This week I’m bringing you two records that move in very different directions. I begin with Office Dog’s Prime Corner, a punchy and lived-in indie rock record full of jangly guitars, garage-band energy, and lyrical images of light, dust, dirt, fault lines, embers, and ash. Then I turn to Roger Eno’s Without Wind, Without Air — Rarities, a moving companion EP that gathers piano, strings, orchestra, and electronics into a beautiful space for reflection. One record sounds like a band cranking it out in the room; the other sounds like light moving through that room after everyone has gone home. Happy listening.

Featured Artists & Albums

Office Dog — Prime Corner - Apple Music | Spotify

Roger Eno — Without Wind, Without Air — Rarities - Apple Music | Spotify

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Nathan Letourneau’s That the Powers of Hell May Vanish brings hymns into a gritty, hard-rock setting without losing the weight and beauty of the words. In this brief recommendation, I reflect on the album’s guitar work, vocal seriousness, and sense of liturgical rootedness. The record gives these hymns a fresh set of colors, making them fitting for meditation, driving, exercise, or attentive listening. Listen now on Audio Deacon or wherever you stream music.

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This week I’m bringing you three records that feel like fresh air. I begin with Jack Johnson’s SURFILMUSIC, a warm and charming collection of soundtrack pieces, early four-track recordings, and simple folk songs that sound made for slow summer days. Then I turn to Stephen Sanchez’s Love, Love, Love, a sweet and carefully crafted pop record full of vintage romance, big vocal moments, and genuine cheer. Finally, I spend time with The Lemon Twigs’ Look For Your Mind!, a jangly, melodic, 60s-and-70s-inspired record packed with harmonies, hooks, and little arrangement surprises. In an age of cynicism, these albums remind us that love is still worth singing about. Happy listening.

Featured Artists & Albums

Jack Johnson — SURFILMUSIC - Apple Music | Spotify

Stephen Sanchez — Love, Love, Love - Apple Music | Spotify

The Lemon Twigs — Look For Your Mind! - Apple Music | Spotify

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This week I’m joined by Andrew Dittman — baritone, choirmaster, composer, and the man behind The Kyrial Project — for a rich conversation about chant, harmony, congregational singing, and the recovery of serious sacred music for ordinary churches and families.

We talk about Andrew’s musical upbringing, why children don’t need to be patronized with “children’s music,” why churches should give their people actual music to sing, and how chant can anchor us in the long memory of the church. We also spend time on The Kyrial Project, Andrew’s collection of traditional liturgical settings — especially harmonized Gregorian chant in English — designed to be beautiful, ancient, singable, and usable by Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox churches alike. In our conversation, Andrew explains that a kyrial is a collection of mass settings, and he describes his work as adapting older chant from Latin into English, harmonizing it, recording it, and making it scalable for choirs, congregations, and ordinary parish life. 

Andrew also talks about Bach, barbershop quartets, The King’s Singers, Chanticleer, Take 6, Voces8, The Beach Boys, The Quebe Sisters, Byrd, Rossini, and why a healthy culture is a singing culture. Enjoy!

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Andrew Dittman is a baritone, choirmaster, and composer based in the Dallas area. He holds a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of North Texas, where he also earned bachelor’s degrees in music and computer science. His compositional work draws from Gregorian chant, Renaissance and Baroque counterpoint, American folk music, and shape-note singing. 

His central work is The Kyrial Project, a collection of sacred music based on familiar melodies from Latin chants of the Ordinary of the Mass — including the Kyrie, Agnus Dei, Pater Noster, and others — adapted into English and given four-part harmonies in the Anglican tradition. 

Sheet music from The Kyrial Project is arranged for four-part choir or congregation, with SATB vocal arrangements and organ accompaniment available for many of the settings.  Click HERE for sheet music.

https://caedmonconference.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@aldittman

https://kyrialproject.com/

hoytcomposer.com

This week I'm bringing you into my current listening life. No final verdicts, just  first impressions worth sharing. I introduce two artists I've been loving: GLIN, a whistle-and-guitar duo from Scotland making Celtic folk music that sounds like spring arriving, and Parlor Greens, whose record Emeralds sounds like a lost session tape from the sixties. Then I survey three new releases I'm still sitting with: Culture Wars' debut Don't Speak, a rock record with real talent; M.I.A.'s new album, built around the seven churches of Revelation and ending with thirty minutes of silence; and Hayden Everett's So the Sun Can Pour, a charming folk record by a young man trying to deal honestly with the world. Happy listening.

Featured Artists & Albums 

GLIN — Unplugged Volumes 1–2 - Apple Music | Spotify 

Parlor Greens — Emeralds - Apple Music | Spotify 

Culture Wars — Don't Speak  - Apple Music | Spotify 

M.I.A. — M.I.7. - Apple Music | Spotify 

Hayden Everett — So the Sun Can Pour - Apple Music | Spotify

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This week, we have a talk I recently gave at The Arcadian Wild and The Corner Room show in Birmingham. It's a short piece on what music is, where it comes from, and why a room full of people gathering to listen together is never a small thing. We talk about the triune God as a musical God, the miracle of sound entering the body, and why a night of live music is, in the deepest sense, an act of resistance. 

