Every time Sovereign Grace Music releases an album we bump up against the competing values of seeking to create fresh sounds and arrangements and recording something that a group of musicians in a small church can pull off. Our most recent album, Grace Has Come, was no exception.
One song in particular that received a more dramatic production was “Our Only Hope is You,” by Neil and Kate DeGraide. It opens with a beautiful piano riff (played by Neil), and includes an orchestral cello part and a passionate lead vocal by Kate. The song is full of the angst of living with a hope that is not yet seen, but a hope in which we are fully confident.
But few churches could duplicate what we did on the album. So we’re starting The Acoustic Sessions, a series of videos that shows how our songs can be effectively played and sung by a small group of musicians. You know, the kind that are probably in your church. Our aim is to come up with arrangements that are fairly straight ahead and congregation friendly. We want to do this not only for Grace Has Come, but for other previously recorded Sovereign Grace songs.
We know we aren’t breaking any new ground here and are happy to be jumping on the bandwagon of doing everything we can to produce music that people can actually sing in their local churches!
In many cases the vocalists and musicians we use for the videos will be different from those on the album to communicate these songs can be sung and played by anyone. In this video the guitarist is Devon, my son, the female is my daughter, McKenzie, and the pianist is Jonatan Barahona, a good friend and brilliant keyboardist from Sojourn Church.
Hope you enjoy The Acoustic Sessions. And if you have any suggestions for songs you’d like us to work on, leave me a comment.