Buy This Music

I am pretty finicky about two things: food and music. On the food side, I tend to avoid jams, jellies, butter, tomatoes, fish, bacon, and cake. I like cheese pizza and vanilla ice cream because you can’t mess those up.

On the music spectrum though I’m all over the map. I only have one rule. If it’s out there and if it’s good, I’ll listen. However, there is one type of music that I tend to avoid like a plague- accapella pop.

You all remember the group Rockapella right? Every time their coffee commercial came on I couldn’t turn the channel fast enough.

It just wasn’t a genre that my ears tune in to. Accapella pop seemed cheap and goofy. I hadn’t listened to it since college and hadn’t planned on listening to it since. Like Nathanael I found myself asking, “Can anything good come from accapella pop?”

Along came Eric Gwin. Eric and I have been attending church together for the past three years. Eric and I hit it off pretty well because we both have a passion for great music. Although, I only listen to great music, Eric makes it.

The Calling is, flat-out, a great album. Where most accapella albums sound over dubbed (all parts are reproduced vocally), The Calling sounds natural. Where most accapella lyrics tend to give me cavities because of their sachrine sweetness, Eric’s lyrics pour forth from a heart tuned to worshipping Jesus Christ. You can hear the truthfulness of this man because the music compliments the lyrics. This is real music.

The quality of this album matches anything you’ve heard. I played some of Eric’s stuff to a group of teens. I placed my favorite track, “The Light”, in a playlist consisting of artists like TobyMac, Matisyahu, and Third Day. The students didn’t miss a beat. The accapella music held its own. Students bobbed their head, tapped their feet, and drummed on the table. The only thing that they noticed about the music was that they liked it.

You know what, I not only liked it, I loved it. I have found myself reaching for the CD time and time again. I know you will too.

So if you find yourself asking, “Can anything good come from accapella pop?” my answer to you is a resounding, “Come and see! Come and see!”