Rich Mullins

Item: Here in America
Author: Andree Farias

Here in America

(2003)

Reviewed by Andree Farias

Discogs YouTube

Label Reunion RecordsThe Rebel Base2003

acoustic rock ccm folk worship

Let's try to lay all sentimentality aside.

I'm a posthumous Rich fan and I'm not the only one, since I'm sure there are countless others in the same boat. It's this after-the-fact admiration which leads me to believe that the time-bound ragamuffin acquired more fans post-death than he ever did while still living in skin. Another thing I'm sure of is that I, like many others, am more drawn to Rich, the man, than they are to Rich, the musician.

Don't get me wrong. The songs he authored explored the conflict between the earthly and the divine with theological precision, and he was always eons ahead of most of his CCM peers when it came to lyrical profundity. His poetry never failed to be steeped in biblical truth, and, thank God, he shunned the trappings of happy-happy-joy-joy songwriting. True... I was never too crazy about his voice, his baroque leanings, or the sweet tinge of his faithful hammer dulcimer, but I always gave him props for bringing a different flavor to the table.

But that wasn't what ultimately attracted me to him. It was the way he lived his life, the way he breathed Christ, the way he embodied Christianity unlike anybody I knew which really got me hooked. I'd never seen him live, never heard a sermon or even read his only self-penned book. I only knew him from bios, from other people's accounts, and from the humanity of his music. This standpoint gave me a rather unbiased perspective once I went to watch and listen to Here in America, a CD/DVD compilation that features unreleased material by Rich, perfect for those, like me, who have some catching up to do.

The CD is comprised of rough song demos, raw live footage taken from his early ministry days, and some spoken word segments. The DVD features a full concert taped just months before he died, candid song interludes, and even a Q&A session aimed at youth and young adults on a variety of topics ranging from worship and sensationalism to temptation and women. Though it's always nice to have unreleased material from a music icon, in my case it was this latter section, the oral portion, what really reeled me in.

Always witty and truthful, you can't help but smile at his irreverently clever remarks (who other than Rich would allude to commies and heaven in the same sentence?), his child-like depiction of God as a buddy who bloodies your nose and then gives you a ride back home on His bicycle, or hearing his frustration at critics who just don't get his music. Equally inspiring is the time-defining moment when he first teaches a clueless crowd one of the greatest worship songs of all time, the insight behind how "Verge of a Miracle" came to be, and the collective wonder that is "making rain," which I won't reveal what it is since you need to hear it for yourself. But that's only the tip of the iceberg; the space allotted me for this review would not suffice to spell all the details of this important piece of Christian music history.

Despite the magic of audio restoration and mastering, it's cool that this album is still not all pristine and poppy and perfect-sounding. The occasional hiss and pops sprinkle this collection with a touch of fallibility and imperfection that's almost prophetically in line with one of Rich's favorite mantras: Perfection is boring. And perfection would sure be boring if it kept us from viewing this project simply for what it is: a tribute to the legacy of a man longing for his home, a saint bound in time yet continually yearning for his freedom.

[Artist royalties for this project donated to Kid Brothers of St. Frank, Co. For more information go to www.kidbrothers.org and www.hereinamerica.net]