[ChurchPlayer]

The bane of every worship leader - "Do we have to do these straight again this year?" - especially when you're a guitar driven group.

We've messed with classic carols in the past and had some work out really well with the band ("O Come, O Come Emmanuel" done in a rockabilly/secret agent man fashion, for example) only to have the Pastor say to the congregation, "I hope I never have to hear that one that way again" (we're a very diverse congregation and folks seemed to be split 50/50 on it - we've kept it straight since). What I've found is that, with my congregation at least, after 7 years of trying to put our mark on songs it's best to do them as straight as possible for times when the congregation is singing along and save special music times for the newer songs and funky arrangements. We've taken the typically organ led carols and given them a little more edge and drive, but the arrangement has been straight because if you mess with it too much then people can't sing it, and people want to sing Christmas carols.

So now we may speed things up a little, "countrify" a song like "Go Tell It On The Mountain" one week and then do it with a bluesy soul feel ala The Blind Boys of Alabama the next, but it's still fairly straight and with a feel that folks are used to singing to.