The soul of rock and roll

I remember as a kid looking up Rock Music in the World Book encyclopedia. I think it was the 1978 edition. Remember when encyclopedias were actual physical books?

According to WB, Rock and Roll was born from a blend of R&B, Soul, and Gospel music. If that’s the case, then we got a true experience of that on Sunday June 27th with the visit of gospel-playing John Lee Sanders to the Worship Cafe.



Raised in Memphis Tennessee, and with years of the Louisiana and southern States gospel music scene under his belt, John Lee Sanders has been a blues man for years. He tours either on his own or with a band, primarily playing the piano but also adding in powerful blues tenor sax from time to time.

His “played-with” list reads like a textbook on who’s who in the music business, with John Lee Hooker, Long John Baldry, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Page, and Huey Lewis among the names you’ll see there. John Lee actually replaced Elton John as the music director/keyboard player with the touring Long John Baldry outfit.

John Lee says the heart of what makes him tick musically is Gospel Music. Raised in the church but then experiencing years of the lifestyle of a touring blues musician, Sanders told us, on Sunday, how he was faced with a crisis of soul several years ago when his new record label encouraged him to do a Gospel album. John Lee knew he wouldn’t be able to record the songs with any degree of authenticity if his life didn’t line up with what he was singing, so he grabbed the opportunity that was presented to him and got back on track in his life with God.

On Sunday John Lee started off with the classic gospel song Mary Don’t You Weep and followed that up with number after number of gospel tunes, ranging from originals or songs written by friends to gospel arrangements of hymns such as Amazing Grace and His Eye Is On The Sparrow. Confident piano playing that supported a perfect blues voice made for an afternoon of great Gospel music... it was a perfect way to wind up the Spring session of Worship Cafe prior to our summer break.

We’ll be featuring previous shows and a loop of previous worship leaders during our summer months. Join us again in September for new experiences of live worship music every Sunday on your computer at 4PM Pacific.

John Lee will be rebroadcast all this week at www.worshipcafe.net


- Malcolm

Hybrid worship

Hybrid cars: seemingly esoteric a few years ago, but all the rage in the current environment. Two power sources, one gasoline and the other rechargeable electric, share duties to power one vehicle forward.

We’ve seen a lot of hybrid worship artists in the Worship Café over the last few weeks. Just one power source, mind you, but two different tracks on which the artists run. Kim McMechan, Andrew Smith, and Ari Neufeld, to name a few, all pursue careers as musicians and singer/songwriters in the non-church arena, yet all have graced our stage at Worship Café as worship leaders.

 They don’t fit the typical slot of ‘worship leader’, in that most of their repertoire does not consist of cover versions of worship songs known by believers everywhere. Probably most of them would even hesitate to call themselves worship leaders.

But as singer/songwriters who also engage the rest of the world face-to-face with their art, they bring a heartfelt authenticity to the table when it comes to leading worship. Kim, Andrew, and Ari each have gut-level songs that speak from and to deeper issues in life than one normally hears addressed on a Sunday morning. Their songs, even though they’re not necessarily ones we’d all sing along with, resonate with truth.

Am I saying more typical Sunday-morning worship leaders don’t operate in authenticity? Not at all. I’m one of those myself.

I’m saying that these artists, in the context of the Worship Café, have shared deep and precious inner thoughts with us as the viewers, both in their songs and in their spoken lead-in to songs. They’ve touched on topics, including depression and wrestling with God, that are not the common ingredients of a more ‘typical’ Sunday morning time of musical worship.

The book of Psalms includes a number of  laments, songs written out of angst or inner turmoil. Rarely do we hear songs based on these passages, even though it’s clear the ancient Hebrews were not afraid to wrestle with God one-on-one over things which weighed them down. But I’ve heard songs at Worship Café which could be called laments.

So what is it about Worship Café that allows these artists the freedom to talk and sing about things they’d perhaps normally reserve for the non-worship concert stage? I don’t know; it might be just that we’re meeting in a coffee shop, and the environment is free enough that everyone just feels safe. Like I said, I don’t really know – but I know that I like it. And I’m sure hoping it will continue.