Two Christian Music Artists I Enjoy (as someone who isn’t a fan of the genre)

I’ll admit that Christian music isn’t usually my cup of tea. There are individual Christian/worship songs that I like (some of them quite a lot), but I don’t generally seek out artists or songs in the genre. Part of that is because it generally isn’t my Thing melodically, and another part is that – although this could be an unfair judgment on the genre as a whole and just apply to certain select songs – the impression I get is that it doesn’t tend to be Great Art lyrically. And while there are many songs I enjoy that aren’t lyrically Great Art, I think it bothers me more when the subject matter is more elevated. A fluffy song about puppy-love with rather trite lyrics annoys me less than a song about my Lord and Creator with rather trite lyrics.

I tend to listen to somewhat more exclusively religious music during Lent, though, and while that partly means listening to more hymns and Gregorian chant and such, I also listen to more Christian music – and I’ve found over the past couple years that there are two Christian artists who I really enjoy very much. So today – as was very subtly hinted at in the post title – I will share these two artists with you.

The first is the French-language group Exo.

They’re a bit more obscure, but you can find some information about them if you dig hard enough – apparently they are a trio made up of a husband and wife and friend, and one of their distinctive trademarks is the universality of their music across cultures (their first three albums were all recorded live and each in a different country, for example).

For years the only song of theirs that I knew was “À l’Agneau” (To the Lamb), which I would still consider their best song. A couple years ago I decided to give more of their music a try, and I found that I quite liked it. Some of their songs are on the slightly annoying side, but a lot of them are either really wonderfully joyful or beautifully melodic. They have a mix of upbeat songs and more melodic ones – “Hosanna” and “Béni soit Son Saint Nom” (Blessed be His Holy Name) are a couple of my favorite louder perkier ones, and “À l’Agneau” and “Je veux n’être qu’à Toi” (I want to be only Yours)/”Emmanuel” (they’re right next to each other on the album and I like to listen to them together) are a couple of my favorite more ballad-esque ones. I particularly love listening to Exo Éclats 2, their second album – it’s so cheerful and uplifting.

The second Christian artist is Terry Talbot, who I believe is – at least in America – more widely-known than Exo.

His music is a little older…I think Exo’s peak was in the late ’90s-early 2000s, while Terry Talbot’s peak was more in the ’80s. (You may have also heard of his brother, John Michael Talbot, who recorded Christian music too and who I also enjoy listening to sometimes.)

I was introduced to his music through his song “I Am He,” which, again, I think is probably one of his best. Another one of my favorites is “I Saw Him,” which looks at Jesus’ life from the perspective of the Roman centurion who said, “Truly, this was the Son of God!” at His death (this centurion is honored as St. Longinus in the Catholic church). Another more quiet and melodic song of his I want to give special mention to is “Heal Me,” which I’ve found to be a very soothing and consoling song for when you’re in a hard place emotionally/spiritually.

He also has some more distinctively ’80s-ish synth-heavy songs, and that style works well for his music a lot of the time (and maybe not quite so well other times, but never mind that). “The Way, The Truth, The Life” is one of my favorites of those. “Tell It to the Nations” is another perky-ish (but less synth-heavy) one that I like a lot, though I’m not listening to it at the moment since – like “The Way, The Truth, The Life” too – it is very Easter-y in theme. And we’re still in pretty early days of Lent, you know. (This song is also VERY easy to get stuck in your head. Just thinking about it gets it stuck in your head. Ask me how I know this.)

And to wrap up this post, I’ll mention one song which is not in the Christian music genre but is still fitting to listen to as religious music, Bob Dylan’s “Every Grain of Sand.” There are some very big Bob Dylan fans in my household, so I hear quite a lot of his music, and this song might be one of my favorites of his. It’s one of his more explicitly religious songs, and has some really beautiful lyrics.

“In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need,
When the pool of tears beneath my feet floods every newborn seed,
There’s a dying voice within me reaching out somewhere,
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair.

Don’t have the inclination to look back on any mistake;
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break.
In the fury of the moment, I can see the Master’s Hand
In every leaf that trembles, and in every grain of sand.”

Who are your favorite Christian artists? And what are your favorite hymns? (Or chants or polyphony pieces?)