangelism ministry Innervation Trust never allowed the girls' three albums to descend to derivative fluff while on this song the final version of the group - Rach, Nat, Meg and Lucy - have the best ballad ever penned by Pennells and Porter. Its Carpenters-style melody has a poetic contemplation of the Saviour ("When I try to imagine your face/When you died and you took my place/All my pride all my shame and disgrace/Forgiven"). A perfect piece of holy pop.
Tony Cummings

Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys

373. BILL MONROE & HIS BLUEGRASS BOYS - I'VE FOUND A HIDING PLACE, 1958. From the album 'Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys 1950-1958', JSP.
Alongside his classic hits like "Mule Skinner Blues" and "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" Bill - the heralded Father Of Bluegrass Music - recorded numerous hymns and gospel songs, some of which, like "My Long Journey Home" and "He Will Set Your Fields On Fire", are considered the definitive versions. The same can be said for this song, originally penned in 1939 by the legendary Albert E Brumley and given a romping rendition which exudes hoedown joy and which would often produce encores when Bill and his Boys performed it at the Grand Ole Opry. "I've Found A Hiding Place"'s jolly verses ("Since my Jesus came/Oh praise his holy name") led into the choruses where Bill's high, almost surreal falsetto, lines out the song with the Bluegrass Boys providing Appalachian-style harmonies. The fast tempo gives the track time for a false ending and a stupendous mandolin solo from the lightning-fingered Monroe. Gospel bluegrass at its finest.
Tony Cummings

374. CHRIS LIZOTTE & MARIA McKEE - HOLD ME UP, 1994. From the album 'Long Time Comin'', Metro One.
These days Chris Lizotte is a worship leader based in South California but back in the mid '90s he was an up and coming bluesy-voiced singer/songwriter with a talent for creating vibey pop rock songs. The 'Long Time Comin'' album is packed with great tracks but this is the piece de resistance. Five years after Maria McKee had a number one hit with "Show Me Heaven" here in the UK, she made a few guest appearances on some West Coast Christian albums. This duet with Lizotte is one such appearance and the way in which the two singers intertwine and blend their voices here is a complete triumph, displaying intense, soulful passion which peaks as they hit the chorus. The combination of instrumentation and vocal performance, well crafted song and atmospheric vibe make this an unacknowledged classic.
Mike Rimmer

375. BLIND WILLIE McTELL - I GOT TO CROSS THE RIVER OF JORDAN, 1940. From the album 'Goodbye, Babylon', Dust-To-Digital.
Like many of his contemporaries from Georgia bluesman McTell played a searing 12 string bottleneck guitar and on this rendition of a traditional gospel song, recorded in an Atlanta hotel room for folkorist John A Lomax, the bluesman brings out all the powerful hope of a Heavenly destination and trepidation at the thought of the Judgment in the memorable lyric ("I got to face my dear Saviour/I got to face him for myself/There's nobody else can face him for me"). The Carter Family recorded a variant of the song in 1928 but its origins are older than the first family of country music. McTell died in 1959 just as the white audience was beginning to discover the riches of blues music so he never saw much in the way of financial rewards for his huge talent.
Tony Cummings

376. JARROD COOPER - ABOVE ALL, 2005. From the album 'King Of Kings, Majesty', Authentic.
Sitting alone at his piano, the impression came upon American worship leader Paul Baloche of how far beyond absolutely all things (power, wealth, fame, etc) Christ truly reigns. The next day he shared his thoughts with fellow songwriter Lenny LeBlanc, and soon after one of the most deeply touching inspirational worship songs of all time was born. Since then "Above All" has been performed and recorded by scores of musicians from a variety of genres, among them Michael W Smith, Marvin Sapp, Rebecca St James and Randy Travis, while it was even remixed with a dance beat by Hillsong London. But surely the most moving rendition of all is that by Hull-based worship leader and pastor Jarrod Cooper.
Tom Lennie

377. LAURA STORY - BLESSINGS, 2011. From the album 'Blessings', INO.
As all aficionados of modern worship music will know, Laura, from Atlanta, Georgia, has written a worship song classic in "Indescribable". What hopefully will become equally apparent in the coming months and years is that the title track of her latest is right up there with her signature song. Her sweet but expressive voice is crystal clear, the production from Nathan Nockels is delightfully understated while the lyric is as good as CCM gets. "We pray for blessings, we pray for peace/Comfort for family, protection while we sleep/We pray for healing, for prosperity/We pray for your mighty hand to ease our suffering" followed by the superb chorus, "'Cause what if your blessings come thru raindrops/What if your healing comes through tears/What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know you're near/What if trials of this life are your mercies in disguise."
Tony Cummings

