Derek Webb

    Derek Webb

    Nashville, Tennessee8 reviews across 4 releases

    ccmfolk rockindie rocksinger-songwriter
    DiscogsWebsiteBandcampFacebookInstagram

    Derek Webb is an American singer-songwriter from Memphis who entered music through Houston's Caedmon's Call, joining the group in the early 1990s and sharing its folk-rock and acoustic-pop foundation. He left in 2003, and the INO Records debut She Must and Shall Go Free recast him as a solo writer concerned with the church's failures, using plainspoken religious language rather than devotional generalities. The record sets roots-oriented songs beside sparse acoustic ballads; "Wedding Dress" reduces its argument to voice and guitar. By I See Things Upside Down in 2004, Webb and a new working band had introduced distorted samples, spacious piano, rough vocals, and rhythms closer to alternative rock. The songs still confronted Christian self-deception, but the music no longer resembled a straightforward acoustic CCM project.

    In 2003, Webb left Caedmon's Call for a solo career, then took the new material into house concerts rather than the arena-scale Christian touring circuit. The House Show documented that setting in 2004, while How to Kill and Be Killed captured the same working band on video the following year. Webb returned to Caedmon's Call for Overdressed in 2007 and contributed to Raising Up the Dead in 2010, though his solo work remained his main outlet. He later moved through electronic music, political songwriting, and independent distribution, including the NoiseTrade service he founded. His recent releases include The Jesus Hypothesis in 2023 and Survival Songs in 2025, the latter addressing safety and solidarity for queer and trans youth. Webb continues to record and perform as a solo artist.

    4 releases reviewed