Phil Keaggy

I love Phil Keaggy. Even after almost 40 years of being in the music business, he still knows how to create music that speaks to the heart. His lyrics are thoughtful. His guitar licks are impeccable. His voice is unmistakable. When I saw that he was releasing this album, it had me singing “All I want for Christmas is my Phil Keaggy“. Sorry, that’s weird.
  
This album is nothing short of excellent. In a world full of annoying Christmas music, Keaggy succeeds in creating a project that screams “Merry Christmas” without the feeling of “yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve heard this all before”. I mean, to be fair to all musicians, it’s hard to elaborate any more on the Christmas story. It’s not like it will ever change. It’s been the same for 2,000 years. But in the midst of these constant messages and themes, there are a small handful of artists out there that know how to give it a fresh breath of air. A rebirth. It’s guys like Phil Keaggy that make music an everlasting, beautiful language.

The thing that amazes me about Welcome Inn is its ability to refrain from being too commonplace. As beautiful as the Christmas story is, and the gospel for that matter, it has been beat to death. It’s very hard for me to listen to a lot of Christmas music, and even Christian radio at times, because it seems to me that there is a lack of real, creative talent, or maybe undiscovered talent. I love it when people like Phil Keaggy come around to destroy the humdrum stereotype of Christian music. What really amazes me about Mr. Keaggy is the fact that he uses very, VERY cheesy lyrics in these songs, but it’s never annoying or irritating. Perfect example: the 11th track of this CD “On the Twelfth Night”: “Sing softly the cherries / Bright red, sweet, and good / Sing apples and oranges / The cinnamon food.” If singing about food isn’t cheesy, I don’t know what is. It blew my mind listening to this song, like a few others on the album, because I felt like I should have been cringing at the lyrics, but no such thing happened. In fact, I turned it up! I was blasting Phil Keaggy through my speakers as I cruised down the interstate with my windows down. I’m really glad no one saw/heard me. They probably would’ve thought I had some kind of problem (fair enough).

The entire CD, with the exception of one or two tracks, is chock full of acoustic goodness. Phil’s easy, soft voice permeates every song. Along the same lines of the cheesy-food-lyrics comes the incredible amount of recollecting memories. Holy nostalgia Batman! Not only is the album so soft to the touch (audibly, if that makes any sense), but it’s also packed full of cheesy memories throughout. I don’t know how, but I’ve come to love it. Christmas is the time that families get together to share old memories of years past, or as Keaggy says it in “Village Bells”: “As decades roll into each other / We reminisce with one another / Generations wain the photos yellow / And as we age we do grow mellow.” This guy is the master of legitimate, beautiful nostalgia. He’ll have you reminiscing whether you happen to be that kind of person or not. Brilliant.

There are a couple of standout tracks weaved throughout that deserve mentioning. The third track, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” is a very fair and beautiful recreation of the Christmas classic. By the second verse your foot will be stomping to the driving, old-school-country sound. It actually has two guest vocalists: Keaggy’s son, Ian, and daughter, Olivia. It’s the only track you get to hear him shred the electric. It’s addictive. The sixth track “Father” was penned by Keaggy over 30 years ago. It features beautiful piano instrumentation and worshipful lyrics: “Wonderful Counselor / Mighty God / Prince of Peace / Father.” Again: lyrics that have been used over and over again, yet so powerfully utilized by Keaggy. “In the Bleak Midwinter” and “Shades of Green and Red” demonstrate Phil’s perfection as a guitarist and arranger. If you love instrumental Christmas music, and if you love Phil Keaggy, you will definitely love these two tracks. In fact, instrumental or not, every song throughout the album is perfect and superb.

The use of scripture is definitely a major plus through the whole CD. Keaggy makes sure to point out that above the good memories and family times, there is one very important reason for this ancient holiday: Jesus. He makes it perfectly clear all throughout. He’s a master storyteller and musician, as well as a preacher. If this review wasn’t already way too long, I’d talk about each song in great detail. Instead, I’ll just recommend that you buy the CD off of his website or iTunes. It’s ABSOLUTELY worth adding to your Christmas playlist.

The only reason I knocked a couple points off the score is because I would’ve liked to hear some more instrumental tracks. It’s not to say that I don’t like his Macartney/Leeland-esque voice, but I just love his musicianship as a guitarist. He is perfect. This album isn’t coming out of my CD player for a while.

Tagged as: Phil Keaggy, Welcome Inn: A Phil Keaggy Christmas

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