Ginny Owens has been making music for about 30 years now, and this EP was from her earlier years of making music. After making two full-length pop albums, she put out this EP with more live, blues-y renditions of the songs from her first few albums. Her voice and piano work fits with the upright bass and the strings, and it's fun to get a different version of her music. Her songwriting's beauty shines through these arrangements and show that she's not just successful due to her slick production. Produced by fellow female singer-songwriter Margaret Becker, this is a great collection of early Ginny Owens songs. Ginny is still making music and also doing other things decades later.

Release Year: 2002
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David Crowder is my kind of guy. He's a fan of all types of music, and his albums reflect that. He's been making much for about 30 years now, I think, and still keeps making music that I enjoy a lot, whether in his earlier years with his David Crowder Band, or these days with his band just called Crowder. American Prodigal is Crowder's second studio album, and this band has a bit more country/bluegrass than his earlier band, though at its core, the music is pop music with a modern worship bent. A few songs feature guest verses from rappers and the deluxe version includes a remix track by BT at the end, so Crowder definitely mixes the genres. It's an energetic fusion of Gospel lyrics and modern pop/rock sensibilities, and it's a fun musical celebration of God's love and grace.

Release Year: 2016
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Released on this day (or at least this month) 34 years ago, this is the first album by Christian pop/contemporary artist Susan Ashton. With this album and throughout the '90s, Susan Ashton was popular on Christian radio. And it's easy to see why. She has a beautiful voice, top-notch Nashville players, and on this album, songs written by primarily Wayne Kirkpatrick and other experienced songwriters. Today is the first time I listened to this album, as I wasn't really listening to music much when this came out and I never really heard many Susan Ashton songs. To some extent, it sounds much like most of the other Christian pop that was put out in the early '90s; it's still a bit stuck in the '80s and somewhat formulaic. But there's also some talent shown on this album and I can see why Susan Ashton was popular for a time. Around 2000, she tried to move to country music and and it was not too successful, plus around that time Christian hits changed drastically, and it seems like her music career has waned since then.

Release Year: 1991
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The first few times I heard Madison Cunningham play, it was just her with an acoustic guitar and I was only somewhat impressed. But I was surprised when I finally put on her albums, as it's more of an electric-guitar-based rock/pop with a small band, and I love the edge to her sound. Or maybe it's more of a folk-rock/Americana sound, as her third full-length album won a Grammy for "Best Folk Album" in 2023. This is Madison Cunningham's second full-length album, and on it she talks about her insecurities and struggles in a very melodic and poetic way. It's a honest and personal album that surprises and challenges me, and is one of my favorite more recent findings once I did give Madison a listen.

Release Year: 2019
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