Linnea Good and Bruce Harding are two Canadian song-writers who pursue that elusive middle ground between musty traditional and trendy contemporary: a middle way, but definitely not middle-of-the-road. Both are busy congregational song leaders and performers, and they criss-cross the continent giving concerts, leading workshops and renewing congregational song. Beyond promoting their own music, they are both committed to the act of singing together as a key ingredient in building up communities of Christian faith.
Born in the Boston area and raised in Fredericton, N.B., Good started recording her songs in 1988 after moving to Vancouver and working with music and youth in a United Church. Twenty-odd years later, her singing still retains some of that east coast Acadian salt.
Her most recent album, Momentary Saints, was her her 10th and was nominated in 2009 for a B.C. Interior Music Award for best gospel/Christian recording of the year. Her songs are piano-based compositions, though she often performs with a band that includes her spouse, drummer David Jonsson.
The flute you hear on Good’s recordings is most likely being played by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Bruce Harding.
Bruce and Cheryl Harding appear in many roles across Canada and the U.S. A glance at their website yields a treasure trove of download-for-free pdfs, audio-visual links, events, FAQs and other helpful information for the church music leader. Harding’s blog entry posted on Tuesday, May 18, 2010, for example, describes Rhythms of the Spirit, a recent event that featured “one of the largest gatherings of United Church musicians ever organized.” Besides performing, Harding composed two congregational chants for the event, both available for free download on the evensong website.
Harding was also the editor of More Voices, the recent collection from the United Church Publishing House and Wood Lake Books. This collection is an excellent introduction to the work of these two songwriters (and many others besides). And if you want to start introducing their music in your church, I’d start by teaching them to the children—even if you only have a couple of kids in your congregation.
Linnea Good’s Rise Up, Rise Up (More Voices #130) is a short song of praise in a bluesy swing style that kids (and adults) will learn easily and take with them to sing outside of church. Another song by Good, also in a gospel-swing style (#8) is a setting of Psalm 118:19. The adults can sing the verses, and the children respond with the refrain line, “The gates of holiness are open wide.”
Besides the music presented on the Harding’s website, I’m Gonna Shout, Shout (More Voices, #183) is a good song for kids, one whose text invites full body participation. Born in Human Likeness (#47) is a round that distills the servant song in the epistle to the Philippians into two memorable, singable lines.
Check out their websites:
