Love | Revolution

One week from today, my buddy Terry Waggoner drops his second EP, Love | Revolution.

When Terry announced the title for his new EP, I got really excited. If there is one guy in this world who knows what love is - true, Christian, brotherly love - it's Terry. This young artist lives love in a tangible way. He's one of those guys who believes in you, who trusts in you, who hopes in you. He's one of those guys who welcomes you into his home and into his office and into his sacred spaces like you simply belong there. He just loves everybody. So his music about love ought to be...well...powerful.

...Ought to be. (Just kidding, Terry.)

Love | Revolution is a six-song EP that has another unique blend of sounds. Terry's got so many voices that he sings in, so many languages that he composes in. And I'm not talking about English; what I mean is that he is very adept at speaking love in a music that will appeal to different persons through different songs.

There are a couple of songs on this EP that have an old-school Audio Adrenaline feel for me, the kind of music I listened to when I first came to Christ 15 years ago. There are some with a Gungor sound, that kind of intimate worship music that just sort of grabs you. And some good guitar work that makes you think for a minute you're sitting in a coffee shop listening to a guy who loves playing music.

And Terry loves playing music, there's no doubt. What's striking about the EP is the integrity of Terry's faith shining through the songs. Not only has he written these words. Not only does he sing them. But he believes them. He believes in the power of love and revolution, and of Love to bring a revolution. He believes that Love Will Speak, that love is divine (Love Divine), that all will be well (Finally).

Along with a testimony of his faith, what Terry also does beautifully is invite the listener into prayer with him. These songs are not just professions; they are confessions of our need. They are longings of the spirit. Terry is not just plucking guitar strings; he's playing his heartstrings and striking a chord. You just can't listen to him sing Better or Rebuild and not know how deeply he holds these things in his heart, how hungrily he cries out for them at the same time believing they are not only beautiful, but possible.

Love | Revolution is a reflection on the beautiful and the possible. While I loved the worship style of Terry's first EP, Fringes, and there's certainly an air of worship to this one, what strikes me about Love | Revolution is the ministry of it. You can hear the heart of a man who has spent nearly ten years in the ministry of music, not only believing and not only crying out but creating the space for the listener to believe, empowering the voice of the listener to cry out. These is music composed to speak to your heart.

Every time I listen to it, it strikes me in a new way. Something new pops out at me. Pieces of this EP start coming together in new ways like Terry's just telling a story, a story about love and change and hope and promise and something holy. But it all begins with love.

If you want to know more about Love | Revolution  or Terry's first EP, Fringes (iTunes | Amazon), check out Terry on the web, Facebook, and Twitter. You can purchase Love | Revolution at Amazon or iTunes.

As per FCC regulations, I am required to tell you that Terry provided me an advanced copy of Love | Revolution from which to create the above words. The words, the opinions - these are mine and solely mine. The music - that's Terry's.