another excellent post. thanks for being more honest than some may be comfortable with … but shame on them because they likely don’t want a mirror placed in front of them.
doing the right things is difficult and moreso if people are expecting perfection from you, but not from them. i appreciate your brokenness (because we all are) and your sharing it in a way where everyone can see themselves as cracked pots.
thanks Rick, I thought long an hard about what to say on this one.. but I’ve never stopped needed the grace of God ever. and I don’t think anyone who listens to Nutshellsermons is uncomfortable with any of it.. I’m aiming at the disenfranchised with the incongruency they’ve seen in a lot o years of being around church .. thanks so much for your affirmation.
thanks MC! I’m aimed at the disenfranchised like myself, I’m sure they know and have heard way worse. appreciate your endorsement pray that I use wisdom of ‘shock n awe’ LOL
I absolutely love going down memory lane with you and your music. You had me hooked back in the mid 80’s when “have yourself committed” came out and I saw you in concert with Steve Taylor. As I reminisce with you now I am even more grateful for your lyrics. I must have missed how good they were back then. So poetic and so profound. Thank you Bryan for your faithfulness to our great God through thick and thin, good and bad, and the easy and hard of life. Blessings to you and your family my brother!
I’ve worn out 2 cd’s of this one. I’m on CD#3 and every song hits home through my divorce, emptiness and feeling chastised by my church. This is by far my favorite BD CD. (And I have pretty much ALL of them). I love your work on this one brother. Blue Skies gave me hope . Turnin’ still makes me cry, and Whisper has that infectious drum/bass groove. (I’m a drummer, ya gotta love all the drummers on these CD’s). I’m sorry your life at the time wasn’t all “Blue Skies”. Mine surely wasn’t either, but this CD pulled me through. Thanks, Brother. TJ
I so appreciate your honesty, Bryan! I love hearing about your journey and the stories of the road and the recordings. Haven’t caught all your podcasts, but have really enjoyed the ones I’ve heard!
HEY DAN.. I Remember you! Heart of the ciy gig was the best sound i’ve heard in 2 decades! My story becomes more of a struggle the older I get.. I’m not sure what I can share eventually.. good to hear from you again! thanks
FAITH is a DECISION not a FEELING!
It takes a lot of scraped knees and wasted tears to figure that out.
The greatest regret is that some of the knees and tears are not ours?
I wish I had learned that sooner than later.
Thanks for the Kudos Brian, truth is even the best artists in secular music fade away.. for new stuff.. I agree with ya though about new music..I’m going to start posting more ‘songs that didn’t get airplay’ on here available in MP3 by request as thanks for supporting a new endeavor for my final years
thanks Don! I took a lot of those players for granted.. wish I woulda got pictures with em all!I’m going to start posting more ‘songs that didn’t get airplay’ on here available in MP3 by request as thanks for supporting a new endeavor for my final years
Bryan, this sounds like a reflection of my past. Ministry turned into work and less about reaching others. I wanted the right attitude, the compassion and truth of reaching others for God but it took a backseat to operating the mechanism. Spent countless hours behind the scenes practicing for the worship team, theater rehearsals, building sets, working on costumes and working with youth. I also found myself there more than at home and some questions arose about spending time with those I worked with being female and not my wife. We started making sure we were never without other workers and were sure to say “ Not Alone” for all to hear. Finally decided to walk away and find my relationship with God again. Help us Lord to be sensitive to your direction, our eyes seeing our surroundings and how we come across. Your love for the lost is perfect, help us to live that love so you are not ashamed of how we project it❤️
Hi Mike thanks for resonating.. I was nervous even talkin about it. I have another preacher friend who quit ‘official ministry’ saying “I get along better with God .. now that I don’t work for him” LOL I’m going to start posting more ‘songs that didn’t get airplay’ on here available in MP3 by request as thanks for supporting a new endeavor for my final years
This is an awesome album. I first saw you in concert on this album tour. I appreciate your doing the Nutshell Sermons. It is nice to hear the insights into the albums, songs and what was going on during these times. Thank you for doing them
Hi Thanks Roger! going forward from this project things get tough.. in a slow decline of my success. I would also lose my first marriage, not sure what to say about it.. but I feel compelled to speak to those of us who’ve not won in some endeavors or maybe most of em…
In this pilgrims progress shuffling through life as a believer there have been a tremendous number of potholes, many I digged myself and fell into. Most I eventually crawled out of and learned to walk again.
