As you may or may not know, I am part of something known as Habañero Collective. Habañero Collective is dedicated to beautifying the everyday of suburbia. In Jeremiah 29, God tells His people living in exile in Babylon to seek the betterment of their captors. He tells them to plant gardens, to marry and to seek the welfare of the city in which they find themselves.

As I wrote for Gospel Centered Discipleship a while back:

“God tells His people to seek the welfare of the city of their captivity. For me, that is suburbia. Not cool suburbia where gentrification has transformed the past-its-prime strip mall into vintage clothing stores and hip coffee shops. We have Chili’s and Target and if it’s crowded, don’t worry because there’s another one just a couple of miles down the road. Our color palette is various shades of beige and the term “cookie cutter” adequately describes our home architecture. One day, when we moved back to Phoenix in 2008 to plant our church, we visited some friends in a neighboring subdivision. Turning into their neighborhood, one of my boys said: “We’re home!”

I live in Suburbia and I love music, especially live music. Suburban exile means that live music has been stripped from the fabric of our culture with the exception of the occasional lip-sync act at the mall food court. It’s as if the Taliban came in silencing the music, but the special forces are outside the camp trying to drive us out by pumping in “lowest-common-denominator, auto-tuned, mid-era power pop” until we snap. I have to drive close to an hour for quality live music venues.”

So, some time back, we started hosting concerts in our homes. This has been a great experience and I’m privileged to be able to say that we have actually hosted some of my favorite live musical moments ever.

We are humbled to welcome, from Dallas, TX Air Review, for a house show this Friday night, June 21, 7:00pm at the Thomas Listening Room (see here for for details and to RSVP). Paste calls the bands recent album “Low Wishes,” “A beautiful and well-crafted collection of songs.”

Check out the band’s video for their track “America’s Son:”

• Find more information and RSVP for our upcoming house show
• Visit Air Review’s official website
• Buy “Low Wishes”

I know, I know, I just posted about the Habañero Collective house show with Ramsay Midwood and Shawn Skinner. But I am seriously excited.

I mean, Shawn is a great friend whose music I also happen to love. Check out his new video for his song “Mainstay” to see why.

And then there’s Ramsay Midwood. What do you really say about Midwood’s music? Allmusic.com says:

It isn’t likely that anyone is going to accuse Ramsay Midwood of being glossy or ultraslick anytime soon. Earthy, gritty, rugged, and soulful, Midwood is an Austin, TX-based singer/songwriter whose folk-rock, Americana, and roots rock owe a major debt to the blues — in fact, his songs are soaked in blues feeling.

Paste says:

With a voice as craggy as a Colorado gorge and a Dust Bowl-tinged instrumental style, Midwood captures the essence of country blues while folding in healthy doses of his own artistic quirks and darkly skewed sensibilities.

No Depression describes Midwood’s music as “Gospel Music For Inspired Barflies” and says: “Ramsay Midwood’s music is at once highly idiosyncratic but also as familiar as a bad habit.”

My wife and I have been listening to Midwood’s music ever since I stumbled across him on a Germon record label’s website looking for import releases by Rainer Ptacek.I ordered “Shootout at the OK Chinese Restaurant” and the rest has been history. We were able to see Midwood play solo while we lived in Kentucky, then, when we lived in Texas, we drove to Austin to see him in a tiny bar for our 10th anniversary.

Here is some sort of two-part documentary/profile in which Midwood tells the story about finding out what’s at the end of a “Snowbow” and plays some songs.

Part One:

Part Two:

• RSVP for the Habañero Collective house show.

As many of you know, I am part of a group known as Habañero Collective. This is a group dedicated to bringing culture to suburbia.

We are humbled to have partnered with the amazing Kha Do on a video for Shawn Skinner’s song “Mainstay.” Please check i out and let us know what you think:

Hope you can make it to our Habañero Collective House Show tonight!

So, the other day I began what is sure to be a very long series of posts about some of the amazing people God has placed in my life. Let’s go ahead and visit another installment in that series, OK?

I met (THE) Shawn Skinner in April of 2008. My wife, Kristi and I flew from TX where I was pastoring, back to suburban Phoenix to have a vision-casting meeting for what would eventually become Church of the Cross. Shawn and I hit it off on many different levels and it wasn’t long before he began leading worship for our church family. And over the years, I have watched as God has gifted Shawn with his own musical voice.

Shawn recently played at Crescent Ballroom, one of my favorite Phoenix venues. I love seeing artists grow into themselves and this night was a prime example of just such a moment. And I’m not just saying that because Shawn is a good friend. If you’ll pardon my indulgence, I’d like to post three videos as proof of my claim that Shawn Skinner is certainly finding his musical voice.

Shawn opened up with a new song called “12 O’Clock Shuffle.” The parts that sound like he’s copying Tom Waits are actually supposed to be sung through this cool flask-o-phone (an actual flask that Shawn has turned into a microphone) that Shawn didn’t bring this night. So, he’s not just paying tribute to Waits, though that might not be a bad thing; he’s approximating the sound of the mic he didn’t bring. Anyway, watch right at around the 1:30 mark when Shawn offers an abrupt transition and a random crowd-goer shows his enthusiasm. You can see Shawn gain some confidence in that moment. And it never left him:

Next up is “You Better Not Miss,” a true story that Shawn turns into a haunting vignette:

Last up is a Shawn Skinner classic, “Charlie and William.” I love when the sound man adds some reverb to the refrain about three-quarters of the way through:

Watch for great things because I have no doubt Shawn can and will deliver.

Here is the band performing “Fear Thou Not:”

• More information here