Favorites...

[Greg adkins]

This may seem like an enormous ego trip for me but this was actually really helpful for me last time around and you guys did an awesome job being honest. As a songwriter, it's really hard for me to gauge sometimes which songs are connecting with the audience and which ones aren't. There are always a few songs that work for sure and you know it, but there are more songs that you just aren't sure... they're the songs you play that no one ever really mentions. So, asking this question helps me decide which songs to include in my live shows and also helps me to find out if my suspicions are true or not. I have favorite songs on the records... I have least favorite songs on the records... I'll tell you both after you guys tell me yours. So, here's the questions:

Favorite song on "Chase the Western Sky"?

Least favorite song on "Chase the Western Sky"?

Favorite song on "Thirty-Three"?

Least favorite song on "Thirty-Three"?

Alright, give it to me straight!

- Greg

[meriam]

On Chase the Wester Sky -
Least - don't have one
Favorite - My Jesus Won't Give Up On Me
Thirty-Three
Least - Song About Virginia - It's not that bad, I've just made too many endless trips through that state.
Favorites -It's too hard to pick. I love them all, but Psalm is my favorite today.

Both albums are great. My sons won't let me have Thirty-Three back because they play it in their room all the time, especially the bonus track, over and over and over.

[Zac Pensol]

Western Sky:

Favorite: Gosh, it's so hard to pick, I love that whole CD. But if I had to pick just one, it'd probably be "Boy in the Bubble". It's such a sad song and it does a good job making one think about the perspective of those super-zealot types who protest military funerals and stuff in the name of God. Sure, some of them really are just bonkers, but surely not ALL of them, some of them, as the song illustrates, are there without option.

Least: "End of You and Me", but not because of the song itself, I loved it when you first put it on your Myspace. But therein lies my issue, I think I just like the original better. Its more somber attitude fits with the irony of the title, which together imply that you're singing about some tragic thing that ended you and her. But then you slowly bring up the "twist" of sorts, and methinks the more chipper tone of the CD version doesn't convey that as well (but then again, that might have just not been what you were going for either haha). Also, I hated that you tossed the lines after "If he's still there". Those lines, to me, seemed to really draw up the point of the song. When I first listened to the original version, it took me a while to pay enough attention to realize this wasn't even a sad song, and at first I took the line "If he's still there" as an abstract way of referring to some kind of problem that was "ending" you and her, but I'm sure thats not the meaning intended, haha. Because of this, the following lines "Because the miracle now riding in the back seat is changing every single thing about me. You run your fingers through my hair" has such a peaceful air to it and it explains everything... like "Oh! This "ending" isn't a bad thing at all! He's not saying they're over, he's saying now there's just a third person!" I don't even know if I'm making sense now. All the same, I do love the song to death.

Thirty-Three:

Favorite: Man, I seriously love so many of these, I really can't pick just one. "Monster Burger", "Mommy is out of town" and "Bumper Sticker" are all my most favorite.

Least: "Jessica's Lullaby" but only because there were no words. Which, had I known it was instrumental from the get-go I would've probably liked it more but I suppose since "Conner's Lullaby" was so sweet and from the heart on the first one, just seeing the title, "Jessica's Lullaby" already started warming my heart because you have such a good way with words, I anticipated some really beautiful, deep and loving verses in there (which, I'm sure there once were - Please remember them! haha).

Great stuff though Greg, the CDs are wonderful... they must be, or else my "least" categories wouldn't have just been nitpicks.

[sharon]

Chase the Western Sky favorites:
Further Up and Further In
Put Back Together
Old Radio

I really don't have a least favorite.

Thirty Three Favorites:
Little
Psalm

Least favorite: The Ballad of Beverly Brown