17 players, 31 songs, 2 CD's
if you are waiting for new material - here it comes!

Click here for Under The Sun lyrics and guitar tabs.

these discs literally have "everything under the sun" on them style wise... there's some fresh stuff on here.  the back porch country blues of "help me hold on Lord", the intense waltz rock of "dear soul" and the blues explosion of "amazing grace" set to the tune of "house of the rising sun".  there's sitar rock and a choir on "sick and tired of sick and tired."  campfire gospel of "psalm 104" and a modern hymn like "cast your sweet light on me" but with all the questions and frustrations you would typically find on a CT CD. then there are these songs to God you can't get out of your head like Faith Comes First or God's Telephone Number...
 
if you aren't familiar with the talented cast and crew of musicians in san antonio - taylor pulls out all the stops and gets pretty much everyone involved.
 
* Ruben V plays either guitar or mandolin on 10 of the tracks
* Misty Jones, leader of the Eastgate band over at Commu sings and plays keyboards
* Davis Steadtler sings on several tracks.
* Jeff Gabelmann and John Condit from the notorious sinners appear on many of the songs.
* Justin Graves of the Brown Band is playing some radical bass guitar!
* Dave and Sarah from Lady Jane Grey are all over the place, adding guitar, vocals and cello.
* Marjorie McInnis sings on several tracks.
* Cindy Sanchez, a lead vocalist from Cibolo Creek Community Church adds her Tennessee pipes to many of the tunes.
* up and coming singer songwriter Luis Arizpe sings on some of the songs.
* Paul Soupiset, art director for many of taylor's projects lends his hand on the mandolin.
* CTO and Eastgate drummer Shane Kyle is here in full force, pounding his way into oblivion!
* Dr. Brian Bates - who's real job is saving lives and getting people feeling better decides to let his "hair down" and play some bass and dobro on some tunes.
* Johnny Jones plays washboard, djembe and whatever else he can find laying around the room!
* The mighty Tim Phillips plays some rockin' guitar on a few tracks...

the making of under the sun:
well, if you know me at all, then you know i've been up to my neck with lables, indie and otherwise and i've been boxed in by commercial producers who are really in it to sqeeze a buck or two out of ya... cos that's all they really get anyways... in this little industry.

though... i must say - working with rick elias was a pleasure and that record we did "worthless pursuit" was the biggest bestest thing i've done when it comes to "THE BIG ROCK SONGS".  so ya know - it hasn't been all bad.

but the past couple of cd projects are lo budget trips through my soul.  Brand New Ache was just that. Quite a painful bunch of songs - lyrically speaking.  but so fun to record 'cos it was just me and my friends in a room bashing it out.

Lo -Fi was the same way...

so i called up all the usual suspects for this cd and enlisted a bunch of people who only played music on sundays at church and had never been studio-fied before!  this was fun because they were so excited to be on a cd and to be in a studio...
i'm used to working with "hhhhmmmm hhhhaaawwwers" who've been there, done that and how much am i getting paid for this session?

the joy of making music was what i was after - and with 17 people in studio hearing the chord changes 5 minutes before we recorded the song - that's what i got!
i'm not joking either. these songs were born the day we recorded them, pretty much.  papers were flying around the room... i'm yelling out who's playing on what... Ruben bought his mandolin the night before and learned to play it on my CD!

johnny jones - the percussionist/drummer at cibolo creek community church was whacking all things percussion, playing washboard - just having a good ol time... that was the kind of stuff i wanted.
thow any trace of ego or head trip right out the window.
this music was for the world.

now... the question is ... how do i get the world to hear it?

if everything under the sun has been done - who's gonna care about my songs?  good question, and i've got no answer.  i just write them, record them and put them out there.
i remember ruben's guitar part on the song "cast your sweet light on me", we were all in the studio and this sweet lullaby guitar just came out and plyed as the undertone for the song.  it was beautiful.  the part just came to him and that's the beauty of it.
later on he'll scorch you with his licks on amazing grace.  but here's this part that's a whisper through out the song... and it totally makes it for me.

i'm interested in why playing music in a church feels so different (usually restrained) from playing anywhere else.  it's like there's already 2 strikes against you when you walk onto the stage at a church.
it's as if you're up against 2000 years of religion and you're suffocating before the first note is played.  man... it shouldn't be that way.  especially when you bring this thing called "the Holy Spirit" into the picture.
the songs should be alive and full of the spirit.  but people really only get off on what they already know and like.
new songs are a tough sell.
old songs are hated by some, loved by others...
new ways of doing old songs are hit and miss...
and i'm the kind of artist who doesn't mind the new or the old... or doing the old stuff in a new way.
as long as the Spirit is in the mix, i'm good.
it's all uphill though... and some of the songs on this under the sun cd are meant to be new songs to God.  new songs for people to sing on Sunday mornings at church... Faith Comes First, God's Telephone Number, You are the Song I'm Singing...
new songs to sing in a bar on a friday night.  God even lives there... the Sirit can flow there without the restraint of religion holding it back!  Dear Soul, Radiate, the Hymn of Jubilation.
but i'm just one guy... trying to do his thing.
good luck everybody.
good night john boy.
peace out and go with God.
chris taylor