| THE MAN: BOB BRINER Bob
Briner, author of the book Roaring Lambs, encouraged believers to be "salt and
light" in their culture through excellence. He exhorted us to do all things to the
best of our ability for God’s glory. For preachers, preach well. For storytellers,
tell stories well. For athletes, play your heart out. And musicians, rock the world. He
seemed to carry on the message of the film "Chariots of Fire" : "You can
glorify God by peeling a potato if you peel it to perfection."
Bob’s message is still changing the hearts and, perhaps more importantly, the
minds of many believers, especially in the realm of the arts, where the role of the
Christian is so often defined too narrowly.
For a good number of Christians, the distinctive characteristic of good art and
entertainment is that it clearly preaches the gospel. Most "Christian music" is
just that: platitudes, lessons, and testimonials that reach, for the most part, the
converted, while aspiring to change the hearts of the unsaved. Bob Briner saw things
slightly differently. In his perspective, artists were glorifying God even and especially
when they were beyond the walls of the church, living and working in world, being examples
of excellence.
Briner passed away in 1999, a victim of cancer. This loss wounded many of us who
knew him and had been touched by him. (Mr. Briner was a blessing to me personally, which I
elaborate in a note following this article.)
The church needs more advocates for doing what Christ himself exhorted us to do:
Be in the world, but not of it. Get out of the "Christian corral"
where we become so comfortable, and learn to love those who don't love us. Christ lived
that example; he could be found more often in the company of the church's enemies than in
the tabernacle.
It is only proper that there be a monument to Bob Briner’s efforts that
bridged gaps between so many disciplines, so many people, and brought them into a common
effort of excellence for God’s glory.
THE MAKING OF A GREAT RECORD
Now there is an album of music in Briner's honor. It’s called, of course, Roaring
Lambs—a tribute paid by people who heard, understand, and are enacting
Briner’s philosophy in their work. As a result, we have what may be the most
important (if not the most artful) album to come out of the Christian music industry in a
while.
Roaring Lambs features artists who are bound only by their faith, but who
manifest that faith in a wide and disparate array of endeavors. There are musical
preachers like Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman, whose songs are clearly
evangelical tools. And there are others who pursue songwriting as exploration and poetry,
such as Over the Rhine and Sixpence None the Richer. Even Christian rock legend Steve
Taylor steps into the spotlight for the first time in almost a decade.
It's appropriate that Taylor take the stage here. This album is produced by his
own organization, Squint Entertainment. With Squint, Taylor has made something monumental
out of his "silent years", broadening the influence of Christian artists in
music and film. There is a confidence and authenticity in the new voices he is
shepherding, a few of which are present in this collection. And to Dave Palmer, who
conceived and directed this project, congratulations. It’s quite an achievement, and
it deserves to be heard.
THE MUSIC
The music on this record, for all of these good intentions, is by nature a mixed
bag. The only stylistic thread unifying these contributions is the heavy use of strings
throughout. Lyrical approaches, levels of production, quality of writing and
musicianship—these songs are all so different that listening to them straight through
is a rather bumpy road.
But there are some wonderful discoveries along the way.
Steve Taylor’s own contribution pops out of the scenery like a
jack-in-the-box. It's so wild and imaginative, it demands to be turned up loud.
"Shortstop" is a shocking return for the court-jester of Christian rock.
Celebrating Briner’s work "bridging faith and field-research", Taylor stirs
up a potboiler of styles: old gospel vocal flourishes, Moby-style electronica, crunching
guitars. With a characteristic wink, he pauses mid-song just long enough to say,
"Yessirree, Bob!" Listening somewhere, Mr. Briner? "Shortstop" is so
regrettably short, you’ll find yourself backtracking to play it again. And again.
Charlie Peacock, who has recently moved away from music to focus on
preaching, brings along some very special guests…Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
Their African harmonies are every bit as astonishing here as they were when Paul Simon
vaulted them to worldwide fame on "Graceland". They lend their voices to a
celebration of how, when God transformed and freed South Africa, "the whole world
rejoiced." When the music pauses for an a capella recitation of the fruits of the
spirit, it's like an incantation, that the rest of the world might be freed from its many
and varied prisons.
From Delirious?, "Touch" rides a tidal wave of electric guitars,
thundering drums, and strings. Vocalist Martin Smith seems to be channeling Radiohead's
Thom Yorke with his exhilarated crooning. Lyrics that would have sounded sentimental and
trite elsewhere are given the kind of conviction that makes them stick, elevates them to
something higher.
Over the Rhine, perhaps American music's best-kept secret cast a spell good
enough to be the album's stirring finale. It makes one wish they'd part ways with Cowboy
Junkies (for whom they've become a supporting cast) and start pumping out new albums right
and left. "Goodbye" is worth the price of the record. Karin Bergquist's
matchless angelic vocals giving flight to Linford Detweiler's lyrics while the piano
chords ring out like bells over a sea of strings and percussion. If this is any indication
of where the band is headed, their most ambitious, surprising work is yet to come.
