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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Universal United House of Prayer Artist: Buddy Miller Label: New WesT Length: 11 tracks Universal United House of Prayer is as in your face spiritually as Steve Earle’s The Revolution Starts Now is politically and deals with the very same response to the very same war. It is Gospel blues of a most upright sort. No messing or ambiguity. This is the subject matter of the contemporary Christian music industry but with a huge difference - it doesn't sit in a vacuum but gets sung into the worries of the year. Which brings us back to the war. The cover of Mark Heard’s "Worry Too Much" (Is Pierce Pettis’s “open every album with a Heard song” catching on!) reveals the mood in the Miller household, Bob Dylan’s "God On Your Side" lays out his position and The Louvin’ Brothers "There’s a Higher Power" points to hope and escape. Not that this is about blind escape. It finds its heart in what the best of traditional Gospel music was - people in slavery well aware of the daily strife but always trusting in a God who cared and watched over them and ultimately would set them free. Where the aforementioned Earle sends a missive to the President or about who the President should be, Miller is bringing wisdom and hope to those who live with the consequences. It is an astonishingly assured work of faith. "Shelter Me" is seeking the Lord to do just that; "Wide River To Cross" is a confession of stumbling and straying; the co-write with Victoria Williams "This Old World" is about Jesus washing those sins away and challenges a new way to live – “pray pray/time to love every man woman and child /just forgive and let live for a little while”; "Don’t Wait" written with Jim Lauderdale calls for immediate repentance; "Fall On the Rock" written by wife Julie is a judgemental conclusion – “you better fall on the rock /or the rock's gonna fall on you.” As with all Buddy’s albums the playing is immaculate as is fitting of one of the most respected guitar players in his genre. Personally I find the arrangements and production here more organic and authentic than ever. It is bluesy and brooding with deep rooted Gospel joyfulness, politically acute and spiritually tender and erudite. At last, the album that Buddy Miller has always threatened to make. Steve Stockman 9/26/2004
With his choice of Mark Heard's "Worry Too Much" and Bob Dylan's "With God On Our Side," Buddy Miller wastes no time in cutting to the heart of his latest record's concern. When familiar comfort zones are pulled from under you, the reassuring confidence of the country you love turns to arrogance, and the name of the God you trust is invoked to defend the shift, which way does a person of faith turn? In this case it's further into explicitly spiritual terrain, as Miller melds co-writes and covers to build his most charged album to date. The production is measured, the arrangements tight and deeply textured, and the message is clear: something has gone terribly wrong and the only way forward is to admit our faults and look outside of ourselves for direction. The themes of war are easy to find, particularly in the aforementioned Dylan cover, but also in the apocalyptic imagery of “Shelter Me” (co-written with wife and long-time writing partner Julie) and interspersed through the album. But they do not sit alone and there’s clearly a recognition of wider societal and personal brokenness. It’s not till after he has sung: just look at me so lost and weakin “Don’t Wait” that he turns to the broader juxtaposition of indictment and hope in “This Old World”: this old world just stays the sameStylistically, Miller runs the gamut of americana, from the stripped down, Buddy, Julie, and guitar of “Wide River To Cross,” to the gospel-blues-rock mesh of “Don’t Wait”, and on to the fiddle’n’accordion of “This Old World.” Naturally Buddy’s own vocals and the guitar playing that has seen him appearing next to much of country music’s royalty are the dominant force, but the use of backing vocalists is particularly effective, with the near constant presence of Regina and Ann Mccrary’s soulful contribution bringing the record much of its flavour. It’s been a long time since Buddy Miller could be accused of releasing a weak record, but it wouldn’t be overstepping the mark to point to “Universal United House of Prayer,” as the high-point of his career to date. A rousing contribution to a discussion that is very much needed. James Stewart 2/14/2005
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