Reviews, Interviews, News, Commentaries, Glimpses of God, Best-Of ListsThe 2012 CT Music Awards
The 2012 CT Music Awards
Our annual best albums list includes the usual mix of clearly Christian and "secular" music. The loosely defined criteria for making the cut is essentially this: The album should indicate some sort of spiritual search, a quest for life's meaning. Sometimes the music comes from an orthodox Christian worldview, and sometimes not.
This year's winner, curiously, actually straddles a bit of both. Phil Madeira's Mercyland: Hymns for the Rest of Us, a rousing compilation featuring various artists, features songs and artists that would clearly fit the CCM mold, and songs and artists who would not. And Madeira, the braintrust behind the project, is a little bit of both himself.
In an interview with Madeira when the album released in April, we wrote:
[Madeira is] a graduate of the fairly conservative Taylor University, but he wouldn't call himself a conservative—or likely even an "evangelical," for that matter. "My faith in Christ has moved me away from the organization we call 'the Church,' and into what feels like a more intimate and even mystical 'relationship' with the Spirit," Madeira says. He adds that he wouldn't disagree with universalism.
It's this "inclusive" theology, combined with the angry shouting of the 2008 presidential primaries, that prompted Madeira to want to do an album of "hymns for the rest of us," and thus the seeds for Mercyland were planted. Four years later, we now have a stirring collection of songs in the Americana tradition, much of it quite "Christian," with a bit of vague spirituality mixed in.
Read the full interview here.
Top Albums of 2012
Full reviews of the albums below are linked. (See Best Albums lists from previous years here.)
1. Phil Madeira (et al.),
Mercyland: Hymns for the Rest of Us
(Tone Tree Music)
2. Bonnie Raitt,
Slipstream
(Redwing Records)
3. Punch Brothers,
Who's Feeling Young Now?
(Nonesuch)
4. Bruce Springsteen,
Wrecking Ball
(Columbia)
5. Andrew Peterson,
Light for the Lost Boy
(Centricity Music)
6. Anais Mitchell,
Young Man in America
(Thirty Tigers)
7. Carolina Chocolate Drops,
Leaving Eden
(Nonesuch)
8. Bob Dylan,
Tempest
(Columbia)
9. Andrew Osenga,
Leonard the Lonely Astronaut
(101 Distribution)
10. Julie Lee,
Julie Lee & the Baby-Daddies
(Still House Road Music)
11. Rosie Thomas,
With Love
(101 Distribution)
12. Lecrae,
Gravity
(Reach Records)
Honorable Mention
(listed in alphabetical order):
The Avett Brothers, The Carpenter; Andrew Bird, Hands of Glory; Leonard Cohen, Old Ideas; Rodney Crowell (et al.), Kin: Songs by Mary Carr & Rodney Crowell; Dr. John, Locked Down; Benjamin Dunn, Fable; Jeff Johnson and Phil Keaggy, WaterSky; Bill Mallonee, Amber Waves; Mumford & Sons, Babel; Kelly Joe Phelps, Brother Sinner and the Whale; Rain for Roots, Big Stories for Little Ones; The Welcome Wagon, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices.
Grieving with the Good Friday God
La complejidad hispana: Todo cambió en el 2012
(on articles open to the public, you must at least register for a free account).
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Comments
Joe Martin
Bob Dylan... really? Springsteen's "The Wrecking Ball"?! LOL. So warmed over and self-consciously aware I think your critic ought to guest spot on "Gossip Girl." Sad. Just like the mainline churches, CT is letting its leaders--in this case reviewers--take it away from its member or reader base in a stalled effort to be critically avant garde. An amazingly disappointing list. And while I am personally a fan of Vito Auito, "The Welcome Wagon" as counting in a Top Ten list? Sheesh. The salt in the wound is making a musical Rob Bell get to top honors. People say Evangelicalism is dying. I doubt it. But CT certainly will as it continues this trend. For Christian readers, the music reviews in WORLD have long since become more relevant. CT, PLEASE get yourself new reviewers that belong on your site, not PATROLs.
Eric Tavares Stocchero
I agree with Tom. Really, for almost ten years I've been reading CT and it has changed a lot!! The small articles about "Glimpses of God" are now the most part of this magazine. If someone wants to look reviews for secular music they will search it at secular magazines. I am not against secular music, I listen to it, but most songs I hear are christian, I'm a christian musician and I hope that the christian music don't lose space at their own publications... Please don't take me wrong, if I'm saying this it's because I care for this magazine that has helped me along the years, since I was converted to Jesus.
Tom Richards
This is quite a pendulum swing. At one point this magazine seemed to be the mouthpiece for the CCM industry, now it seems that you have given up on any attempt to distinguish music that is any sense 'Christian.' Your criteria now is down to 'some sort of spiritual search,' which conveniently allows for the inclusion of any musician who is cool or respected. It was pointless to try to label music as 'Christian,' and the industry looked like fools deciding who or what was eligible for a 'Dove award.' At the same time, I do appreciate artists who are willing to confess out loud that they are followers of Christ, especially as it sets one up for all kinds of criticism no matter what one's music and lyrics are. I have been a fan of both Bruce Springsteen and Bonnie Raitt for decades, but I am not aware that either of them has ever claimed to have any faith in Jesus. Is there a place left to evaluate music by artists who will confess that they are attempting to follow Jesus?