Coram Deo has been blessed since the day it planted with very talented musicians. Over the past 4 years, our music team has continued to grow and develop under the faithful leadership and service of Jared Strock. We have grown from the early days of just Jared and his guitar -to- adding a female vocalist -to- adding a djembe -to- eventually our current reality → The CD music team is composed of 5 female vocalists, 2 backup guitarists, 4 violin players, 2 bass players, 3 percussion players (both djembe and drum kit), a piano player, and we have even seen a few odds and ends instruments in the mix from time to time. While we still have room to grow both musically and theologically, we are humbled and thankful for the great fruit that God has produced amongst us in this area.

With this growth, we have developed our own sound, which one astute listener has described as “tight, layered harmonies over unadorned, straightforward instrumentals, proclaiming the rich theology of old hymns in an earnest and uncompromisingly beautiful voice.” You can go here to get more of a feel for what I mean. Along with this sound, God has given us the vision, the resources, and the right people to be able to say this: “Coram Deo is going into the studio!” What started as a text message from myself to Bob while I was boarding a plane over Christmas break last year has turned into an actual project that is off and running. Preparations have been made, musicians selected and prepped, songs chosen and worked over, nights of practice and rehearsal ongoing, and much more work to come. We are set to go into the studio to start recording the last two weekends of October and are working toward a mid-December release.

The album will consist of 10 historical hymns that will be tastefully infused with our own Coram Deo style, arrangements, and energy. Luke Pettipoole, who has been a part of the Coram Deo community for the past 2 years, is a uniquely gifted musician and producer and is well connected in the recording world. Luke will be helping to shape the creative direction of the album. He describes it this way: “We wanted to preserve the beauty of the lyrics and melody of these sacred songs, but subtly modernize them. We felt the perfect musical backdrop would be a mix of early Americana, 60’s folk and recent alt. country. The songs are often re-energized and at times even explosive, but the original essence of these powerful hymns is never compromised.” To give you a taste, without giving away the whole track list, the first hymn will be CD favorite Praise to the Lord, the Almighty and the last will be How Great Thou Art.

We intend this album to be a blessing to people (and churches) both inside and outside of Coram Deo, and we are humbly asking God to help us bring that intention into reality. Our hope is to provide an album that is artistically skillful, theologically deep, and profoundly worshipful. We trust that it will spur gospel meditation as well as great creative momentum and energy within Coram Deo.

I want to thank a few special donors who have helped to get this project up and running. Their generosity has given it some much needed momentum that it would not have had otherwise. There is still some room for help in this area, if you are so inclined.

Enjoy these pictures from one of our recent practice sessions…