10/08/2011 DATELINE: London, Ontario- Friday night I went to see an old friend, oh, he's not a personal friend, he's a man who influenced my life via the vinyl records of my past, but because of him (in part) I made a choice to believe in Jesus Christ, because of him I went to the Country of Haiti when I was 21 years old,
because of him I value artistry and songmanship (is that a word?)
His name is RANDY STONEHILL, I first heard Randy when I was 9 years old, I purchased his record "Welcome to paradise" and the songs blew me away, "king of hearts" was my favorite...listen to these lyrics:
Randy had a unique comedic approach to faith, he didn't slam it down your throat and he basically said to be a Christian "the least of these" must come first, you can't "brag" about being a follower of Jesus if you don't reach out to the hungry and downtrodden, Loving those in need begins the journey...another lesson Randy taught me was that sincereity and transparency are crucial elements to integrity and representing your Faith. sadly I placed folks like Randy on a pedastal back then and as I began to work in Christian radio I witnessed my musical heroes failing, falling or freaking out and not one of them today is on my manmade pedastal, but I must tell you that Randy Stonehills recent visit to London, Ontario did my soul a world of good, you see, Randy played to about 40 people! a far cry from opening for Petra in 1985 at Pine knob to about 9,000 of us...yet he was gracious, he performed many songs from his huge catalogue from all four decades, he even did an encore of one of his first recordings from back in 1971 (called "I Love you") he hung around after the concert to discuss anythinig and everything from his career to his wonderful wife, he just treated all of us with respect and humility. WOW! was that refreshing. it gave me hope for this Christian music industry again, perhaps they could learn some things from pioneers like Randy Stonehill. never forget why you do this, never forget Who you do this for and most importantly, never forget how blessed you are to still be doing it. Godspeed Uncle Rand. the new album "Spirit walk" is spectacular and your voice is still in fine form. now let the world tour begin again :)
Randy's "Wild frontier" cover AARP edition
MY TOP TEN STONEHILL SONGS
1. Thankful
2. Light of the world
3. King of hearts
4. Hymn
5. Keep me Runnin
6. Life is tough, God is good
7. Celebrate this heartbeat
8. Christmas at Denny's
9. When I look to the Mountains
10. That's why we don't love God
