Behind the Music

Ok, enough about hurdles; let's talk about the fun stuff: the music. When Kris performed at the Well House in June, he was very specific about the music he chose. I got involved when he decided that he wanted to perform a duet (If I Had a Million Dollars) and a song that involved rapping (Waterfalls by TLC). We then added another song (Let her Cry, with an interlude of Every Rose Has Its Thorn) to our set, which supplemented the other two sets Kris performed. We learned that we needed to expand our repetoir that night. The manager asked us to keep playing, but we only had so many songs that we both knew (all listed above).

So, we set out to select some new music (to add to the above list). This involved the creation of three CDs and a supplementary list to choose from. We then narrowed those CDs down to about 30 songs. Currently, we are working on eliminating songs from this list that may be too complicated or not as good a fit as we thought.

To give you an idea: We will probably perform Stuck in a Moment by U2. It is an upbeat song, but has a good message and is fairly recognizable because of radio airplay in 2001. We'd like to play Closing Time by Semisonic, but we will have to work at some things to do the song justice. Then there are some songs we'd love to do, but our talent only extends so far.

We're working on songs like Give Me One Reason by Tracy Chapman, The Promise by When in Rome, and I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by the Proclaimers, but one thing we are try to be careful about is playing to the right crowd. At the Well House, we played some great music, but we were more focused on what we wanted to play than they would enjoy hearing. This made for awkward references and a ranging interest from the crowd. We won't make that mistake again.
After we narrow these 30 songs down, we'll go back to the drawing board and add songs that we feel confident about (including songs from the last performance) and begin to work on set lists for the variety of shows we hope to have. The same sets won't work on a college campus and retirement community. It's even a stretch to think that we can play the same sets at a church and a coffee house. So we will work to find the right blend of songs that will uplift the crowd and entertain them enough to support our cause.

And you all thought we just got up there and rocked out.

~Make a joyful noise unto the Lord