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50 Songs: Guitar Noodling

In the midst of this crazy hectic time, I carved out 30 minutes to “write.” Of course, this isn’t a full song, and may never be useful to me, but then again it might.

This is just me noodling around on the acoustic in a “round” of sorts. Kind of playing with my improv and counterpoint skills. Most of the lines that come in are improv’d.

The key is D. The tuning is DADGAD.

The singing is just me goofing off. I could actually hear those parts as a string quartet or something.

There’s no purpose to this tune other than to have done something creatively in the middle of a whirlwind of trying to organize and pack and move this weekend.

Kind of has a whimsical feel to it. 6/8. Another compound meter diddy. I could hear it possibly as the intro to a Christmas carol arranged in 6/8 or something. Or possibly an original Christmas tune. We’ll see.

Hope you like.

 

State of The Russ Address

Here’s an update on where we are in our big life transition.

1) Our last day at HOJ was Sunday Aug. 30. A few months ago we felt strongly that it was time for us to move on. It was one of those rare moments in life when things are going great and it’s just “time” to move. We will be closer to family and Lydia has a much better job.

We love HOJ and will continue to give financially for the next 2 years. We pledged to give monthly for 3 years and have made it through a little over a year. We believe in the vision and the impact that HOJ is and will be making in Valdosta.

One of the hardest parts of leaving HOJ is leaving the friends we’ve made behind. Honestly, I, personally can do without “leading worship” or designing graphics, but it’s leaving the small group family, worship team hangouts, and even bootcamp workout sessions with HOJ friends that make this move hard. But God is walking with us and we’re super excited about the next season in our life.

2) Lydia started her job in Brunswick a little over a month ago. That’s a little over 2 hours away from Valdosta. It’s been an adjustment for her but she’s knocking it out of the park.

One of the major stresses for her has been having to be away from me from Sunday night to Friday. Our lease is up next week, so I’ll be “moving” our stuff from Valdosta to Jesup, which is our interim location until we get a home bought or rented. While we’re home shopping and closing we’ll be staying with Lydia’s family.

Financially, we’re in a place we haven’t been before and we’re looking to knock down our debt quickly (student loans mostly) and buy a home.

3) I’m doing design full-time now, working with a company that publishes community oriented magazines. I love designing ads and laying out articles.

4) Music: Because my primary “job” isn’t Worship Leader/Music Director anymore, I’m finding that I have a stronger desire to write and share congregational worship that is USEFUL to churches. In the coming months I’ve committed to going on a tear and writing the fire out of some worship tunes! Would love to have you help hold me accountable and would also love it if you used my songs in your place! I’m not stingy!

I’m also looking at joining forces with my good buddy Fred McKinnon and the team at SSCC. Just want to help out a little here and there.

I can see myself traveling a little bit as well. If you’d like to have me come in and worship with your church/team/small group/etc. please contact me and we’ll set something up.

5) Blog Design: because of the transition I’m finding it hard to do a lot of extra design work now. That being said, I would LOVE to design you a custom blog header or banner. As we get settled in the next few weeks, things we’ll be going a bit more smoothly for me and I’ll knock it out of the park for you.

6) Coastal Life: We’ll be moving to the Brunswick/St. Simons Island, Georgia area which is on the Southeastern Coast of GA. I can’t wait.

7) Collaborations: Look for opportunities to collaborate with me in the future in several areas. Most obvious would be songwriting and design, but I have a few more ideas brewing that I’d really like to get going on and I think as fellow worship leaders and worshipers you’ll be excited!

Stay tuned!!

50 Songs: Redeemer

This is a song from early in the year, but I have been wanting to “arrange” it.

Redeemer (link on twt.fm)

This would be a good song for a female to lead. It’s in the key of E. Originally wrote it in the key of D, but wanted to bring the verses up just a little bit for my range.

I love compound meter so I had fun with this one. It’s in 6/8.

Also wanted to do something opposite of modern musical common sense, which is to build to the chorus. In this case, I did, but as soon as the chorus hits, it goes to almost nothing featuring just vocals. What I ended up with made me happy.

Of course, if you choose to rock this one at your place, feel free to build big and loud to the chorus and carry it over into the chorus.

 

Chart (PDF)

50 Songs: Keep On Believing

Another late nighter on this one. My wife is out of town working and I’m home alone so I might churn out a few songs this week.

Anyways, this is a hip hop/rap tune based on Psalm 23, Psalm 27, and Isaiah 9:2 (which is quoted in the gospels as well). I played with the autotune a bit more. I liked what I had done with Nothing But The Blood and carried some of that over into this original.

All of the sounds/beats/grooves are from garageband except for the vocals and trumpet stuff. My challenge is to take stuff that exists and to use it in a unique way. I think the end result is a funky, cool groove.

If you listen closely I even stuck some harmonica in the last 4 bars of each rap. Nice.

Anyways, the idea of the song is basically built around this scripture:

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.

If you don’t mind please take a listen through this link. (twt.fm) It’s a way to share music through twitter. And if you like it and/or want to show me some love go ahead and retweet it! And send some @reply love back my way!

Then if you want to download it and rock it on your own player grab it here.

 

Lyrics:

Keep On Believing

I keep believing
I keep believing
I keep believing
Keep on believing

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
where the dark closes in, and I can’t catch my breath
And I can’t seem to see the sunlight
And I can’t feel the warmth of the daylight
The troubles that surround me keep multiplying
I’m not flying, No matter how hard I keep trying
So many dark nights I’m finding myself crying
And the enemy of my soul keeps on lying

It’s like the twilight, then the deep night
Then the dawn comes shining with the bright light
On the shadow of death a light shines bright
It’s like a new day, bursting from the night

I keep believing
I keep believing
I keep believing
Keep on believing

When I look around me, an army surrounds me
But in the midst of this battle Your love astounds me
It never, ever ceases to amaze me
How in the light of Your mercy You save me
And when I hear the war drums keep on drumming
And when I see the soldiers of darkness keep coming
And when the enemies of goodness attack
I’m confident in this, God, You’ve got my back

It’s like the twilight, then the deep night
Then the dawn comes shining with the bright light
On the shadow of death a light shines bright
It’s like a new day, bursting from the night

I keep believing
I keep believing
I keep believing
Keep on believing

I will not fear You are here

I keep believing
I keep believing
I keep believing
Keep on believing

Every Creature: A Song for Worship [As performed Live at HOJ]

Every Creature: Written back in 2003. Simple. Catchy. Every congregation I’ve ever shared it with loves it, especially the “Jesus” part. I shared a recorded version of it here on the blog a little earlier this year. Well, here’s a live version from this past Sunday. Just me on the keys and some vocals joining in. A little pitchy in places, but I like it because it reminds me that I’m not perfect and that perfect worship has nothing to do with my perfection but everything to do with God’s perfection.

Hope you enjoy. If you’d like to use this song, feel free to and share with us how it goes over.

Every Creature from Jimmy Linville on Vimeo.

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