AndyRogersMusic.com - Blog

The new album download version is ready.

I’ve got a pre-release copy of the new album ‘Mercy Tracks Me Down’ waiting for you to download.

Here’s what you get:

All the tracks im mp3 format (which means you can play them on your computer, iPod or any other type of mp3 player (or even burn them to CD).

All the chord charts (thanks to Simonas in Lithuania - sekluma.lt)

All the Power Point Files for songs (thanks to Roger Buzby in North Carolina - RogerBuzby.com).

PLUS

If you get your copy BEFORE MIDNIGHT on SUNDAY I’ll also send you the download version of ‘We Say Yes’. This is a 9 track studio demo recording which includes some of my songs that made it on to the final recording of Engage24 plus some others that will make an appearance on future recordings.

So, if you’re quick you get 2 for the price of one - all this for less than the cost of a fast food meal!

There is a favour I’d like to ask too. I’m looking for some reviews that I can use when the official CD launch comes around.

If you decide to grab a copy now and review it, I may use your comments (with a link) on the official MercyTracksMeDown.com website when it goes live.

In the meantime you can get your subscriber’s pre-release copy here:

www.AndyRogersMusic.com/mtmd

Remember if you get it before Sunday I’ll follow it up with a copy of We Say Yes for free

I’m still putting the final touches to the website for the launch of Mercy Tracks Me Down worship album (www.MercyTracksMeDown).

In the meantime I thought it would be good to let you hear what the songs would sound like with just 2 acoustic instruments. Not everyone has a full worship band to recreate the arrangements that we listen to on worship albums so I hope this is helpful in demonstrating that simple acoustic worship can be equally effective.

Let me know what you think.

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I need 1 or 2 volunteers to help me finish off the album
download.

I’m nearly there with the pre-release version but I’ve had
a last minute idea that I want to include in the ‘Mercy
Tracks Me Down’ album.

I’ve been thinking of ways of adding more value to it and
figured that it would be useful to include the chord charts
for the songs and power point files for worship leaders to
use along with the downloads.

The problem is I only have this done for a couple of the 10
songs, some of the others are handwritten on paper.

So here’s my offer: If you (or someone you know) would like
to create the chord charts in a MS word doc and/or the Power
Point files for the lyrics then I’ll get you a free copy of
the album, both the download and the CD which will be
released later. Oh, and you’ll get a credit on the album
too!

I can email you the handwritten chords. On some of the
songs you’ll need to listen to the songs to match the words
to the chords which means you’ll need a musical ear to do
that.

If you’re interested give me a shout.

As soon as I get this done the album is good to go!

Hello from a very wet Northern Ireland.

Just the other day, in our Irish summer, we had 3 weeks of rainfall in 12 hours - many places ground to a halt with flooding!

Anyways, undeterred here in the ‘lab’ I wanted to write a quick note to tell you that I’m about to press the ‘go button’ on the new studio album launch but I want to include your name on the project if you’re interested.

Let me explain.

The album title is ‘Mercy Tracks Me Down’. It’s a collection of worship songs from big guitar driven anthems to intimate prayers and you’ll be able to get it as a download for instant access as soon as I ‘go live’ with the album launch date.

Many of the songs are the final versions of some of the 20-20 project.

Now, if you’ve been on my mailing list for any time you’ll remember that project last year were I set out to write 20 songs in 20 weeks simply as a discipline to help me manage the transition that I had made into the life of a full-time musician/worship leader.

Well that process went incredibly well as a result of your feedback along the way and I want to credit everyone who helped shape those songs. Maybe you left a comment on the blog, or you sent me an email or you simply listened to those early rough drafts, all of that was incredibly helpful so here’s what I need you to do.

Go to the comments section below, leave me your name and, if you want, a web link - it could be your website, your myspace profile or your blog etc and I’ll include you in the credits section of the album download and on a special credits page on my site.

Not only will your name appear in the credits but you should get some additional visitors to your page - it’s win-win.

However there’s a deadline, I need you to do that before next Monday (25th August) if I’m going to be able to add you to the credits.

I hate imposing deadlines but sometimes it’s the only thing that forces me to actually complete tasks (I have the gift of procrastination!)

Cheers - Andy

Leave me your comments.

Tags: worshipsongs, album launch date,

Troy Carver, Roy Poole and I are doing a live worship recording in Westminster, Maryland tonight with full band and choir.If my tech skills are up to speed you should be able to view it live and as it happens at www.ustream.tv/andyrogersmusic at 7pm EST (sorry to you folks back in Ireland - that’s about midnight!)

