Me (at keys) and Bob Holzner (on drums) and Keith Lloyd (on guitar)
There was one bright spot in particular during the Highland Evangelical years – my first gig with the Keith Lloyd Band.
A local Christian music promoter had established an annual summer festival called Joy Jam, traditionally held at Iroquois Park Amphitheater on the south side of town, a quarter-mile from the neighborhood I’d lived in as an infant (see “Megachurch Legacy Baby” in Smell). The Keith Lloyd Band would open the show, followed by the local group Song of David, followed by the headliner – Twila Paris, who had established herself as the Joni Mitchell of Contemporary Christian Music.
It was late afternoon when I took the stage with Keith, Bob, Tony and John. I had been rehearsing with them for two months. I had taken over most of the keyboard chores, while Keith had taken up some of the guitar. It would be Tony’s last gig with the band.
We roared through a brief set of Keith’s most energetic progressive tunes, including “Set Me Free”, “The War’s Begun”, “So Far Away” and others. The place was packed; it was the second-biggest crowd I’d ever played for.10
Next came Song of David, a more pop-oriented group featuring local supersinger David P, who had a voice like Steve Green and a humble presence that just opened up the stage. Song of David included a full backing band and two additional singers, and David wrote much of their material himself.
I found their set breathtaking, exhilarating. David’s voice was transcendent, and his humility of spirit and earnest presentation were very winning. His band was a powerful experience, inspiring to the nth degree. We would soon become fast friends; he recorded several songs of mine over the next few years, and I attended many more of his performances. When he married, several years later, Steve B and I were pleased to attend.11
The sound man for this gig was also new to me – Phil H, whom we nicknamed Uncle Phil, a jolly and loveable guy with deep expertise in technology, a warm and generous spirit, and an unfailing sense of humor. He would later run sound for many of our gigs; a few years on, his son would attend Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where I had spent my early teen years.
At the close of David’s set, evening had begun. The summer air was cool, Tammy and the kids were in the stands having a wonderful time, and Twila Paris stepped out on stage.
Her band was smaller than David’s. She and two other singers were out front; one of the singers, a guy, played electric guitar. Behind them was a bassist, a drummer, and a keyboard player. Their set was gentler than the previous two.
Twila Paris had come to prominence as Contemporary Christian Music was taking hold in the early Eighties. She was a singer-songwriter with a sweet and unassuming voice, who had scored major hits with her songs “Keeping My Eyes on You”, “The Warrior is a Child” and others. She was 26 years old on the night of that concert – only two years older than me. She was a favorite of Tammy’s, and it was a huge treat for Tammy to meet her after the show.
I had an interesting thrill of my own: I approached Twila’s keyboard player, admiring his rig, and he showed me the Yamaha QX7 digital sequencer that had been the engine of their performance, unbeknownst to any of us.12 I had read of such devices but never seen one. He informed me that, with such a device, a colleague in Los Angeles could build a multi-track MIDI recording of an entire song, connect to his own QX7 over a phone line, and download the performance, which he could then use the same day across the country. Very basic stuff, here in the age of the Internet – but back then, it was a mind-blowing wow factor for me.
With the exception of the night I received a Dove Award nomination from Billy Smiley of White Heart at the 1995 GMA, it was the biggest deal of my life as a Christian musician.
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