Steve Green was born on August 1, 1956 in Portland,
Oregon. MORNING LIGHT: SONGS TO AWAKEN
THE DAWN (1999, Sparrow) was his fourteenth English language solo album. His previous albums had included HE HOLDS THE
KEYS, WHERE MERCY BEGINS, and THE FAITHFUL. Of MORNING LIGHT, Steve shares: “This album is
dedicated to my mom, whose love for the Lord shines bright every morning. My earliest recollection is of you sitting in
the kitchen with your Bible and a cup of coffee. Forty years later, nothing has changed,
except now it’s decaf. This is for you,
Mom”. This album was produced by Phil
Naish and executive produced by Peter York and Bill Baumgart. A devotional entitled ‘Morning Light:
Meditations to Awaken the Dawn’ was released to go along with the CD.
The first song, ‘In the Morning’, is a Steve Green
composition. It’s one of four songs that
uses a choir whose members include: Lisa Bevill, Travis Cottrell, and Marabeth
Jordan. It is a beautiful inspirational
ballad of intimacy with the Father: “In the morning, I bring my request/In the
morning, each care is confessed/In the morning, You quiet unrest/In the
morning/Hallelujah! (3X)/In the morning, I listen and wait/In the morning,
faith anticipates/In the morning, You make my way straight/In the morning”. Steve co-wrote ‘All that You Say’ with Wes
King. Twila Paris provides harmony
vocals. It expresses a sure desire to
follow God: “All that is true, all that’s right/All that is pure, radiant
light/All of Your heart here for me/All that You say is all that I need/And
blessed are the ones who will listen/Blessed are the ones who will hear/Speak,
Lord, while I am waiting/Speak while my heart is near/And Thy Word is a lamp to
my feet/And a light unto my path”.
Michael Card and Phil Naish wrote ‘Morning Star’. Darwin Hobbs is one of the vocalists on this
light adult pop song that invites God in: “Come rise and shine in Your
holiness/Oh, radiant Son of righteousness/And warm Your people both near and
far/And shine through me, oh Morning Star/Shine through me, oh Morning
Star/Your compassion’s new every morning/It fills us up so we can sing/So we
can sing”. Marty McCall of First Call
sings harmony vocal on ‘I Offer Myself’.
It is a song that dedicates one’s life to the Lord: “I offer myself to
You/Presenting every part/Pure and holy, set apart/I offer myself to you/I
offer my hands to You/May labors great or small/Be done in answer to Your
call/I offer my hands to You/To be holy, holy, holy like You (2X)”.
‘Doxology’ is a majestic inspirational anthem of faith that
benefits greatly from the use of The Nashville String Machine: “Direct,
control, suggest this day/All I do, design or say/That all my powers with all
my might/In Thy glory may unite/Praise God, praise God/All creatures here
below/Praise God, praise God/From Whom all blessings flow/Praise the Father,
praise the Son/Praise the Spirit, Three in One”. Next up is a wonderful acappella rendition of
the Christian classic ‘Morning Has Broken’ featuring Steve and the choir. Nature lovers will like these lyrics:
“Morning has broken/Like the first morning/Blackbird has spoken/Like the first
bird/Praise for the singing/Praise for the morning/Praise for them
springing/Fresh from the Word/Sweet the rain’s new fall/Sunlit from heaven/Like
the first dew fall on the first grass/Praise for the sweetness of the wet
garden/Sprung in completeness/Where His feet pass/Hallelujah! (4X)”
Phil Naish co-wrote ‘Selah’ with Steve. It is a pretty instrumental just a few
seconds shy of four minutes in length.
Psalm 107:1 is the inspiration for ‘He is Good’, a simple song of praise
penned by Frank Hernandez and Jeff Nelson: “He is good, He is good/His love
endures forever/Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good/He is good, He is
good/His love endures forever/Give thanks for He is good”.
Marty McCall is a backing vocalist on ‘Lord of the Dawn’, a
cheerful adult pop song on which Phil Naish plays keyboards, Sonny Lallerstedt
plays acoustic guitars and mandola, Jerry McPherson plays electric guitars,
Mark Hill plays bass, and Scott Meeder is responsible for drums and
percussion. These are words of petition:
“Lord of the Dawn, shine Your light/Chase the darkness where fear dims our
sight/Make one more new day bright/Lord of the Dawn (2X)”. ‘Awaken’ includes both English and Spanish lyrics
and among other instruments used are marimbas, pantera, and shekere. Fans of Ricky Martin and Gloria Estefan will
enjoy this upbeat number. Here are some
of the lyrics: “I will awaken the dawn/Be the first voice of praise with a
song/’Til the morning joins in and creation begins/To awake to the sound of
this song/High as the heav’ns above/So great is the Father’s love/Love
unconditionally/Rejoicing over me”.
Rob Mathes wrote and provides harmony vocals on
‘Listen’. Buddy Greene provides a
harmonica solo. This is a ballad of
spiritual resolve: “I will wait in quiet, earnest anticipation/And I will
listen to You/Listen close, listen deep/Way beyond the silence/Listen to what
You speak/I will pray Thy kingdom come/I will pray Thy will be done/And I will
listen”. Last up is ‘Breathe on me,
Breath of God’, which makes requests of God: “Breathe on me, breath of God/Fill
me with life anew/That I may love what Thou dost love/And do what Thou wouldst
do/Breathe on me, breath of God/Until my heart is pure/Until my will is one
with Thine/To do and to endure”.
MORNING LIGHT: SONGS TO AWAKEN THE DAWN is an excellent
inspirational album, with influences of light adult pop music. Steve Green’s vocals, as ever, are a delight
to listen to. On this particular project
he sings quietly, tenderly, and reverently.
He does not belt it out (which he can do magnificently) because these
songs simply don’t require that type of performance. These songs here are ones that express and
cry out for an intimate and personal relationship with God. Clearly Steve wants to be in the center of
God’s will. He wants to be holy and to
encourage us to aim for that as well.
Purity is greatly valued by God.
There are a handful of nice photos of Steve included with this project
which I’m rating 93%. For more info
visit: www.stevegreenministries.org.