Bill Mallonee and Vigilantes of Love humbly volunteer a whole-hearted,
good-humored, guitars-and-harmonica charge through a classic Bruce Cockburn hit,
"Wondering Where the Lions Are".
Exhausted yet? The knockout punch comes from, surprisingly, the most popular bunch
on the ballot: Sixpence None the Richer, with "The Ground You Shook." In
spite of their fame, Sixpence persist in writing poetic, surprising, courageous songs. For
those who discovered them through their #1 hit "Kiss Me", it must be a surprise
to learn what a trifle that song was compared to the heavier material that dominates their
last album. "Ground You Shook" reads like a personal letter to Bob Briner.
It’s a sonic feast of crisscrossing acoustic guitars, sonorous electric guitars,
and…ladies and gentlemen…Emmylou Harris. What a thrill, to have the queen
of country music join in, the one who has been building bridges between artists as
widespread as Neil Young, Daniel Lanois, Beck, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, and so many more.
The other songs, while not exactly stellar, are still enjoyable. Jars of Clay,
who stormed up the Top 40 with their contagious pop ditty called "Flood", start
things off with a warm, ambient pop number called "Headstrong". Burlap to
Cashmere offers a characteristically intricate acoustic number. Ashley Cleveland and
Michael Tait join forces in an 80's-style power pop number that borrows a guitar
flourish from U2's "Mysterious Ways" and mixes it with the open-throated roar of
a Melissa Etheridge rocker. PFR’s "Kingdome Come" is a nice nutshell
of the Roaring Lambs sentiment— God's glory can be spread in everything we do.
The big-name summit of Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith,
produces just what you'd expect—a sincere, sentimental, formulaic anthem. "Out
There" warns the complacent Christian that "there's a danger lurking here/inside
our place of comfort/We've got to go out in the dark/'cause there's a hungry heart/that 's
longing just to know/that someone cares to go/out there..." This
made-for-Christian-radio hit is just the kind of tear-jerker that will be sung at the
firesides of a thousand Christian summer camps.
Only the contribution of Ginny Owens and Brent Bourgeois
disappoints: stealing the opening bar from "All Along the Watchtower", its vague
lyrics are heavy with unfocused, overused Christian lingo. "Like wind in our face/we
face up to the truth/and truth is a word... a word that comes from God/and God is
alive/that I still believe." Huh?
Despite its imperfections, this album accomplishes something that’s long
overdue. It’s hard to believe —the cooperation of musicians from both sides of
that troublesome fence between "sacred" and "secular" music, all
affirming the Source of their various talents, desiring to glorify God with excellence.
And for that, "Roaring Lambs" will be roaring from my stereo for years to come.
Thank you, Bob Briner. Thanks for this.
NOTE: If the Dove awards want to recognize
excellence and lift up something that has the potential to challenge and inspire Christian
musicians to better work, what better opportunity than to give top honors to this
important record!
PERSONAL NOTE:
There are some people whose very presence commands our respect and attention, whose
word carries that authoritative ring of God’s truth and insight. They walk humbly,
but with such energy and concentration that you can't help but be inspired. You walk
away wanting to accomplish great things. I can name very few people whose have had
this impression upon me on a first meeting—T-Bone Burnett, Frederick Buechner,
Madeleine L’Engle, Luci Shaw, to name a few. And definitely Bob Briner.
I met Bob in 1997 when he visited Seattle to give a talk about Christian influence
in the arts and culture. After a hearty handshake and some quick words about his writings,
I immediately felt great affection for this big-spirited, welcoming, enthusiastic man.
At the event, organizers had failed to appropriately arrange the evening. No one
had put up a book table where attendees of his talk could purchase or peruse his writings.
Promotion had been nearly non-existent, and thus there was only a small crowd in
attendance. Since I had brought along free issues of my own publication on the subject of
Christianity and the arts, expecting there would be a table for such things, I was
reluctant to display them, since there was nothing available at the event attached to the
name of Briner.
Mr. Briner exhorted me to share the magazines with others, and, in fact, he began
his speech by recommending it to the attendees. His generosity and grace flabbergasted me.
He never even blinked at the oversights of the others. He was here to do what he could
with what he was given. And he left us full of new insights and enthusiasms about how
Christians can be "salt and light" in culture. In one short evening, he gave me
great encouragement and challenged me to do my best at what God had given me to do. I
wondered at how he must influence those who saw him frequently. That evening passed far
too quickly.
And so did Mr. Briner. I only chatted with him off and on in the next couple of
years via e-mail. Just two years later, in 1999, cancer claimed this favorite friend and
helper of so many Christians.
I wish I had known him better.
Jeffrey Overstreet |
