Keaggy has the perfect setting for St. Francis of Assisi's charge, quoted in the liner notes, "Go out and preach the gospel . . . and if you must, use words." 

Not being a Phil Keaggy fan, I wasn't planning on buying this CD. Yes, I've heard all the hype, and I know he's purported to be the premier Christian guitarist; but that's never convinced me to shell out money for any of his albums. Too mellow, too smooth for my tastes. But when this CD started to spin, I had to look twice to see that they had packaged the right CD. I'm eating a lot of humble pie now. This guy rocks. 

Named after the high voltage 220 US electrical power standard, this album is an eclectic blend of music--a little blues, a little rock, a couple of acoustic pieces, and one with Celtic inflections. Phil plays eight different guitars--four acoustic, four electric--and the album is balanced between the two styles. Ever the innovator, he uses the new Parker Fly guitar that puts some acoustic technology on an electrical guitar and blends the two. 

The album opens with "Animal," a hard driving rhythm & blues number which I immediately thought was my favorite, once I realized it wasn't BB King. When I got to the "Great Escape," which crescendos from a gentle acoustic opening into something worthy of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, I decided that was my favorite. Then I got to southern-rock "Stomp" with some really heavy guitar work a la Lynyrd Skynyrd, and I decided that that was my favorite. Three fav's, and I'm only 2/3's through. You have a winner here, Phil. 

"Highland Rock" is very danceable, if you can do a Scottish jig. On this one, Phil generously shares the spotlight with bagpipes, fiddle, and tin whistle."Tennessee Morning" is a nice, gentle, background acoustic bit, while "Montana" has some really nice drum work by Phil and Eric Darken to set off the wailing ax work. The list of musicians on the project would fill up all my remaining space, but one is particularly notable: Phil's son Ian Keaggy has top billing for drums on "Ian's Groove," another r & b number. As with most of Keaggy's albums, a lot of post-production must've been done to achieve this near perfect project but, just to prove he can do it, the album closes with "Watt Ever (220 Jam)," a free-for-all recorded live and uncut. 

This CD is a must buy for any lover of fine guitar work. Does Phil successfully preach the gospel in this wordless release? Yes. He does it by sharing with us his God-given talents. Will it bring the unsaved to their knees in repentance? Probably not, but at least they'll know there's no need to compromise your art to become a Christian. Phil Keaggy's 220 is wonderful fruit from one man's journey with Christ. 

Note: 

Keaggy has a new acoustic album entitled Acoustic Sketches which is available only through his fan club.