I had a plethora of music ministries I could turn to for comfort and strength. Certain songs for certain situations, but I always had a go to for certain and sure recovery and sustenance. Blue Skies and Slow Revival are medicine for my soul much like David was medicine for Saul. Hearing your memories of what was happening in you at the time sort of clarifies how Jesus works out one man’s struggle to help and heal countless others.
I see in others comments that I am no Lone Ranger in this regard, you may not have gotten recognition among your peers that you richly deserved but brother your rewards/treasures in heaven must surely be many barns full.
You told me once people don’t really tend to look up scripture references but…
“and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14…
Thanks for the laughs along the the way too!
Just goes to show there is no such thing as ‘retirement’ in the body of Christ just occasional green pastures to lie down in.
wow nicely said.. and in the case yer scripture quote offers a sense of hope right when at my age I feel like left overs!~ LOL means a lot to hear yer encouragement too.. Thanks for being here.. This week is the beginning of three weekends doing music .. and I can barely remember how to play my own songs! … right when you assumed yer past wouldn’t come back.. residuals
Dear Bryan , when I was going through a huge crisis in my life I lived and breathed the Mercy Album as well as Lunatic Friend. Blue Skies was more light hearted which was so helpfu by that time. My younger sister, who passed way 2 years ago was a huge fan of yours, too! When I learned you were struggling in your walk I felt even more connected to you, although I was sorry that you were dealing with hard things, too. I was in a ministry that failed after the crisis struck and was eventually related to my sister’s early death. Christians condemned me without knowing why the ministry failed and I had a nervous breakdown. I was innocent except for very deep grief. But I lost the financial, spiritual and emotional support of hundreds of supporters because I wasn’t free to disclose the details, nor can I now. There are some things we can never publicly disclose because they would cause too much harm. But it didn’t keep me from being judged harshly. So I want to thank you once again for helping me keep my sanity, literally, with your music. I will always be grateful for your ministry. Your honesty and choices in your lyrics kept me on track I my faith for literal decades. God bless, you, brother.
Wow.. heartache’s! I know a few.. and I have walked a tight line in knowing even what to say without justifying myself or belittling someone else.. It will always remain unfair to me.. and at the same time I can’t possibly see past the Grace God has shown me through all of it.. and that is why I’m still here.
WOW! What another fantastic segment that was . These insights on past albums literally has me on the edge of my seat sometimes. I find myself looking back like others here, but at the same time learning things that I just didn’t know. Man, we have all got it twisted when we think that just because someone has been able to be a blessing to us through what ever they have been gifted with that they don’t have the problems the same as we do. Well they do and sometimes worse than most of us. I can’t imagine being under that kind of strain. The job, the absences from home and the constant pressure to live up to what you think others expect you to be. Man that’s tuff, to know you where going through this at this time and still put this wonderful Blue Skies album out is amazing to me. How you guys do it have me shaking my head in wonderment ! I love several songs on this album but the one I loved the most is “Take Heart.” That song gets me every time I play it . I would love to hear that song sung again 2024 style , don’t get me wrong ain’t nothing wrong with the way it’s done on the album but I’ve known and heard you B , you are one of the only guy’s I know who can take a great older song and make it do what it do soundin betta than evuh ! I’m outty CJ
I have had to lower keys to songs like We All Need. Cause I”m not singing like I used to. I will start posting songs that didn’t get airplay regularly ‘Take Heart’ could be on that list.. and I thought about doing a version of Take Another Look.. We’ll see
On listening to this album when it first came out, I felt it was the saddest album you had written.I am sorry about all those vicissitudes in the industry.
Love this album! I saw you in concert right before Blue Skies released. It was in a park in Richland, WA. A very hot day and I felt really sorry for you having to stand out in the sun and sing. About half way through the sun was right in your eyes (you were wearing sun glasses, but wow!) It was a great concert and you didn’t show that you were under duress. You mentioned that Blue Skies was just about to drop and sang it for us. I loved it immediately. It felt like a breath of fresh air…still does. It is definitely one of my favorite albums. Many favorites on here.
