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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This album is a bit different than most modern worship albums. Although there is pop/rock-styled songs that could be used as a part of a modern church service or prayer, the album has poetic reflections on life and spirituality by Adrian Plass between each song. This British music team lead by Phil Baggaley, David Clifton and Ian Blythe performs the music. It's high-quality music and the music and the poetry works really well as an album to listen to straight through. This album is definitely not something an American record label would produce. The poetry between the songs provides a very different feel than most Christian albums, and I find it refreshing that this album exists and provides a way to reflect on our life as well as call us on to be better people.

Release Year: 1999
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