I simply need to deviate from the normal vein of commentary here to make mention of a fine packet of music that was given to me as a gift during the just passed Christmas celebration. What I am referring to is a two CD package titled Trimmed and Burnin & Slow Burn by Glenn Kaiser and Darrell Mansfield. If you are anything like me, the last time you heard or saw anything of Glenn Kaiser was when the Resurrection Band was still touring. Well, Mr. Kaiser has been busy in the interim, and this effort with Mansfield is a winner. The copyright on the back of the CD case says 2002, so I may be doing a bunch of catch up here, but I had no idea that anything like this was being done by Christian musicians.
Trimmed and Burnin & Slow Burn is an acoustic album with the artists performing a collection of Delta style blues. The catch is that the numbers are all what we would normally consider to be “gospel”. And that they are, but done in a wonderful and intense blues format. Kaiser and Mansfield are able to infuse this collection with an intensity and emotion that makes you believe the confessions of faith that underlie all of it. The vocals, guitars, and harp are all well done and demonstrate the skill of these two musicians.
But here is something important. The album makes absolutely no apologies for its church based, gospel roots. After all, historically speaking, the black churches in the South were the incubators for both the blues and jazz. This collaboration demonstrates this without the boring sentimentality of so much “gospel” music, and does so in an intense, masculine, and full-of-faith manner that draws the listener right in. This is quite refreshing, as most of our fellow Reformed brethren are seemingly captivated only by music written in the 16th and 17th century, denying practically that the musical expressions of the Gospel have made any progress or produced any variations worthy of our attentions since that era. So, I heartily recommend that my fellow saints in Reformedom give this one a listen. If this doesn’t affect you to the point that you can at least tap your feet a bit, and enjoy the soulful declarations of faith, then perhaps you should be a little concerned about being one of the frozen chosen.
Trimmed and Burnin & Slow Burn is an acoustic album with the artists performing a collection of Delta style blues. The catch is that the numbers are all what we would normally consider to be “gospel”. And that they are, but done in a wonderful and intense blues format. Kaiser and Mansfield are able to infuse this collection with an intensity and emotion that makes you believe the confessions of faith that underlie all of it. The vocals, guitars, and harp are all well done and demonstrate the skill of these two musicians.
But here is something important. The album makes absolutely no apologies for its church based, gospel roots. After all, historically speaking, the black churches in the South were the incubators for both the blues and jazz. This collaboration demonstrates this without the boring sentimentality of so much “gospel” music, and does so in an intense, masculine, and full-of-faith manner that draws the listener right in. This is quite refreshing, as most of our fellow Reformed brethren are seemingly captivated only by music written in the 16th and 17th century, denying practically that the musical expressions of the Gospel have made any progress or produced any variations worthy of our attentions since that era. So, I heartily recommend that my fellow saints in Reformedom give this one a listen. If this doesn’t affect you to the point that you can at least tap your feet a bit, and enjoy the soulful declarations of faith, then perhaps you should be a little concerned about being one of the frozen chosen.
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