Bryan I Love how you are being so transparent and real about the truly hard stuff.
God knew the world needed hope and encouragement in your songs, and if you had not gone through so many fires, your songs would have not had so much power. I know for me personally your music has carried me through much suffering over the years
Still going through your previous posts due to being laid up in bed/illness…
I remember during the time of your making this album that there was a book, sermon series, campaign of sorts at the conservative church I attended and did ministry in – it was called “Emotions, Can You Trust Them?” The answer was no. The instructions (couched in soft religious terms with plenty of scripture references) were to rely on faith, not feelings. I bought it, and tried to pump up my faith, and ignore my feelings.
What a ridiculous injunction… to dismiss my feelings and declare only faith. Frankly, it began to turn me into the one things I never wanted to be, a hypocrite.
Looking back, I now think the church of the time didn’t even know how to feel their feelings, let alone how to express them. I know that many male leaders certainly didn’t.
Even now, I think we tend to read into the Bible our own projections and biases (and dare I say our lack), and we forget to look at the very human Jesus as our model, a man who had both faith and feelings.
44 Replies to “Blue Skies Start Gray”
another excellent post. thanks for being more honest than some may be comfortable with … but shame on them because they likely don’t want a mirror placed in front of them.
doing the right things is difficult and moreso if people are expecting perfection from you, but not from them. i appreciate your brokenness (because we all are) and your sharing it in a way where everyone can see themselves as cracked pots.
thanks Rick, I thought long an hard about what to say on this one.. but I’ve never stopped needed the grace of God ever. and I don’t think anyone who listens to Nutshellsermons is uncomfortable with any of it.. I’m aiming at the disenfranchised with the incongruency they’ve seen in a lot o years of being around church .. thanks so much for your affirmation.
This is one of my favorite projects. I had no idea you were struggling during it. Thanks for sharing and keeping it real.
I thought More Manic then Ministry Minded was pretty good line! LOL
I love this album Blue Skies !and I love you funny man keep on keeping on❤️
thanks TB.. you know I’m still using those candle wax thingy’s in the thingy you gave me!
Bryan, good one here! ♥️, love it. Open your soul and truthful. Keep putting out great content. Support you 100 percent
thanks MC! I’m aimed at the disenfranchised like myself, I’m sure they know and have heard way worse. appreciate your endorsement pray that I use wisdom of ‘shock n awe’ LOL
I absolutely love going down memory lane with you and your music. You had me hooked back in the mid 80’s when “have yourself committed” came out and I saw you in concert with Steve Taylor. As I reminisce with you now I am even more grateful for your lyrics. I must have missed how good they were back then. So poetic and so profound. Thank you Bryan for your faithfulness to our great God through thick and thin, good and bad, and the easy and hard of life. Blessings to you and your family my brother!
I’m hear for the exhausted frankly.. never quite good enough… thanks for not kicking me to the curb!
I’ve worn out 2 cd’s of this one. I’m on CD#3 and every song hits home through my divorce, emptiness and feeling chastised by my church. This is by far my favorite BD CD. (And I have pretty much ALL of them). I love your work on this one brother. Blue Skies gave me hope . Turnin’ still makes me cry, and Whisper has that infectious drum/bass groove. (I’m a drummer, ya gotta love all the drummers on these CD’s). I’m sorry your life at the time wasn’t all “Blue Skies”. Mine surely wasn’t either, but this CD pulled me through. Thanks, Brother. TJ
nice that you mentioned Turnin’ not many have talked about that one.. I’m going to post another one from BS tomorrow “Take Another Look At Me”
I so appreciate your honesty, Bryan! I love hearing about your journey and the stories of the road and the recordings. Haven’t caught all your podcasts, but have really enjoyed the ones I’ve heard!
HEY DAN.. I Remember you! Heart of the ciy gig was the best sound i’ve heard in 2 decades! My story becomes more of a struggle the older I get.. I’m not sure what I can share eventually.. good to hear from you again! thanks
FAITH is a DECISION not a FEELING!
