One of the cool things about working in the media as that you never know who or what is coming next. A couple of weeks ago, I got a press release from Nashville asking for some mentions for an upcoming concert at a church in Belleville. It was a family and they knew it was a long shot to get on the big city radio station but it was worth a try. I became intrigued by this and ran it by John Carney who, bless his heart, said "why not". Thursday is the night we like to focus on music and told the publicist that we would love to have them but they had to come in the night before the show and play live. She asked if we could feed them in return for playing live. I went upstairs to the sales floor and worked it out so we were set. If you will see a previous post, I was just stunned when I saw these guys on youtube and couldn't wait to make their acquaintance. We met at "The Fountain on Locust" and had a wonderful dinner. Mon and Dad met early in life, became Nashville songwriters,starting having kids and each kid wanted to out do the other as far as musical talent is concerned. Two are Julliard trained, one was tutored by Itzak Perlman and were some of the nicest, most wonderful people I had ever met. After dinner, we hauled their equipment from across the street to the third floor of the Gateway Tower. They wanted to bring a harp, but space wouldn't allow. So, live in the studios of KMOX were a keyboard, an upright bass, a cello, a viola, violin and a mandolin, along with some box drums.Five microphones for all of this along with three people who sang. This is the way radio was 70 years ago, when it was ALL live. These guys were SO good, it was an incredible night of tight playing and hair standing harmonies. They told great stories and I think the audience was enthralled. John Carney mixed some of the best sounding music ever in mono. With what he had to work with, it sounded excellent. I became a fan and immediately started listening to the new CD "Through The Looking Glass". While listening to it at home, the words "they don't sound like a Christian band" were heard. Shades of Kansas, Dan Fogelberg, and even Mahavishnu Orchestra are heard. Annie (the oldest) is the front person and it's easy to see why. It's all good and me, being a music connoisseur, found it incredible. Anew fan with new friends, it doesn't get any better than that.
Thanks, God, for the joyful noise.
This is my favorite song of theirs and one they played for me Thursday night.
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