Baya

Baya doodles while waiting to sing in the studio. She and her sisters did backup vocals for the songs: Mighty flame and For All Time. This wasn't for the album - just a fun side project.

Travel Guitar

I love carting around this a little travel guitar that my mother-in-law gave me. It's a little Yamaha which sounds pretty nice despite its size. I've heard other guitar players tell me that it has some decent tones to it. And then I remember that the strings are about 7 years old...and it still sounds fine. Keeps me practicing when I'm on a trip so I don't get rusty on songs, or I can write songs while traveling.

Lyrics are difficult

It's crazy. It might take 10 minutes to come up with a good chord progression, and another 10 minutes for a good vocal melody. Maybe it would take up to an hour for both. But LYRICS seem to take me a couple of years. I've gotta figure out a new way to come up with lyrics. Inspiration...

Working on newer songs.

My friend Mike and I have been practicing about once per week as of late. We just finished practicing the structure and vocal melody of a song I finished a couple of days ago. I'm not sure what the song should be about. I think the next album will have something to do with the Love of God for us. We're playing with a Drummer we found on Craigslist. Easy to play with, cool guy.  We probably need to hook up sometime next week for a rehearsal.

It's time to ramp up to some more music.

I've been waiting for the right time to start writing, and playing again. I'm also wanting to either do a plugged version of Prayers of the Saints, or just re-record the entire album.  Either way, heavier drums, more driving bass, and maybe a few less keys with a few more guitars. I'm wanting more of a Springchamber style.  Much less laid back, more plugged in. Before I began recording with Springchamber in the 90s,  I played off and on with about a dozen musicians. One of those musicians was Mike Healey. We've remained friends for all these years. He was playing bass with Sky and I way back in the day before we met Chris Magnusson or Kevin McGlothan, or asked Paul Moment to join us. Mike is a guitar and bass player, and we're officially looking for a drummer... we have a bass player who's skills are pretty much off the hook.. . Maybe it's time?

Come Thou Fount Blog

http://journeythroughhymns.blogspot.com/2014/07/come-thou-fount-of-every-blessing.html

Someone sent me a blog they started regarding the differing sounds of Come Thou Fount.  Thought I'd share it.  Back in the mid-nineties, my friend "Sky" and I would occasionally sing the song at a wedding or at an occasional church service.  In Glorietta NM, we played it at a conference where a guy named David Crowder was also playing.  He'd never heard it before apparently, thanked us and put it on an album.  I've been meaning to record it since I can remember hearing it... I do believe I need to add some drums to the version I have now.  Anyway, enjoy the link to the blog, it is a collection of many differing versions of the song recorded and displayed around the web.

Coffee shop meeting

Baelina and I met a woman a couple of days ago named Becky Garrison.  Friendly. We hung out at Starbucks for coffee.  Baya didn't want any coffee... doesn't really like it.  We talked about some of my church involvement in my earlier worship years, the nature of elder-ship and leadership in the church. And we talked about our recent album.  Apparently, she's an author, editor, and an overall "Emerging Church" researcher and history church buff.  You can read more about her on her website at: http://www.beckygarrison.com/about.html

Breathecast Album Review

A couple of weeks ago, we emailed a few folks in the online Christian Music scene letting them know that we had finished an acoustic version of our worship album, and invited a few editors to check it out.  Today I received an email from a place called Breathecast letting us know that a review had been done.  Below are a couple of quotes from the article.

 "Prayers of the Saints is an intriguing project...prayers that span right through church history and set them to (mostly) newly crafted music."

 "In his inimitable ways, Currah has crafted contemporary tunes to go along with these ancient innovations making them accessible to our modern ears."

"In our culture of pithy lines and trite clichés, "Prayers of the Saints" need some time to be acquainted to.  But if one should take the time to listen, mediate, reflect upon the words of these ancient prayers, they will deepen our theological appreciation of God.  And in times when we do struggle like many of God's saints had, these prayers supply us with the vocabulary to utter some of our inner most pain and angst to our heavenly Father."

Working on "Paris"

I spent the day in the Tri-Cities. Most of my thoughts of the day have been on what kind of lyrics to write for "Paris"... The most recent song that Mike and I have been working on.  No luck yet. Maybe tomorrow.. 

The Currah girls are getting ready to spend the weekend at the beach with friends. There's something about a cabin right on the beach...

The Album is Now Finished!

After weeks of planning, days of pre-production and hours of recording... the album is finally finished. Thanks to all family and friends for your support in the creation of this album. To hear samples of the album, click on the MUSIC tab on the blog's home page... That is, whenever we can get it uploaded... with the right drums? Hope you enjoy it!

Progress on the Album Cover Mosaic

Devonna has designed a mosaic for the album cover. To follow its construction, I took pictures of it...I hope to upload them into a gallery at some point. It's a mosaic of the moon. The moon is a place of reflection. Of the sun, of our lives, with shadows. It's desolate, it has beauty to see all around it, from it. The view is constantly changing. There are times of brightness and darkness. It seems like a lonely place, though full of other reflectors. We can gather and reflect together, seen from space.

The Unveiling of the Artwork (8/6/2013 - Transferred Archive)

Devonna has drawn the album cover of her choice for Prayers of the Saints.  She's chosen her tile colors, set up her desk.... Next, I cut a piece of hardy-backer to fit the electric chord organ which we will eventually install the finished mosaic onto. Now, she begins the mosaic.  More pics of the mosaic in progress, as well as the organ...soon.