"There are some weird people out there." Released today, this is the 8th album from Nashville-based independent singer-songwriter Andy Gullahorn. I love his music because often his lyrics mix the humorous, the events of daily life, and the profound—usually all in one song. For example, on the song "Weird People", he says that there's lots of weird people, gives some fun examples, and sings that maybe believing in God isn't the weirdest thing. Musically, this album is just pretty simple acoustic pop with a tinge of country, but these simple songs do hold some worthwhile insights on the nature of life and spirituality. I really like his man-next-door vibe and his talent of tying a somewhat mundane moment of his life to some simple truth. It's been 7 years since his last album, and it's great to have new songs finally from this excellent songwriter and performer.

Release Year: 2025
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Released 5 years ago last month, this is the fourth album from Anchor & Braille, the solo pop pseudonym of Stephen Christian. Christian has been doing music for about 25 years, most notably the lead singer of alternative rock band Anberlin for many years. But this is his 2nd-most prolific outlet for songwriting, and this time Anchor & Braille has a 10-song album of rhythmic synth-pop. Lyrically, these lyrics seem to be about love and personal relationships. Each Anchor & Braille album is a bit different in style as Stephen Christian works with different producers, but I think this might be the most catchy, poppy release of this artist so far. I might have just been dancing a bit in my chair while listening to this album. Give it a listen if you're looking for something you haven't checked out yet.

Release Year: 2020
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Robert (Bob) Briner was mostly known as an experienced sports manager and TV producer, but to the Evangelical Christian world, he was also known for his writings, like the book Roaring Lambs which encouraged Christians to be "salt and light" to the world—to be in the world and a part of the culture's conversation and formation. Released 25 years ago yesterday, this album brought some of music's most prominent Christian artists who were inspired by Briner's writings to write new songs on this theme, and for at least a few years, these songs were only available on this album. The only song co-written and co-performed by Christian pop kings Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman is on here, plus excellent songs from Jars of Clay, PFR, Burlap To Cashmere, and Sixpence None The Richer. The album has a lot of variety, from the classic rock of Ashley Cleveland signing with Michael Tait, the African sounds of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and a rare song from Steve Taylor, who was much more busy running the record label that put this album out at this time to record a new album. It was also cool to see some artists not traditionally known in Christian music circles like Over The Rhine and Bill Mallonee & Vigilantes Of Love on the album as well. And one of my favorite bands, delirious?, has recorded three versions of their track "Touch" and I think this is my favorite version on this album. It's one of the best multi-artist albums I own, in my opinion, with pretty much every song being good. Like many multi-artist albums from this era, this album is not available on streaming, so you might have to find a CD or some bootleg stream or something to give this a listen.

Release Year: 2000

An independent rock release from the early 1990s, this was re-released last year for a limited run of vinyl for the backers of a crowdfunding campaign. With two LPs and a long runtime, this release doesn't have the cohesive feel and the quality rock vibe that their previous album had, in my opinion. The previous album, Love & War, which was released by Island Records, was more solid overall and at 10 tracks, didn't have lots of filler songs. But still, these are not bad songs and there are more varieties of styles represented, from a bit country-tinged pop to more straight '80s blues rock. If you are looking for some rock from about 35 years ago that no one's ever heard of, try this album. It's pretty good. This release is not on streaming, but can be listened to and bought at their Bandcamp store.

Release Year: 1991
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