It takes a lot of scraped knees and wasted tears to figure that out.
The greatest regret is that some of the knees and tears are not ours?
I wish I had learned that sooner than later.
Hi Ruth NIce to hear from you and your wisdom too.. and yea, I learned this stuff long after the damage was done myself
One of my favorite s but really all of them are you should be on K love your way better than what I’ve been hearing on there Godless you
Thanks for the Kudos Brian, truth is even the best artists in secular music fade away.. for new stuff.. I agree with ya though about new music..I’m going to start posting more ‘songs that didn’t get airplay’ on here available in MP3 by request as thanks for supporting a new endeavor for my final years
This is also my favorite cd of yours. Every song has value and I love the space created by the excellent musicians.
thanks Don! I took a lot of those players for granted.. wish I woulda got pictures with em all!I’m going to start posting more ‘songs that didn’t get airplay’ on here available in MP3 by request as thanks for supporting a new endeavor for my final years
Bryan, this sounds like a reflection of my past. Ministry turned into work and less about reaching others. I wanted the right attitude, the compassion and truth of reaching others for God but it took a backseat to operating the mechanism. Spent countless hours behind the scenes practicing for the worship team, theater rehearsals, building sets, working on costumes and working with youth. I also found myself there more than at home and some questions arose about spending time with those I worked with being female and not my wife. We started making sure we were never without other workers and were sure to say “ Not Alone” for all to hear. Finally decided to walk away and find my relationship with God again. Help us Lord to be sensitive to your direction, our eyes seeing our surroundings and how we come across. Your love for the lost is perfect, help us to live that love so you are not ashamed of how we project it❤️
Hi Mike thanks for resonating.. I was nervous even talkin about it. I have another preacher friend who quit ‘official ministry’ saying “I get along better with God .. now that I don’t work for him” LOL I’m going to start posting more ‘songs that didn’t get airplay’ on here available in MP3 by request as thanks for supporting a new endeavor for my final years
This is an awesome album. I first saw you in concert on this album tour. I appreciate your doing the Nutshell Sermons. It is nice to hear the insights into the albums, songs and what was going on during these times. Thank you for doing them
Hi Thanks Roger! going forward from this project things get tough.. in a slow decline of my success. I would also lose my first marriage, not sure what to say about it.. but I feel compelled to speak to those of us who’ve not won in some endeavors or maybe most of em…
In this pilgrims progress shuffling through life as a believer there have been a tremendous number of potholes, many I digged myself and fell into. Most I eventually crawled out of and learned to walk again.
I had a plethora of music ministries I could turn to for comfort and strength. Certain songs for certain situations, but I always had a go to for certain and sure recovery and sustenance. Blue Skies and Slow Revival are medicine for my soul much like David was medicine for Saul. Hearing your memories of what was happening in you at the time sort of clarifies how Jesus works out one man’s struggle to help and heal countless others.
I see in others comments that I am no Lone Ranger in this regard, you may not have gotten recognition among your peers that you richly deserved but brother your rewards/treasures in heaven must surely be many barns full.
You told me once people don’t really tend to look up scripture references but…
“and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14…
Thanks for the laughs along the the way too!
Just goes to show there is no such thing as ‘retirement’ in the body of Christ just occasional green pastures to lie down in.
wow nicely said.. and in the case yer scripture quote offers a sense of hope right when at my age I feel like left overs!~ LOL means a lot to hear yer encouragement too.. Thanks for being here.. This week is the beginning of three weekends doing music .. and I can barely remember how to play my own songs! … right when you assumed yer past wouldn’t come back.. residuals
Dear Bryan , when I was going through a huge crisis in my life I lived and breathed the Mercy Album as well as Lunatic Friend. Blue Skies was more light hearted which was so helpfu by that time. My younger sister, who passed way 2 years ago was a huge fan of yours, too! When I learned you were struggling in your walk I felt even more connected to you, although I was sorry that you were dealing with hard things, too. I was in a ministry that failed after the crisis struck and was eventually related to my sister’s early death. Christians condemned me without knowing why the ministry failed and I had a nervous breakdown. I was innocent except for very deep grief. But I lost the financial, spiritual and emotional support of hundreds of supporters because I wasn’t free to disclose the details, nor can I now. There are some things we can never publicly disclose because they would cause too much harm. But it didn’t keep me from being judged harshly. So I want to thank you once again for helping me keep my sanity, literally, with your music. I will always be grateful for your ministry. Your honesty and choices in your lyrics kept me on track I my faith for literal decades. God bless, you, brother.
