Music Review: Carry Me by Josh Wilson

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Great lyrics and fun music

Cons: None for this fan

The Bottom Line:

Some more great music

And songwriting continues

To give fresh insights

Old Familiar Truths Told in Fun New Ways

Josh Wilson is the most underappreciated artist in Christian music today.  Okay, fine, one of the most.  More people need to discover his great music, and Carry Me, his latest studio release, is a perfect example of why.

Josh is a multi-talented artist.  While this disc doesn’t list all the instruments he plays, previous discs have, and he is a one man band.  He played many of the instruments you hear on the disc, although his guitar forms the backbone of most of the songs.  He’s got a fun pop sound with a hint of folk thrown in that make his songs easy to listen to over and over again.

And the lyrics?  Josh has a gift for making the familiar truths we know seem fresh and new.  Even when I can guess the theme of a song from the title, the lyrics still catch me off guard.  Couple that with Josh’s honesty, and you get songs that will challenge and encourage.

Take the title track.  “Carry Me” is a song written in the midst of the storm begging God to help in the nights when the problems seem too big.  The chorus is simple but effective.  “So carry me, carry me, carry me now/From my sinking sand to Your solid ground/The only way I’m ever going to make it out/Is if you carry me, carry me, carry me now.”  And the music?  It’s fun, upbeat and catchy.  Trust me, I’ve had this chorus stuck in my head all day.  (Not that I’m complaining.)

Then there’s “Faith is Not a Feeling.”  The song starts off with Josh talking about how real his faith felt when he was first saved and then how he’s lost that feeling.  The title pretty much tells you exactly where this is going, but it’s a good reminder that we need to believe our faith and act like it even on the days when we don’t feel it.

Josh slows things down for “I See God in You,” which tells us about two people he’s met who really show God to others.  Normally, I don’t like these type of songs, but even here Josh makes them both so charming I like it.  Plus there’s the fact that he takes verse three and makes it about how God is transforming us even when we don't feel like we deserve His grace and love.  Talk about encouraging.

Late in the disc is “Here I Am Anyway.”  Taking a cue from Moses and his insecurities, Josh says “If it's weakness that you want, I’ve got more than enough.”  But he concludes by telling God "Here I am anyway.”  Again, the pop music is fun, and Josh even says our insecurities are designed to help grow our faith, something I hadn't thought of before.

“Symphony” is interesting musically.  To compliment the idea that all Christians are playing out our lives in a symphony of praise to God, Josh’s normal guitar is complimented by lots of strings.  There are some strings in other tracks, but this one really plays it up.  It really sets the track apart from the rest.

Two of the tracks are songs inspired by his marriage.  The first goes back to the first marriage between Adam and Eve and then draws the parallel down to the picture it paints of Jesus and the church.  The second talks about how he can face anything as long as he has his wife by his side.  I’m single, but even so, I find the love expressed in them to be sweet.  And as a fun trivia fact, his wife provided the background vocals on both of these songs.

The disc ends with "What I See Now" that you could argue falls into theme of trusting God.  Those tend to be favorites of mine, and this one is no exception.  In the verses, he looks back at his life as a jr. higher and then as a young twenty-something and the struggles he faced before talking about the advice he’d give his younger selves looking back from his life now.  He then uses this glimpse of how God works all things out to remind himself to trust Him now with his current struggles.  I can’t remember too many people who have approached the theme quite this way, and I like it.

I’ll admit, the first run through some of the songs didn’t quite grab me, but as I kept listening this week, I began to truly love the disc.

All of Josh Wilson’s songs get regular air time around me, and I can already tell that Carry Me is going to carry on that fine tradition.

CD Length: 44:00

Tracks:

1. Pushing Back the Dark

2. Carry Me

3. Faith is Not a Feeling

4. I See God in You

5. Grace Enough for You

6. Wake Me Up

7. What a Mystery

8. Let There be Light

9. Here I Am Anyway

10. Symphony

11. One Safe Soul

12. What I See Now