The Kid’s Songs
During the 90’s Jessica and Ryan occasionally sang a song in our concerts, but nothing was ever recorded and it was not a regular part of our setlist. However, things changed in 1999 with the release of the 2 Natures CD and a song called “A Little Bit of Sin”. Since that time, the kids have been a regular part of our concerts with songs like “God Gave Me You”, “King of Glory”, “Count Your Blessings”, “Thankful”, and more recently “A Closed Mouth Gathers No Foot”, “Sharing is Caring”, and “Little Things”. Shannon Bailey has even gotten involved and sang the la la’s on “Daddy’s Song” and “God Bless America”. On our last project, “Guns Blazin”, we didn’t record any new kids songs since the album before that was a full family project, but we felt it’s time to give the kids something new to sing this time around.
I have always been a firm believer that if the kids are going to be a part of the program, I didn’t want to use them like a gimmick. Too many times I’ve seen even “Big-time” artists get up and bring their kids up on stage for a “cheap pop”…who doesn’t like it when cute kids do cute things? The problem is that it adds very little substance to the program. I wanted everything that the kids sing to be good on its own merit if at all possible. I wanted the kids songs to stack up quality and ministry wise to all of our other songs. I believe that Jessica and Ryan have really met that challenge. “Sharing” is one of the most ministering songs we do, “A Little Bit of Sin” and “Thankful” are a couple of the most popular songs we have ever recorded. Even “Daddy’s Song” is more than just a cute little song to sing with the baby; the message is one that has encouraged many in our audiences to turn their hearts toward home. Now, I will admit that Shannon’s “God Bless America” is more of just a cute little rendition, but a. I consider her in training and b. It’s a pretty awesome rendition for a 3 year old! It also acts as a good theme transition in our program.
All of that brings me to the next 3 songs on the new CD. Last time Ryan did the slow song and Jessica sang the fun up-tempo song. I wanted to switch it around this time. From the beginning of our writing process for this CD, I had the idea of a Karen-Jessica duet that spoke of the relationship between a mother and a daughter. Karen and Jessica really do have a unique relationship. I have seen so many girls at Jessica’s age who have built a huge wall up between them and their mother. With Jess, this isn’t the case at all. They are as close as any mother and daughter I have ever witnessed and we are so blessed to have that. I thought this would be a great example to show and lesson to teach in a song, so we sat down, the three of us and together wrote “Follow Me“. I think this is going to be a really wonderful part of our ministry for the next several years and a real centerpiece of our family section.
With Ryan, I was thinking of a song that we could do as a duet together, perhaps as a “Father instructing his son in fighting spiritual warfare” kind of song. I wanted one that rocks out pretty good, but one that Ryan could handle vocally…he’s still only 11. For years Ryan has always said that “Live by the Sword” is his favorite song, so rather than write a new one, when I mentioned the idea of giving “Sword” a new 21st century twist to Ryan, he jumped at the idea.
For Shannon Bailey, we feel that she is ready to finally sing a song with a soundtrack. Karen wrote an adorable lullaby-type song that will be great for her. It’s called “Someone Who Watches Me“.
NEXT POST: 2 final songs for Karen!
June 28th, 2006