Museum Musica

USA, 1998, CCM / contemporary folk

Rich Mullins – The Jesus Record: Really it’s just the demos that matter, not the studio record itself. See, this is a double album. Rich Mullins went into an abandoned church with a tape recorder to lay down his demos for this album. But he died in a traffic accident before he could get into the studio. To me, this is both tragic and serendipitous. It would have been nice to hear what he would’ve done in the studio with these songs, but having these demo tapes as the last thing he did in this life is a raw, haunting testament to his faith journey. A bunch of lame-ass CCM artists got together, took his demo tapes, and recorded studio versions of them. They’re nothing compared to the demo tapes, where Rich Mullins left his heart and soul.