Chris Sligh went from singing HymnCharts
demos in my spare bedroom to making the top
10 of American Idol. After all that crazy
excitement Chris moved to Nashville, got
a record deal and ended up working with the
top Christian producer of all time - Grammy
award winning producer Brown Bannister. This
guy has been around since the early days
of Christian music - he actually co-produced
Amy Grant's first recording back in 1977!
Brown produced Chris' debut CD which spawned
the top 10 Christian single Empty Me (here's a video of me playing Empty Me for
Chris at a church.) Because I had orchestrated some songs
on Chris' independent recording Brown decided
to use me to orchestrate them on the new
CD. I also worked on the new songs Loaded Gun and Vessel.
One of my favorite string arrangements was
for the song Loaded Gun - Chris wanted it to sound similar to the
Beatles' Eleanor Rigby. That one really gave
the session players a workout! Hear some
soundclips below.
Loaded Gun
In a Moment
Here's a video of Chris singing his song
Vessel with my string quartet arrangement on the
Crystal Cathedral's Hour of Power TV show:
He Hideth My Soul
Don Chapman talks to Disney's
Derric Johnson about
vocal blend
