An independent for the last ten years, Scott Riggan says he's not entirely comfortable being labeled as a worship artist. Sure, he's certainly recorded some live worship albums, covered familiar worship songs (including a popular reworking of "I Love You Lord"), and written some worshipful originals, but the songwriter also likes to cover subjects outside of that calling as well. It's interesting then that when people encouraged him to record a worship album, he ended up with a collection of songs about what it means to worship.

Of course, Bring Glory still includes enough worshipful material to gain nationwide distribution and radio play through Spring Hill Worship. "Bring Glory" and "Lift (I Cannot Be Silent)" are both pleasant adult contemporary styled worship songs, though a little generic lyrically. "I Live to Praise You" is similarly routine and has some cheap drum programming, but benefits from some nice musical touches. But Riggan offers an interesting arrangement of Michael W. Smith's "Great Is the Lord," syncopated to 4/4 time, and he resurrects Keith Green's all-too-brief "My Eyes Are Dry" with similar sparseness and passion.

The songs about worship fare better, though "Full Heart" (one of his first songs) and "Show Them Jesus" (a good one about making life an act of worship) sound a little too much like dated AC pop. "Lay Me Down," however, is a terrific anthem of surrender and humility with cool rhythm and an arresting a cappella section. Equally impressive is the darkly hued "Matches," an introspective metaphor about submission, and a nicely contemplative cover of Andrew Peterson's "Holy Is the Lord," a song about Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac as the ultimate act of worship. The somewhat muddy production belies the album's indie origins, but overall Bring Glory offers enough memorable songs to make a fitting national intro for Riggan.

Copyright © Christian Music Today. Click for reprint information.

Click here to view our music review archives.

Visit the artist pages for related interviews and reviews.

				Try an Issue of Today's Christian Free! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Today's Christian coming, honor your invoice for just $17.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Today's Christian as a gift Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

FREE Newsletter Sign up now for the Christian Music Today weekly newsletter:    RSS Feed   RSS Help