Some acoustic versions of my songs.
The songs below are my very first attempts at getting something recorded on GarageBand. They are really rough recordings, and are not the versions that are on my album. Very shortly I will be updating this list to show some videos of me performing my songs during a recent studio session in Newcastle.
This is love first came to me in the summer of 2015. I was playing piano and just kept singing those 3 words. Interestingly, piano doesn't really feature much on this song, as the lyrics only really opened up to me when I was twiddling on the acoustic guitar a couple of months later. I just wanted to focus on Jesus, and everything He does simply speaks love - from the cradle to the cross.
I love Psalm 139. In the summer of 2014 it particularly was a help to me, as I was going through a tough time spiritually. I just kept hearing God say to me 'Your my child whom I love unconditionally'. I was focusing too much on other people and their walks with God rather than my own. He clearly showed me that I am individual and unique, and therefore not to try and mimic others. Off the back of this, A child of Yours was born. I pray that it encourages you to understand your amazing uniqueness that He has created.
I was just having one of those good days - the weather was lovely and I was feeling really upbeat. As you will read on my blog, whilst having a shower I started singing again (I always sing in the shower - deep calls to deep), and realised that God had birthed You are good.
What can I say about Who is like You? I wrote this by accident on 12 Oct 2015 on a day when I had 3 plans: A - get on with my work, B - do some gardening, C - mess around with tidying up another song. I just picked up my guitar (to put it away really) and ended up with this lovely riff. I just kept singing Who is like You, and ended up in Psalm 89 and Revelation 4. 15 minutes later God showed me plan D, so here it is!
This is the acoustic version of my song Hope. The original version is on my album Waterfalls. As you can probably guess, I was rock bottom when I wrote this. I drew great comfort from Jeremiah 29:11, and this became the framework for the song.
This is my acoustic version of my song Waterfalls. The original is on my album Waterfalls! The inspiration for the lyrics was Psalm 42. I wrote the music a couple of years ago, but only just got the lyrics recently. As you probably will notice, it's quite an emotional song for me!
My chilled out acoustic version of 'All The Glory'. The original version is on my album Waterfalls. I woke up singing a song one morning, and it was so clear in my head that I was singing it again and again in my head. I felt I needed to get out of bed and record it, but was tired and it was my lie-in morning. I was convinced I would remember it later, so went back to sleep again. I completely forgot the whole thing! A couple of weeks later I woke up singing All The Glory. I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice, so just had to put pen to paper right away!
Other rough recordings. I'll try and do some videos properly soon!
I wrote this one in 2014 following a spontaneous time of worship on the guitar, where I kept singing the words 'Your name is higher than all names'. A few weeks later I was reading Isaiah 9:6, which simply describes the awesomeness of God, and following that the verse of the song was born. In time I really felt the personal nature of that verse - 'my' wonderful counsellor, 'my' everlasting Father, 'my' prince of peace, and hence Your name is higher was born.
You gave me freedom is a very special song to me. Within a week of being saved I started becoming more confident playing the guitar. I was strumming away, and before I knew what was going on God gave me this song. I was amazed, as it seemed to come from nowhere. Sadly, as I mention in my blog, I chose to focus on those people who didn't seem to like it, and therefore did nothing with it (or anything else to do with song writing) for 12 years. I thank God that He has finally shown me that this is all about Him, and it doesn't matter what people think, because this is between me and God! Obviously I pray that you enjoy it as much as it has encouraged me.