I've had several people ask for it in a more permanent form, so here it is. I hope it serves you.

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In today’s episode, we look at three records bound together by a shared mood of restraint, melancholy, and  beauty. With black-and-white covers and a lingering winter atmosphere, each of these projects offers music suited for reflection as we continue through the Lenten season.

We begin with music from 6am String Club and Caleb Chancey, a project of meditative string pieces that are deeply present and beautifully human. With ambient room noise, subtle imperfections, and performances that seem to unfold in real time, the record carries the ache of heartbreak while still moving with steadiness, purpose, and hope.

From there, we turn to Looking for a God, the latest release from Sanders Bohlke. With poetic songwriting, meticulous production, and vocals that move from near-whisper to more solid intensity, the album blends earthy emotion with synthetic textures in a way that is both intimate and expansive.

Lastly, we consider Lenten Hymns by Timothy Winstead, a simple and reverent collection that makes for an ideal companion during prayer, walking, or evening meditation. With over fifteen hymns performed with care and precision, the record offers a fitting soundtrack for contemplation as Easter draws near.

Though each of these albums inhabits a different musical space, all three remind us that sorrow, patience, and beauty often belong together, and that attentive listening can help train us toward the gravity and hope of the Christian life.

Featured Albums

6am String Club, Caleb Chancey
Apple Music | Spotify

Sanders Bohlke — Looking for a God
Apple Music | Spotify

Timothy Winstead — Lenten Hymns
Audio Deacon | Apple Music 

In today’s episode, we look at two very different records that reward attentive listening. One moves through experimental jazz textures and woodwind explorations, while the other settles into the warm, familiar world of folk storytelling and front-porch songwriting.

We begin with Of the Earth from multi-instrumentalist Shabaka, an exploratory and self-produced project built from layered flutes, woodwinds, beatmaking, and spoken passages. The record moves freely between ambient textures, lo-fi rhythms, and rhythmic experimentation, capturing the sound of an artist creating without pressure and following musical ideas wherever they lead.

From there, we turn to Hoosierman, Volume 1 by Caleb Christopher Edwards, a charming and deeply human folk record that feels less like a production and more like an open window into someone’s home. With simple arrangements, memorable melodies, and moments that feel  like field recordings, Edwards delivers storytelling that is warm, grounded, and quietly beautiful.

Though these records live in very different sonic worlds, both reflect artists paying close attention to life around them - making music with curiosity, honesty, and craft in an age that too often rewards sameness.

Featured Albums

Shabaka — Of the Earth
Apple Music | Spotify

Caleb Christopher Edwards — Hoosierman, Volume 1
Audio Deacon | Apple Music | Spotify

In this topical episode of Audio Deacon, we explor text painting - the art of shaping music to mirror the meaning of the words themselves. From Gregorian chant and Handel’s Messiah to The Beatles, Leonard Cohen, Punch Brothers, and modern pop and folk, this episode traces how composers and songwriters turn melody, rhythm, texture, and timing into storytelling tools. These “musical jokes”—sometimes obvious, sometimes subtle, invite listeners to hear more carefully and discover how music can preach, illustrate, and delight alongside the lyrics. Once you start noticing text painting, you're in on the joke. 

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In today’s episode, we walk through five records that reward careful listening. We move from playful experimental pop-funk to modern minimalism and contemporary jazz, and ending with some grounded bluegrass and folk.

We begin with Lost in the Wonder from Cory Wong, a joyful, groove-heavy record filled with sharp playing, tasteful collaborations, and moments that invite you to lock in on rhythm and texture. From there, we take a quick stop with At Home in My Mind by Ellur, a raw and reflective pop album shaped by vulnerability, strong influences, and a young artist thinking out loud.

Next, we turn to Solo Three by Erik Hall, the final entry in a minimalist trilogy reimagining contemporary composers like Glenn Branca, Laurie Spiegel, and Steve Reich.

We then slow things down with Being, a clean and thoughtful jazz collaboration between saxophonist Chris Cheek and the Danish trio Human Being Human, a record that treats music-making as a shared act of humanity.

We close with Cheers to All the Lonely People from Zach White and Caleb Christopher Edwards. It's a sharp, joyful bluegrass and folk record rooted in real places, real stories, and the goodness of everyday life.

Featured Albums

Cory Wong — Lost in the Wonder
Apple Music | Spotify

Ellur — At Home in My Mind
Apple Music | Spotify

Erik Hall — Solo Three
Apple Music | Spotify

Human Being Human & Chris Cheek — Being
Apple Music | Spotify

Zach White & Caleb Christopher Edwards — Cheers to All the Lonely People
Apple Music | Spotify