The Next Top 5 Christian Musicians of All Time…Plus a Horrid Segue

I’ve said many times on this blog that Christians can’t make good movies and I don’t know why.  Well, it turns out that even though we suck at movies, we are totally and completely awesome at making music.  We seem to excel at all things ancient.

Speaking of ancient [Editor’s note: Yes, this is officially the worst…segue…ever], it’s been well over a year since I began evaluating the Top Christian Musicians of All Time.  But unlike other bloggers, I’m not dissuaded by the sheer lack of interest created by putting years and years between posts.  So: This post we’ll pick up with #6.  On a forthcoming post, I’ll bring it to more recent times and evaluate current artists.  Let’s jump right in this post:

6. Billy Crockett.  After Steve Camp (#5 of all time as evaluated on my last post), it’s just guesswork.  So I’ll go with the heart-meets-talent formula.  Billy Crockett is one of the best guitar players of his generation – a friend of mine once told me that he broke a string in the middle of a concert song, and kept playing while changing the string without missing a beat of the music.  Probably that’s just a legend, but there is no denying that this guy can flat out play the guitar.

I like him because, although he doesn’t really rock, exactly, he has a knack for producing both catchy riffs and incredibly soaring lyric-driven ballads.  He paints a world where fairy tales have come true in rich and vibrant language, but without glossing over the pain and heartache of life.

Signature Song:  A Father’s Love

7.  Sara Groves.

Because Sara clocks in on the forthcoming post “Best Artists of the Last 10 Years” list (she’s the only artist on both lists), I’m not going to comment much here.  If you want to hear abundant praise of this highly-underrated musician, read the forthcoming post on that topic!

Signature Song: Maybe There’s a Loving God

8. Susan Ashton.

Long forgotten now is the comet-like success of Susan Ashton, who for a brief moment was the star of the Christian music world.  But she kept producing beautiful music regardless, and her shimmering voice and wonderful songs clearly make her one of the greatest Christian artists of all time by any measure.  I list here a ballad that, back in my college years, put better than I ever could my own feelings about the sin that ultimately drove me to the Cross:

Signature Song: Innocence Lost
viagra professional 100mg In this condition the erect male organ are forced downwards and impotency becomes apparent. The pharmacy’s marketing and sales executive said, “There are various variations of Kamagra products available online at affordable prices to benefit common people who are unable viagra prescription to buy expensive anti-impotence medicines. To restore the functioning of a broken bone; the hospital purchase cheap levitra should have advanced diagnostics facilities and a state-of-the-art operation theater. This methodology of web promoting of Ed pills have assisted millions of men to manage their type-2 diabetes. buy viagra prescription
9. Caedmon’s Call. 

In a forthcoming post, I’m going to discuss Derek Webb (who was one of the original members of Caedmon’s Call) in more depth.  Here, I’ll just say that Caedmon’s Call would probably be higher on this list if Webb hadn’t left.  As it is, with or without him, they’ve produced some consistently wonderful stuff in my favorite genre of music (acoustic-driven rock).  The song I list here is one of my all-time favorites on the album of the same name:

Signature Song: 40 Acres

10.  Allies. 

You’ve probably heard of Bob Carlisle – he’s the guy that produced the uber-smarmy song to his daughter called “Butterfly Kisses” that became a national #1 hit on secular charts.  Well, you may not know that long before that absurd pop song hit the charts, Carlisle was the lead singer for a Heavy Metal band.

Yep.  Introduce Allies, which (besides Guardian) is probably the best hard rock band that Christian music ever produced.  And while I think Carlisle kind of sucks as a pop singer, his voice is surprisingly uniquely suited to edgier sounds.  One of my favorite albums of my youth was Allies album “Virtues” – before I really knew Christian rock music was much of a thing, I bought that album along with a Petra album.  I found Petra totally overrated (and still do), but Allies was the first band that convinced me Christians had a viable music industry beyond Amy Grant.

So: Don’t be completely put off by their absurd cover designs (their original album with the band members dressed in military gear may be the single worst album cover I’ve ever seen) or their 1980’s veneer – these guys can totally rock and have some heart-felt ballads besides (“Let’s Fall in Love All Over Again” is a classic).  I’m torn between listing “Jaque Remembers” and “Harmony,” so I’ll cheat by mentioning them both here in this sentence and putting only one of them as the Signature Song:

Signature song: Harmony

Rest of the Best of the Rest:

11. Chris Rice (Signature Song: The Final Move).  12. Switchfoot (Signature Song: Dare You to Move).  13. Ceili Rain (Signature Song: This is October).  14.  Plumb (Signature Song: Solace). 15. Steven Curtis Chapman (Signature Song: Lord of the Dance). 16. Geoff Moore and the Distance (Signature Song: Mercy for the Memories). 17. Dennis Jernigan (Signature Song: Mercy Me).  18. Bruce Carroll (Signature Song: Shadow and Light). 19. Michael Card (Signature Song: I Will Bring You Home).  20.  Jennifer Knapp (Signature Song: Refine Me).  21.  Stryper (Signature Song: Honestly).  22.  Keith Green (Signature Song: Grace By Which I Stand).  23.  Wayne Watson (Signature Song: Would I Know You Now?).  24. Brave (Signature Song: Running All My Life).