Nervous Passenger

378. NERVOUS PASSENGER - DRIFT AWAY, 1999. From the album 'Taller Trees', Room 3.
Nervous Passenger was a four-piece group that flourished in central Scotland for a number of years in the 1990s, before finally disbanding in 2001. On their own Room 3 record label they released an EP and then a full-length recording in 1996 and '99 respectively - both to high acclaim. While comparisons were justly made to Crowded House and REM, this team essentially had their own distinct sound, marked as it was by thoughtful, poetic lyrics, arresting melodies and, particularly, Neil Alton's intriguing, inimitable vocals, described by a Cross Rhythms reviewer as "one of the most original lead singers in Christendom". The semi-acoustic track "Drift Away" employs guitar, drums and accordion, along with an evocative, meandering melody, to encourage the person "that's got a past/Like a pocket full of holes" to get back on the path that is ultimately far more fulfilling.
Tom Lennie

379. RELIENT K - DEATHBED, 2007. From the album 'Five Score And Seven Years Ago', Gotee.
'Five Score. . .' was the album that finally convinced us that Relient K were so much more than pop punk pun purveyors. And "Deathbed" was the last track climax to a great album, an 11-minute epic which, with no hint of maudlin overkill, portrays a man dying of lung cancer, reflecting on his life. By the time Switchfoot's Jon Foreman, as God, makes an entrance at the climax of the song one has both been dazzled by the building crescendos of the arrangement and convinced that Relient's Matt Thiessen is one of the greatest songwriters currently knocking out pop songs. A sonic feast which still retains the ability to draw tears from the listener.
Tony Cummings

380. BESSEMER MELODY BOYS - SLEEP, MY MOTHER, 1930. From the various artists album 'Black Vocal Groups Vol 1', Document.
If you hold to the mistaken belief that vocal groups with wurpaburbing bass singers and high tenor leaders ducking and weaving over their chanting group members were the invention of '50s doowop groups it's clearly time you investigated the pre-war origins of gospel music. Back in the '30s and '40s hundreds of jubilee groups were laying down the template for the secularised variant of the '50s. The Bessemers were one of the many such groups birthed in and around Jefferson County, Alabama and on a much loved spiritual (otherwise known as "Sleep On, Mother") they make a great sound with Sid Williams providing a cool lead and the rest of the guys going calanka-lanka like their lives depended on it. Doowop gospel seldom sounded better.
Tony Cummings

381. STEVE TAYLOR - JESUS IS FOR LOSERS, 1993. From the album 'Squint', Warner Alliance.
Mr Taylor has long been praised by Cross Rhythms as one of Christendom's greatest lyricists while his own albums during those exhilarating few years when he was up there with the very best acts, Christian or non-Christian, still sound fresh and fiery even today. This classic from '93 has the agent provocateur in more reflective mood. The first verse expresses the singer/songwriter's stumbling journey with God ("Driven ahead by some noble ideal/Who took the wheel?/If I was given/Given a glimpse of some glorious road/When was it sold?/So caught up in the chase/I keep forgetting my place, just as I am/I am stiff-necked and proud"). And then that haunting chorus which turns the negativity of the title on its head to become a reflection of our failures and God's grace ("Jesus is for losers/Why do I still play to the crowd?/Just as I am/Pass the compass, please/Jesus is for losers/I'm off about a hundred degrees." Magnificent.
Tony Cummings

382. ONEREPUBLIC - STOP AND STARE, 2007. From the album 'Dreaming Out Loud', Interscope.
Pop rock hits seldom come as perfectly formed as this one and was further proof, if it was needed, that singer, songwriter and producer Ryan Tedder is right up there with the McCartneys and the Bacharachs in penning songs that get the whole world singing. That surging, rich chorus is a delight and fully deserves its international pop success. The accompanying video is something of a classic as well.
Tony Cummings

Keith Green

383. KEITH GREEN - PLEDGE MY HEAD TO HEAVEN, 1980. From the album 'So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt', Pretty Good.
In 1979, Keith Green talked his way out of his contract with Sparrow Records and decided to record as an independent artist and distribute his albums taking for payment whatever his fans could afford. He mortgaged his house to pay for recording costs and 'So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt' was the result. This track is a typical piece of upbeat Green pop married to a lyric that sees him surrender his wife and son to God. Putting God above everyone else, he sings "I'm going to follow you no matter whatever the cost/I'm gonna to count all things lost." Like so many of Keith Green's songs, it's delivered in radical fashion. Musically, as always it's built around Keith's distinctive piano playing and the rhythm section of Bill Maxwell and Abraham Laboriel and sweetened by some Hadley Hockensmith guitar and lovely backing vocals from Matthew Ward. One thing that makes this a unique Christian music track is the appearance of one Bob Dylan who at 2:50 contributes a harmonica solo. Don't know about you but I'd like to have been in the studio when a newly saved Dylan was hanging out with Keith Green!
Mike Rimmer