In the meantime here’s a clip from one of our rehearsals.

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On the new album I have recorded a version of Amazing Grace with a refrain in between some of the verses which goes ‘Grace is the song, grace is the song, grace is the song He’s singing over us’.

Here’s a great explanation by Bob Kauflin about how God sings over us.

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Tags: amazinggrace, andy rogers, bob kauflin, God sings

Thought you might like to hear a live version of our arrangement of Be Thou My Vision which will be on the new album out soon.

This is a video clip that my daughter did from New Hope church in Brentwood near Nashville where I got to play again with friends Neil Andrews and Chester Thompson.

Check out the amazing rhythms that Chester plays just at the end of verse 3.

Enjoy!

This sunday I’ll be at the Family Prayer Center in Tulsa Oklahoma (1818 West 86th Street, Tulsa, OK 74132) - speak soon.

As I write this I’m in Nashville enjoying 80+ degree weather (that’s like an ‘uber’ summer back home in Northern Ireland!) in the home of good friends Neil & Susan Andrews.

I’m in the US for 4 weeks as a result of an invitation from Troy Carver, a worship leader from Westminster in Maryland. Troy and I will be doing a live worship recording on Saturday 26th of July, a worship seminar and some worship leading events in an around Maryland during the previous week.

I decided to take advantage of being here and combine it with a family holiday with Shirley and our daughters hence the idea of coming for 4 weeks. We just arrived in Nashville a few days ago and will be moving on to Branson Missouri for a few days followed by Tulsa Oklahoma then to Columbus and Medway Ohio before going to Westminster in Maryland.

We’re doing the ‘Great American Road Trip’ this time driving to all these places and if you know of any other worship leading events that might consider booking me on the way through (Branson, Tulsa, Columbus etc) drop me a line - if I can fit it in around our schedule great, if not then no harm done as they say!

This Sunday I get the pleasure of leading worship at New Hope Community Church in Brentwood Tennessee and my band for both services will include the amazing, and all round nice guy, Chester Thompson. Chester is Genesis’ drummer and I just watched a DVD  of him playing to an estimated 500,000 crowd in Rome last year on their world tour.

Here’s a snippet of that gig below.

I’ll try to post a clip from our session next week - speak soon

Tags: ChesterThompson, Genesis, andy rogers,

At the end of our set we did an impromptu version of Amazing Grace and a spontaneous song, partly in French - it was quite a charged moment!

I’m just back from Nice in the south of France. Shirley and I were leading a team invited by the local Vineyard church led by Alan & Sandra Gage.

Our time there coincided with France’s national day of music - La Fete de la Musique - and we got invited by the local town hall to be their musical contribution to this cultural event.

Now that in itself was quite a miracle! Sandra informed me that for a civic authority to sanction anything that had spiritual or religious element to it was unheard of in French culture yet they were willing to allow the local Vineyard church to bring in this little known Irish band to entertain the town.

It occurred to me that there were some striking similarities to the trip we made to Lithuania in eastern Europe last year. In both scenarios a significant door opened up for the church in the local arts, music scene and we got to be the first to walk through it.

So what do you do when faced with these opportunities? For me as a worship leader I’m looking for ways to lead people in worship so that they experience the presence of God even though they may not realize that’s what’s going on. The expectation is that we are there to entertain the audience but for me it has to be that and more.

So here’s what we do in these circumstances. We bring some music that has some Irish/Celtic culture to it, some cover songs that we like and infuse the set with some worship material that works in these contexts. And, where possible we get the crowd to participate.

One of the songs we do in these non-church settings is ‘Only in your love’ that Shirley & I wrote and, on this occasion we taught the crowd to sing the chorus in French. It’s a worship song that talks about searching for fulfillment that can only be found in the love of God - you can see a snippet in the video below.

We were talking about it on the plane on the way home and it was Karen, one of our team members, coined the phrase ‘Guerrilla Worship’ to describe that process of leading people into His presence without them realizing it.

I love the idea!

It’s part of what Jesus commanded us to do when he said ‘Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations’. Interestingly he didn’t say go and make converts but disciples.

The point at which someone exchanges their life for the Christ’s doesn’t have to be the start of the discipling process, people can experience the goodness of God as part of their journey before coming to faith and that’s where ‘guerrilla worship’ can help folks connect with the One who loves them like no other!

Anyway, enjoy these snippets of ‘guerrilla worship’ from La Fete de la Musique in Falicon, Nice in France.