Near the covered parking stalls behind where I live, people from my apartment building sometimes leave things out for others to pick up. Last night, among other things, I found someone’s cassette collection. Remember cassette tapes?
Well, even though I have a collection of my own that I really need to sort through (and probably pass on quite a few tapes from it), I decided to root through them, just in case there was something good. I was very happy to find a real treasure – “Love Song – Welcome Back.”
This cassette is a collection of songs which had originally been recorded by Chuck Girard and his band, Love Song, as an LP. I enjoyed listening to these uplifting songs while in my teens.
Who is Chuck Girard, and who is Love Song, you ask? Chuck is a singer who had previously had a group called The Castells. According to this article he also played with some very popular singers at the time, such as Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Brenda Lee, and others.
In the early 1970s, while in a group, Love Song, Chuck and the other group members discovered relationship with Jesus. At that time, when the “hippie movement” was in full swing, thousands of young people were turning to Christ, and this phenomenon became known as the “Jesus Movement.”
When Love Song began singing and recording the songs they wrote after meeting Jesus, it was the beginning of basically a whole new genre which is now known as Contemporary Christian Music. (See here for more background on this.) What was unique about their music was that it was very different in style from the old church hymns, and somewhat different, as well, from the Christian music of the 60s. It was fresh and new. With lyrics that expressed the powerful message of Jesus, who was revolutionizing so many young people’s lives at that time, it had a soft rock sound which appealed to the youth of that day. This group’s music really breathed new life into Christian music.
Most of the songs that are on the cassette I got tonight can be heard here. Check here to find Amazon and iTunes links for cds and mp3 and mp4s.
In going over Chuck’s website, I was also glad to find this video of his daughters and granddaughters singing some of his songs. They have recorded an album also.
Much has changed in my life since I used to listen to Love Song, and much has changed in Christian music too. Were you impacted by Chuck Girard and Love Song? How? What Christian music is touching your heart nowadays? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments.
Hi Diane,
I definitely listened to more music when I was a teenager. My favorites are still old hymns and songs that are NOT all about me, but about God.
Blessings
Honey
Thank you for your comment, Honey. I, too, like music where the lyrics are focused on God.