Inside the Art and "Beyond the Frame" - Andy Gullahorn's newest album

I've been a fan of Andy Gullahorn for about 4 years.

He is a singer/songwriter in Nash-Vegas TN.  I initially became aware of him as a "Captain Courageous" who tours frequently with Andrew Peterson.  He has some of his own albums (why do we still call them albums?) out there and just released "Beyond the Frame".

I am a big fan of his work.  I think he is one of the absolute best singers for delivery of a complex truth in a simple way.  He doesn't try to do too much with a song.  Similar to the parables being able to offend your common sense (who sells all that they own for a piece of land?) his songs hammer a point.  Some might bother you.  He lets you sit being bothered; he lets the silence speak to you.

Andy is also a master with humor.  Many songs draw out a chuckle or smile and then the point is driven home while my guard is down.

I've heard a few of his songs live at Hutchmoot and am very excited for his playing at Center Presbyterian Church in Grove City this Friday (8/23/13).  His stage presence has the listener on the edge of his seat wondering - "will this story be incredibly funny or make me cry?  Either way I'll enjoy it." 

I've had "Beyond the Frame" available to my ears for a few days now and wanted to put my thoughts to digital paper.

It is very different from his previous work and I like it.  From the start it has a different sound; a different vibe might be a better way to say it.  It plays slower and is more insightful.  There is notable piano in some songs which he had not included before.  In some of the songs (I Will, Nowhere to be Found) the intro offers a sense of the mood before the rhythm is established.  It actually feels like the mood of each song carries it more than the lyric/melody combination.

If you're familiar with his earlier works don't despair, "Skinny Jeans" and "Flash in the Pan" delivers that sense of laughter from a guy in the middle that Andy is so adept at.  It reminds me of "More of a Man" or "Nobody Wants to Work" yet makes me laugh to the level of "Workin' Man".


So I highly recommend the album.  It's a roller coaster that is worth the ride. 

GK Chesterton on Modern Authority

I was searching for a quote and came across this from A Miscellany of Men:

All our commissions, petitions, and letters to the papers are asking whether these authorities can give an account of their stewardship. And at the same moment all our laws are decreeing that they shall not give any account of their stewardship, but shall become yet more irresponsible stewards. Bills like the Feeble-Minded Bill and the Inebriate Bill (very appropriate names for them) actually arm with scorpions the hand that has chastised the Malatestas and Maleckas with whips. The inspector, the doctor, the police sergeant, the well-paid person who writes certificates and "passes" this, that, or the other; this sort of man is being trusted with more authority, apparently because he is being doubted with more reason. In one room we are asking why the Government and the great experts between them cannot sail a ship. In another room we are deciding that the Government and experts shall be allowed, without trial or discussion, to immure any one's body, damn any one's soul, and dispose of unborn generations with the levity of a pagan god. We are putting the official on the throne while he is still in the dock.