Released 40 years ago today, this is the seventh studio album from singer-songwriter Paul Simon. Although Simon is maybe best known for his work as the duo Simon & Garfunkel, he had a big hit with this album. Along with Paul Simon's folk-pop sound, this album incorporates lots of South African music elements and performances from South African artists, as well as other styles such as rock, a capella, zydeco, and more. Groups such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, The Boyoyo Boys, Good Rockin' Dopsie and the Twisters, The Everly Brothers and Los Lobos contribute to this musical journey, bringing their own sounds and mixing them with Paul Simon's excellent songwriting. Songs such as "You Can Call Me Al", "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes" and the title track are very recognizable to me, though I didn't really grow up listening to Paul Simon at all, as these songs are in movies and everywhere. I think I bought this album a decade or two ago when some artist I liked posted about how much they loved this album. It's a classic album and well worth a listen on its 40th anniversary of its release.

Release Year: 1986
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Released 30 years ago today, this is the eighth studio album from Christian pop artist Steven Curtis Chapman. Like many of his albums before and since, Chapman crafts pop songs that are catchy and are built of his struggle to understand his Christian beliefs and put those ideas into action. But this album is, I think, one of his better albums. Songs like "Lord Of The Dance", "Let Us Pray" and "The Walk" are so good and were everywhere in Christian culture for years after this release, and the rest of the songs are excellent too. I like the slow burn of "Free" and "Celebrate You" is a great love song. Primarily this is pop/rock, but the country/bluegrass touches of this Kentucky-born, Nashville-based musician in this release bring a lot of unique character to this album's sound. It's not my favorite Steven Curtis Chapman album, but it's in my top five of his albums for sure.

Release Year: 1996
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"Colors don't hate. People do!" Released 30 years ago today, this is the only album from Nashville-based group The Gotee Brothers. Comprised of Toby McKeehan aka. TobyMac (dc Talk), Joey Elwood and Todd Collins, they also founded the Gotee Records label a few years before. The album title stands for "Eliminating Racism And Creating Equality", and well, I'm not sure if one professional artist and two professional music producers who are all white men are the best people to solve racism, but I guess it's cool they tried. It's clear from this album that the group loves lots of styles of music as this is very eclectic in sound. The core sound is an early '90s hip-hop, but there's also clearly some samples or beds with many other influences like country, jazz and rock, as you might expect from Nashville residents and southerners. Lyrically, these are Christians who are trying to focus on loving people of all races and maybe bringing some hip-hop influences to the white masses. It's an interesting mix of poetry, hip-hop, and often sung choruses, kinda like dc Talk was in the early '90s but a bit more experimental. I've only recently acquired this album but had the track "New South" on some old sampler, and it's definitely not something I listen to often, but it's an interesting look at the more obscure mid-'90s Christian music. It seems like it's not currently on streaming, unfortunately, so you can listen to clips on YouTube or something or find a used CD like I did.

Release Year: 1996

"Father, make me just like you." Released 25 years ago this past Friday, this is the second album from modern worship artist Jason Upton. Mr. Upton is one of the most unique voices in Christian music in my opinion, and his albums are full of Holy Spirit-filled worship. More than many other artists, the violin is a big part of the music on this album, though there's definitely a good amount of keyboards, drums, bass and guitars as well. He and his band seem to have many spontaneous musical prayers and praise to God. In some parts, Upton's song is a cacophony of music that might grate on some listeners who like really polished music, but it seems to be to be heartfelt, passionate music to God. From the quieter songs like "Come Up Here" to the louder songs like "Freedom", this recording provides well over an hour of passionate worship to God. Jason Upton has gone on to record many more albums, most released independently, but this is the first one I heard and is still my favorite album of his.

Release Year: 2001
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