A Little Raving About my Friend Greg...

Rene posted a reply and said that she liked Greg Simpson.

There’s another hot button. I think Greg is one of the LDS Music’s best kept secrets. And it bugs me, because I don’t think it should be a secret.

I’ve got both of his albums and I go see him perform every chance I get. He’s a really nice guy, too. Not big headed at all. Of course, frankly, nobody in the LDS music world is "big" enough to get a big head anyway. Still, he's as cool as they come.

And he's one of my favorites.

I think I’d have a hard time deciding whether I like “Seven Wonders” better than “Unspoken”. There are moments on both of them that really give me chills.

“The Better Angels of Our Nature” is a powerful one off of “Unspoken”. It really talks to the need for us to be compassionate when judging others, because we ourselves are in such need of compassion when being judged by our maker.

“…But I looked in his tears and I caught my reflection
And I knew that I could not cast the first stone.

“Let the gavel fall slowly, though truth’s been revealed
Sequester the jury for a moment to feel
In the courts of compassion, I hope we can appeal
To the better angels of our nature.”

And the one that is probably my favorite is from “Wonders”:

“One solitary question
Opened heaven once again
Bringing in the restoration
Piercing veil and parting friends..”

And then there’s fun ones like, “Best of Me” and of course, “Seven Wonders”.

It’s funny, because Greg is by far and away my favorite of the LDS artists I listen to. He’s not as hard or heavy as I’d like him to be, but he’s as close as it gets in the rockers. And he’s got the depth in his writing that really draws me in.

And I thought as I watched him perform the opening number at this year’s Pearls, how many times he’s been nominated, but never got the prize. THAT’s a shame…

MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com