Rich Mullins: Christian Contemporary Music Tones

Quaker, Hippy, and Singer Songwriter

Contemporary Christian music aficionados praise singer/songwriter Rich Mullins career. Even though the artist was killed in a 1997 car accident, his albums are held in high regard in the CCM realm.

Mullins was raised in a religious Quaker household, but is most remembered for his signature hippy look. Besides his consummate songwriting talents that were employed by a number of well-known Christian/Pop artists, he was also talented with instruments, especially the piano and dulcimer. His early songs were recorded by well-known Christian vocalists Debby Boone and Amy Grant, through whose successes Mullins earned a name.

Music As Career

Besides his counter-CCM look, Mullins was also uninterested in advertising his music as ministerial. He willing chose a life of poverty and wrote songs to which he was most suited and for artists who consistently sought out his work.

Besides the critically acclaimed songwriting he did for others, Mullins is well respected for his solo work. His first album, Rich Mullins, was released in 1986 and quickly followed up with Pictures in the Sky. Disappointing at best were these first two efforts. The single, “Awesome God,” off his next album, though, was a hit among Contemporary Christian Music audiences.

Mullins’ musical range can best be demonstrated through is solo career, his subsequent stint in the Nashville-inspired Ragamuffin Band, and even his musical play, The Canticle of the Plains. Mullins posthumous album The Jesus Record won acclaim for its single, “My Deliverer,” which won a Dove Award.

Check out this Rich Mullins tribute page for other interesting facts.

Rich Mullins (1986):

1. A Few Good Men
2. A Place to Stand
3. Live Right
4. New Heart
5. Elijah
6. Nothing But a Miracle
7. Both Feet on the Ground
8. These Days
9. Prisoner
10. Save Me

Pictures In the Sky (1987):

1. When You Love
2. It Don’t Do
3. Verge of a Miracle
4. Pictures in the Sky
5. Be With You
6. Screen Door
7. What Trouble Are Giants?
8. Steal at Any Price
9. Could Be a Celebration
10. Love That Knows No Bounds

Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth (1988):

1. The Other Side of the World
2. With the Wonder
3. Awesome God
4. If I Stand
5. Home
6. Such a Thing as Glory
7. ...And I Love You
8. Ready for the Storm
9. One True Love
10. How Can I Keep Myself From Singing?

Never Picture Perfect (1989):

1. I Will Sing
2. Hope to Carry On
3. While the Nations Rage
4. First Family
5. Alrightokuhuhamen
6. Higher Education and the Book of Love
7. Bound to Come to Some Trouble
8. The Love of God
9. My One Thing
10. Somewhere
11. The Love of God (Reprise)

The World As Best As I Remember It, Vol. 1 (1991):

1. Step by Step
2. Boy Like Me/Man Like You
3. Where Are You?
4. Jacob and 2 Women
5. Howling
6. Calling Out Your Name
7. Who God is Gonna Use
8. River
9. I See You
10. Step By Step (Reprise)

The World As Best As I Remember It, Vol. 2 (1992):

1. Hello Old Friends
2. Sometimes By Step
3. Everyman
4. Just Shall Live
5. Waiting
6. To Tell Them
7. Maker of Noises
8. What Susan Said
9. Growing Young
10. All the Way My Savior Leads Me
11. Sometimes By Step (Reprise)

A Liturgy, A Legacy and A Ragamuffin Band (1993):

1. Here in America
2. 52:10
3. The Color Green
4. Hold Me Jesus
5. Creed
6. Peace (A Communion Blessing from St. Joseph’s Square)
7. 78 Eatonwood Green
8. Hard
9. I’ll Carry On
10. You Gotta Get Up
11. How to Grow Up Big and Strong
12. Land of My Sojourn

Brother’s Keeper (1995):

1. Brother’s Keeper
2. Let Mercy Lead
3. Hatching of a Heart
4. Promenade
5. Wounds of Love
6. Damascus Road
7. Eli’s Song
8. Cry the Name
9. The Breaks
10. Quoting Deuteronomy To the Devil

The Jesus Record (1998):
Disc 1:

1. Hard To Get
2. All the Way to Kingdom Come
3. My Deliverer
4. Surely God is With Us
5. Jesus...
6. You Did Not Have a Home
7. Heaven in His Eyes
8. Nothing Is Beyond You
9. That Where I Am, There You...

Disc 2:

1. My Deliverer
2. Surely God is With Us
3. Nothing is Beyond You
4. You Did Not Have a Home
5. Jesus...
6. All the Way to Kingdom Come
7. Man of No Reputation
8. Heaven In His Eyes
9. Hard To Get
10. That Where I Am, There You...

Here In America (Live, 2003):

1. Here In America
2. Teaching Awesome God
3. Verge of a Miracle
4. Be with You
5. O Come All Ye Faithful
6. What Trouble Are Giants
7. Praise Ye the Lord
8. Hello Old Friends
9. It Don’t Do
10. Screen Door
11. Never Heard the Music
12. None Are Stronger
13. The Lord’s Prayer