Caedmon's Call

A few months ago, on a whim, I decided to check out the relatively obscure Christian band Caedmon's Call. A college-oriented group, they take their name from the 7th-century English poet Caedmon, and their music has a very metaphoric, poetic flavor. There is a richness and depth to the songs that is refreshing.

It's hard to decide what is most impressive about Caedmon's Call: the songwriting or the delivery. They seem to take music, and life in general, seriously, and it shows. Almost all of the earlier songs came from Aaron Tate and Derek Webb, who both possess exceptional songcrafting ability, especially Tate. Today, most of the writing is done by Josh Moore, Randall Goodgame, and Andrew Osenga.

One unique thing about Caedmon's is the way they share the stage; they are a team, and they act like one. They have always had three singers capable of holding their own (Cliff and Danielle Young, and Andrew Osenga, who replaced Derek Webb in 2004); lead vocals on their albums tend to be split in more or less equal thirds. The others in the band, Todd on drums, Garrett on percussion, Jeff on bass, and Josh on everything else, are essential to achieving the coherent, quality sound that is Caedmon's Call.

In 2004, the band took an international tour and produced an album highlighting the ministries of Compassion International and The Dalit Freedom Network. Share the Well has a very ethnic sound: a number of the songs were actually recorded in the field with local musicians. The result is pretty powerful.

When something captures me like this, I tend to be rather headlong about it. I haven't been as excited about music since discovering Rich Mullins (who was also very involved with Compassion) two and a half years ago. So I round up the complete discography and learn the songs forwards and backwards, loving every minute of it.


Now that this is all ending / I wanna hear some music once again / 'cause it's the finest thing / I have ever found - Rich Mullins