Category: Church Music
-
Epiphany
I’m delighted to announce that after some positive field testing (my poor congregation!) I’ve decided to release the Wise Men Boogie. It’s a lovely variation on the 12-bar blues, and those irritating little songs where you add another line each time you go around from the top. And since it is the season, and it…
-
Another 48 Hours
Not, as the title of this post suggests, Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in a buddy cop sequel, but a second run of my Easter oratorio 48 Hours in Jerusalem. I’m working once more with Richard Green and St John’s Church in Walsall Wood, to stage the oratorio which premiered last year at St Gabriel’s…
-
So that was Christmas
What a rush! My Christmas season started early this year, with a stint at Chasewater Railway supporting their Hospital Santa Trains. A solid day of standing around freezing while singing carols, before retiring to the tea rooms to warm by the real fire! Then onwards to The Nativity, a wonderful production repeated from our premier…
-
Father in Heaven
There’s new music in the air again, but this time it’s old music. I was away this week with the leaders of United Adoration UK for a quiet day. A song I wrote in 2010 came rushing back to me, and I shared it with them. So I thought it was time I made it…
-
We are loved
That’s the title of my new song, released today through Unified Praise. I’ve been writing church music of one kind or another for years, but my recent forays into oratorio and hymnody haven’t been quite as rewarding as thrashing a decent rock song out… And this is that song. I’ve written it inspired by the…
-
48 Hours
Today, my oratorio 48 Hours in Jerusalem premiered at St Gabriel’s Church, Walsall. What’s in the box? Ten new songs, six soloists, and one very nervous piano player brought the Easter story to life in a new way – exploring the lives of Jesus’ followers in the immediate aftermath of his execution. Acknowledgements I must…
-
All the right notes
The challenge today is writing words to fit existing music. Or if you prefer, poetry with fixed limits. For Maundy Thursday this year I have addressed the annual search for a church song that doesn’t focus on resurrection, but that people can remember. Maundy Thursday is one of those dates on the calendar that has…
-
Holy, Holy, Holy Week
As we enter the peak of the Christian Calendar (festival wise – Lent on the run up to Easter, then all the way down the hill to Pentecost…) I’ve been writing again. This time I went looking for Hosannas and I found them in the obvious place – Anglican liturgy. So I’ve developed a song…
-
12 Song Challenge
I’m signing up for the 12 Song Challenge again. Last year, it ran January-December 2024 and it was a wonderful opportunity to explore my musical writing as each month the podcast drops with a fresh prompt to create congregational sung worship. This year it’s running from April 2025 to March 2026. I’ll freely admit not…
-
Song for Lent and Eastertide
Here’s a new song I wrote for today’s Lichfield Diocese Green Team study day: Lead us, O Lord, from death to life,Teach us to steward the world you have made.Give us the will to speak and actonly and always in Jesus’ name. In the valley of bones,Father almighty, hear our prayer.Give us the words to…
-
New music for Easter
I’m finishing up a presentation piece for Holy Saturday (April 19th, 2025) in conjunction with my employers at St Matthew’s Church, Walsall and St Gabriel’s Church, Fulbrook just down the road. Fr. Mark has been wonderful in supporting the project, and development has been partly funded by a generous grant from St Peter’s Saltley Trust.…
-
Mortal, can these bones live?
Imagine my delight recently to be invited by Lichfield Diocese Green Team to join them on a study day in Walsall. I’ll be helping out with sung worship, playing with Rev Rich Clarkson who I know through the 12 Song Challenge, and then working during the day to pen a new hymn for our act…