Mormon music gets a bad rap far too often. People criticize it as cheesy, over and under produced, and too derivative. Far too often these criticism become self-fulfilling prophecies, as I know several people who refuse to listen to any sort of LDS music – making it a vicious circle: The music is apparently lame so they won’t listen to it, and thus they never actually hear it. (This isn’t to say there isn’t lame LDS music – but Sturgeon’s Law applies among Mormons as much as it does to other musical markets).
As a guy who has been on a couple of LDS themed albums (Guitar on “Wexford Carol” for Mark Geslison and Geoff Groberg on A Timeless Christmas on Covenant records and some Bouzouki work for Bonnie Jae Egbert for “May We See Him?” on InVoice Record’s Come to Bethlehem album), I often wonder why more people won’t give “LDS music a chance.” Perhaps they are afraid to try, or (more likely) they’ve been burned by too many less than stellar acts and have decided to give up entirely on the genre.
Well, in order to help the genre along, I’m going to list a few artists in the LDS genre that more people should try. My hope is this will spur the comment makers to suggest their own favorite acts.
I should add a few ground rules:
1. The artist should produce content that at least contains some Mormon elements. Randy Bachman is great, but his greatest hits don’t really contain much LDS content.
2. The artists should have, at least one point in their careers, aimed their music at a squarely (if not exclusively) LDS audience. Often, this means they performed a lot in Utah.
3. But, again – whatever works for you. If it can be justified as “Mormon Music” – more power to you.
4. However, I would prefer not to have comments like “Coldplay, while not LDS, has a lot of themes that resonate with Mormon ideas.” That’s a different thread. I’m interested in rehabilitating LDS specific music.
Here are a few:
Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band
Yes, they have “sold their soul” to Nashville (they deserve it – they should have been there years ago), but their music does not shy away from LDS themes. Their song “Walk the Walk” mentions Noah, Jonah and – Alma the Younger as examples of people who learned to “Walk the Walk” of “the things Jesus taught.” “If I Were a Bird” ends with the narrator going up to heaven and the Lord telling him to go back to Earth and be the man he’s supposed to be.
Beyond that, their music is just plain fun. Every member of the band is a virtuoso (usually on several instruments) and they mix Bluegrass, Jazz, Country and Rock into a unique style.
Mark Geslison and Geoff Groberg.
Okay – yes, I played on one track on their Christmas album (trivia – the fiddle player on that track was Nathan Christensen, co-author of the play Broadcast, which was declared one of three winners for the 2005 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theatre. Broadcast also won the 2004 Jonathan Larson award for musical theatre).
Anyway – people often complain hymn CDs often sound the same – too slow, too plodding, all strings and “respectful” (re: minimal) ornamentation and variation. Well, here we get banjos, swinging fiddles, punchy mandolins and a clear bluegrass sensibility. Ever felt like “Lord Dismiss us with Thy Blessing” sounded like “Go Tell Aunt Rhody”? Well, Mark and Geoff noticed that as well, and went for a fast banjo arrangement.
The latest albums have become more slow and more “respectful”, but the bluegrass sensibility remains. If nothing else, the instrumentation creates a unique timbre.
Of all the “hymn CDs” ever produced by LDS artists, this group produces the most unique ones. Hymn arrangements will switch from Brazillian Jazz to Western Swing to Celtic Fusion to Arabic Rie to Southern Choral – sometimes in the same song!
While their later albums sometimes sound like they are trying too hard to come up with unique arrangements, overall this approach works. The hymns have never sounded fresher and more alive than on an Enoch Train CD.
So – what other LDS artists do y’all like listening to?