Top Catholic Songs – share, learn, promote

Hello everyone and God bless.

I have released a new album of contemplative, worshipful Catholic hymns.  If you are a Catholic and you love the beautiful hymns sung during Mass, please check out the album!  It is titled, "Hosea" by Jonathan Murphy.  The album is available on amazon, itunes and cdbaby.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.  As you know, Catholic music is not exactly the most prevalent among all the Christian music out there today and is not generally embraced by the Protestant community.  I want to get the word out to make this Catholic music available to all the faithful who seek music that promotes Catholic beliefs, theology, spirituality, and prayer life.  I pray that it will be a blessing to you and to all who are seeking something such as this to help enrich their walk in faith. 

Please also check out my new website at www.jonathanmurphymusic.com or write to me at jonathanmurphymusic@aol.com

http://www.amazon.com/Hosea-Jonathan-Murphy/dp/B00GSA9S8Q/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1401380599&sr=8-3&keywords=jonathan+murphy+hosea

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jonathanmurphy

Before the summer of 2004, I had a vague notion that I'd like to write and publish songs. But I didn't know how. I lacked the formal training and resources to "produce" a song. I had written some poems in my 40s – stuff that was deeply personal and reflective of my "human condition" as a husband, father of seven, graphic design solopreneur and music minister/choir member at a Catholic church. I thought it would be neat to put my experiences and values to music. Well, suddenly I became enabled by technology. I started playing around with GarageBand on my Macintosh computer. I did an internet search for "GarageBand collaboration" and found www.macjams.com – an online community for sharing original music and collaborating on new music via the internet. I started writing songs with Jack Miller, Hendrik Steiner, David Gomez, André van Haren, Luca Frappola, Johnny Katchoolik, Norman Miller, Bill Furner, Robert Andrews, Roxylee Smith, Johannes Curry, Warren Smith, Harold Luper, John Luper and others. I contributed mostly lyrics and vocals but sometimes added some guitar and simple keyboard or percussion. We sent MP3 tracks back n' forth to create a mixes in Apple GarageBand or Apple Logic (music sequencing programs). This engagement at MacJams became my informal education in music theory, recording, mastering, publishing and promotion. I advanced even as far as creating sheet music using Sibelius notation software. I currently am doing ongoing collaboration with André van Haren, an orchestral composer in Sweden. I am also working on an album called Hungry For Heaven with two musicians in Spain – David Gomez Sanz and Alberto Ayuso Domingo.. It's been quite a journey since the summer of 2004 and I'd like to share this with you in a blog series I am calling "Virtual song collaboration." I will detail my methods for solo and collaborative songwriting and production. Feel free to comment and ask questions as we go along.

The world needs positive music to help offset the negativity and false values which infect our lives. How can we write about sin and cultural death in an engaging and affirming way? I have tried to do this in my own lyrics. Here are samples of my lyrics:

Leaving Flesh

Leaving flesh gates the soul,
like a bird that soars with grace,
like a worm that leaves the hole,
taken to an extraordinary place.

Give your all until the dawn.
Take what little stuff you need.
Smile until the shades are drawn,
knowing well that you've planted the seed.

Gift of knowing, gift of feeling.
Golden orb, precious sight.
Life's abrasions the sun is healing
for those who simply step out into the light.

What is money? What is power?
Lust and vengeance, blood and bile?
Selfless motives don't devour.
Look for treasure in a neighbor's smile.

Music ©2006 Hendrik Steiner and Karl Anselm. Lyrics ©2006 Richard C. Schletty

You Are

See the light that streams from the darkness
from a soul who is weeping.
Hear their silent lips, 
the shuffle of tired feet. 

Bring your gifts to the doorstep
of a heart in a sling.
Bring your juice pressed from fruit
both sour and sweet.

You are the poet, you are the clown,
you are the artist able to fashion
a new smile on someone draggled by despair.
Take the lead, plant the seed of hope with compassion. 
Help a shattered spirit find repair.

Rain, tears and fears, the falling and the rising:
necessary grayness for the whetting of new growth.
Life and death in circles ever flowing.
Inspiration, expiration -- not one but both.

Music ©2006 Hendrik Steiner and Karl Anselm. Lyrics ©2006 Richard C. Schletty

Please feel free to comment below. Thank you!