Electric Guitar at Avondale United Methodist Church

Today’s blog is another Sunday music summary.

The artist for the today’s special number is Michael Card, and the song is actually quite an old one by certain standards. “What Will it Take (To Keep You From Jesus)” was originally released in 1985 as part of Card’s Life of Christ Trilogy.

The song is written with an 8-bar electric guitar interlude, so when I decided to perform it, I asked the church’s music director Aaron Redburn if he would play guitar with it. My thought was for him to do the guitar during the solo section, but by the time we got through with our rehearsal “jam sessions” the guitar was getting laced through the entire number. The solo also was improved by Redburn’s own ad-libs. Having seen Card perform his own works, I know he would have approved.

Below you will see tracks for both services.  There are subtle differences between the two. My personal preference is for the second service.  I think both my voice and the guitar had time to warm up. Seth Bott, church organist and accompanist, kept the tempo driving on the piano to hold the piece together. Technically Bott is top-notch in both tracks, but just like the voice and guitar, I think the subtle interpretive element has a better expression on the second service track.

The third track is the choral anthem: Nearer, Still Nearer. I am quite pleased with how Redburn has pulled more expression out of this piece than the previous times we have sung it with him. But there is something on the recording this time that doesn’t seem as good as previous choral recordings I have made. Either there was some sort of background interference, or my recording equipment wasn’t in the best location this time.