Upon this rock

Welcome to a new blog about Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). The title of the blog - Upon This Rock - was borrowed from a 1969 album by the 'grandfather of Christian rock music' - Larry Norman.

I'm a musician and songwriter, and I've performed my songs in a variety of bands and as a solo artist for quite a few years. Many of the songs I write reflect my own personal faith but I'm also keen to share my insight and knowledge of the CCM world with anyone who wants to read these pages. I'm also keen to see any views and reviews from others (the comments box is always open).

I'm a presenter on CrossRhythms Radio Plymouth (96.3 FM), where I host a programme called Just Vinyl. It does exactly what it says on the can - my programme features music from CCM artists across the vinyl years - and if it ain't on vinyl, I don't play it. My album collection spans the 1970's to the early 1990's, and includes back catalogues from pioneering CCM artists such as Larry Norman, Amy Grant, Randy Stonehill, Second Chapter of Acts, Stryper, Sweet Comfort Band, Servant, Keith Hill, Love Song and Phil Keaggy (all from the USA) and Parchment, Malcolm and Alwyn, Norman Barrett, Sheila Walsh, After the Fire, Ismael United, Techno Twins (Writz), Nutshell, Iona and Bryn Haworth (all from the UK) as well as artists from other countries. The music I play spans an eclectic range of tastes and styles from gentle folk and roots right through to heavy metal and punk.

Recently, as a music journalist,  I have interviewed CCM artists and reported on concerts and festivals - and this blog will regularly feature some of these interviews, along with back stage gossip, photos and videos as well as podcasts of my radio shows and other exclusive goodies. I'll also try to capture some of the history and energy of the early years of CCM, and hope to feature individual artists as I document their contributions to Christian music. CCM has a rich history, and I have plenty of stories and a few rare documents to share from those early years. So do subscribe to this blog - and I'll try to keep you up to date with what's happening!

Steve Wheeler

Photo credit: Dave Simpson

Creative Commons License
Upon this rock by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pioneers of CCM: Parchment

Image
Keith, Sue and John in 1972 I have told this story before, but it bears repeating. I came to faith in early September 1973 after a day at the Bromyard Folk Festival where I heard a folk-rock trio called Parchment play. I can still remember the rich aroma of the trampled grass that had been baking all day under the warm canvas, as the hot late summer sun beat down upon the large marquee we were sat in. The stage was small, and rather make-shift, but the sound system was powerful, and the microphones on their stands glinted silver. Parchment came onto the stage, looking a little dishevelled and Bohemian, and also quite hairy - and performed a short set that included several of their new songs, but also the CCM classic Light Up The Fire. It was this song that hit me like a ton of bricks. The classic chorus is still sung in schools and churches all over the world today: 'Light up the fire, and let the flame burn. Open the door let Jesus return, take seeds of His Spirit and l
Read more

Just Vinyl

Image
I've spent a lot of time in the studio over the last week or so, recording programmes for my new show which will air this Autumn on CrossRhythms radio  (see dates below!) The show is called Just Vinyl, and it features classic Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) tracks, drawn largely from the 1970s and 1980s. I'm playing exclusively vinyl because it has a particular quality and although there are a few clicks and pops every now and then, I think this just adds to the beauty of the medium. Many of the artists I'm featuring are giants of the genre, pioneers of CCM when it was in its infancy, when very few of the musicians were full-time. Today, Christian music is big business - there are radio stations, record labels and management/touring companies dedicated fully to promoting it. Back in the day, very little of this existed, and those who were involved in pioneering CCM had to forge their own pathways. It was not easy to finance ventures into Christian music - most musi
Read more

Dartmoor prison blues

Image
This is continuation of my short series of posts about how I became involved with Contemporary Christian Music. Previous posts are listed and linked at the foot of this post. Me c 1980 I met Roger Lenk while we were both at Marjons in Plymouth (then a teacher education college). I soon discovered that Roger identified as a 'Messianic Jew' - someone who had been born into the Jewish tradition, but had accepted Yeshua (Jesus) as his mashiach (Messiah). We actually first met during a journey up to Dartmoor Prison where we were both billed to play at an event organised by Youth for Christ. It was a daunting trip for me, because Dartmoor Prison can be a forbidding place at the best of times, and we arrived at Princetown that autumnal evening as an eery fog was drifting in over the moors and the sun had already set. The granite walls of the prison stared at us gauntly, and the sodium lamps cast a sickly yellow hue over the stonework. As the large gates of Dartmoor slammed sono
Read more