Wow.. heartache’s! I know a few.. and I have walked a tight line in knowing even what to say without justifying myself or belittling someone else.. It will always remain unfair to me.. and at the same time I can’t possibly see past the Grace God has shown me through all of it.. and that is why I’m still here.
You are honest, talented, and I do love your music, still . . .
Hey James looks like you found it.. the song at the end I talk about is free to ya if you don’t have it. thanks. You still in Paulsbo?
WOW! What another fantastic segment that was . These insights on past albums literally has me on the edge of my seat sometimes. I find myself looking back like others here, but at the same time learning things that I just didn’t know. Man, we have all got it twisted when we think that just because someone has been able to be a blessing to us through what ever they have been gifted with that they don’t have the problems the same as we do. Well they do and sometimes worse than most of us. I can’t imagine being under that kind of strain. The job, the absences from home and the constant pressure to live up to what you think others expect you to be. Man that’s tuff, to know you where going through this at this time and still put this wonderful Blue Skies album out is amazing to me. How you guys do it have me shaking my head in wonderment ! I love several songs on this album but the one I loved the most is “Take Heart.” That song gets me every time I play it . I would love to hear that song sung again 2024 style , don’t get me wrong ain’t nothing wrong with the way it’s done on the album but I’ve known and heard you B , you are one of the only guy’s I know who can take a great older song and make it do what it do soundin betta than evuh ! I’m outty CJ
I have had to lower keys to songs like We All Need. Cause I”m not singing like I used to. I will start posting songs that didn’t get airplay regularly ‘Take Heart’ could be on that list.. and I thought about doing a version of Take Another Look.. We’ll see
Just Wow .. Talk about it ..
hope that’s a good Wow.. I’m embarressed by my own story sometimes
On listening to this album when it first came out, I felt it was the saddest album you had written.I am sorry about all those vicissitudes in the industry.
thanks J it was
Love this album! I saw you in concert right before Blue Skies released. It was in a park in Richland, WA. A very hot day and I felt really sorry for you having to stand out in the sun and sing. About half way through the sun was right in your eyes (you were wearing sun glasses, but wow!) It was a great concert and you didn’t show that you were under duress. You mentioned that Blue Skies was just about to drop and sang it for us. I loved it immediately. It felt like a breath of fresh air…still does. It is definitely one of my favorite albums. Many favorites on here.
Oh Yea. I remember that concert very well.. sun was seldom right in my face!
Aha…see you do remember concerts…lol…
it’s all pretty vague.. I mostly remember things that didn’t go right!
Bryan I Love how you are being so transparent and real about the truly hard stuff.
God knew the world needed hope and encouragement in your songs, and if you had not gone through so many fires, your songs would have not had so much power. I know for me personally your music has carried me through much suffering over the years
Wow thanks for saying Sherry.. makes a lot of stuff worth the suffering! you are right!
Still going through your previous posts due to being laid up in bed/illness…
I remember during the time of your making this album that there was a book, sermon series, campaign of sorts at the conservative church I attended and did ministry in – it was called “Emotions, Can You Trust Them?” The answer was no. The instructions (couched in soft religious terms with plenty of scripture references) were to rely on faith, not feelings. I bought it, and tried to pump up my faith, and ignore my feelings.
What a ridiculous injunction… to dismiss my feelings and declare only faith. Frankly, it began to turn me into the one things I never wanted to be, a hypocrite.
Looking back, I now think the church of the time didn’t even know how to feel their feelings, let alone how to express them. I know that many male leaders certainly didn’t.
Even now, I think we tend to read into the Bible our own projections and biases (and dare I say our lack), and we forget to look at the very human Jesus as our model, a man who had both faith and feelings.
here’s where I make a conscious decision to stay in my lane!