What an agonizing list to make. With so many great and essential options how do you whittle it down to four?! I waffled, edited, swapped out, and finally settled on my four. I’d love to hear yours as well, so please share after reading. Here goes, in no particular order… Who’s on yours? Andre Crouch 40+ year career. Known as the “father of modern gospel music” among his peers. His most well known songs are, “The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power”, “My Tribute (To God Be the Glory) and “Soon and Very Soon” all of which made it into hymn books across the world. Crouch was noted for his talent of ..read more

I love them both, but just for fun and the kind of impossible question I like to address, I decided to present the facts. If I was trying to decide which one of these CCM icons I thought has had the better resume and therefore impact on CCM, who would I pick? Join me if you dare! Who has the better resume in Christian music? -Who wore the 80s mullet better? -Who had more hit singles? -Who sold more albums? -Who won the most dove awards? -How many times has each won artist of the year? -Smitty wrote music but had a lot of help in lyrical department from Wayne Kirkpatrick and others. -SCC wrote ..read more

The worship song “Shout to the Lord” is how old?! Yup, if you can believe it, the tune that some say started the turn of CCM to its current worship bent, is celebrating thirty years in 2024. To be sure, worship music had been in existence prior to Hillsong Church and Darlene Zschech via Maranatha and Vineyard, but nothing quite like the worldwide smash “Shout to the Lord.” Well, I began thinking about the other influential worship songs of the last 25-30 years and my cynicism quickly turned to enthusiasm as I began making a mental list of others I’d put in that category. That list reached more ..read more

Christian music. Whatever that ever meant or means now. Songwriters. After much thought and shuffling of the list I’ve decided on a Top 10. These lyricists have played a part in shaping my thinking on life, theology, my own attempts at crafting songs/poetry. These are the songwriters that shaped me and continue to do so to this day. You’ll notice not many of them exist comfortably in the confines of CCM, residing in that tension/middle space between. Here are my Top 10 Songwriters of Christian music. First, some honorable mentions: –Reese Roper (Five Iron Frenzy) What a versatile lyrycist. Who ..read more

Was 1999 the greatest individual year of Christian music?! Personally I don’t think so, but it certainly was a highly transitional year for the genre. It happens to coincide with major transition in my own life so I can identify. In 1999 I would have just graduated high school and started college. I left behind my love of baseball and the high school baseball team. I Struck out on my own for the first time. I Suffered through loneliness and homesickness. As such, many of these albums and songs have a very important place in my heart even twenty five years later. So this post is a celebration a ..read more

It’s the most wonderful time of the year—end-of-year list season! Here is my annual contribution to my favorite topic—music. This post will detail 20 favorite faith based albums of 2023 and why I liked them. As always, when listening to music I’m looking for songs and albums to take me to that place of longing for home—where heaven and earth are close. Celtic Christians called it Thin Places, the German word for it is Sehnsucht, but ultimately it is the bearing out that nothing in this world will truly satisfy. Music is powerful and music most often takes me there. So perhaps it is through the ..read more

I love the 90s, and especially 90s music! Yes it’s was formative years, and yes that means a high nostalgia factor—but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some killer tunes from the decade. In fact, I am certain a good argument could be made that it is THE best overall decade of music and that would include my favorite genre of alt-rock. So I couldn’t miss this chance to compile and rank my favorite songs from my favorite decade. Without any other fanfare or preamble, here is my take on 100 Great Alt-Rock Songs of the 90s. Spotify Playlist at the bottom of the list if you wanna listen in! 100 Gre ..read more

As a precursor to my final (probably) post of Top 20 albums, here is a list of my Top 50 songs with a linked playlist if you’d like to listen along. Truth be told, it’s really a Top 100 songs of all genres, but instead of that potentially overwhelming post I just share fifty here and you can see 51-100 by tuning in on Spotify. The Jukebox Junkies Top 100 Songs Playlist. So, these are the tunes that resonated longest and deepest. It’s likely due to a clever turn of phrase, but there will also be some picked simply for their vibe alone. That’s more recent for me, but hey, sometimes you just need ..read more

What I’ve Heard: November 2023 edition. You’ll see longtime favorites, newer discoveries, and albums/eps that have grabbed my attention and released in 2023. Last post like this of the year and probably ever as I’m not going to continue them in 2024. Top 25 of November 2023 No commentary this month, I’ll let the collage speak for itself. Below is a zoom out to see my Top 100 which I always find much more interesting myself. Be on the lookout for my year-end-lists coming across the next 2-3 weeks! In case you missed it: 50 Album Recommendations for 2023 Top 100 of November 2023 ..read more

Repeat after me. Fifty #1 songs. Yup. CCM icon Uncle Steve (aka Steven Curtis Chapman) has fifty number-one songs in his career to date. Crazy. So I thought I’d celebrate his most recent accomplishment with ye olde blog post/ranking of all fifty songs. Keep in mind he has plenty of other songs I like more, I’m simply ranking the ones that hit #1 on the Christian charts over the years. First, a little of my history with Mr. Chapman. Like many a young Christian music enthusiast in the 90s, SCC was one of my first artists. In fact, I remember distinctly, that along with a double tape deck boom bo ..read more