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Simple: Exceptional songwriting. Tremendous heart.
So when Atlanta’s Brash Music, created under the leadership of former Mindspring president and COO Mike McQuary, heard Aaron Shust’s honest, hooky songs, the staff knew immediately it needed a crash course in Christian music.
Anything Worth Saying is the debut worship album from new singer/songwriter Aaron Shust. Through fresh praise & worship choruses, these 11 original songs exude confident hope, passionately carrying listeners toward God’s promised restoration.
“I feel closest to God whenever I’m leading people in worship,” says Shust, a classically trained musician. “When I can step away from the microphone and it appears that a sea of people are singing to God from the bottom of their hearts and the top of their lungs, that’s where I feel God’s pleasure. I absolutely love that.”
A life-long churchgoer, Shust grew up in Pittsburgh, where he started playing piano at 7. As a teenager, Aaron learned to play the guitar, influenced by the sounds of the sixties and Motown. Needing to express his feelings about leaving home, songwriting became a serious craft as Aaron prepared for college.
Attending Toccoa Falls College, Shust studied music theory, developed an aptitude for the likes of Bach and Mozart, and soaked in the sounds of more recent masters like Bob Marley and U2. Shust honed his stage skills on campus while also performing in churches and coffeehouses.
For the last five years Shust has served as a full-time staff member and worship leader at Perimeter Church, a progressive, 27-year-old congregation in Atlanta. Beyond that community, Aaron leads worship throughout the United States at new churches, adult retreats and youth camps, placing his songwriting fingers firmly on the pulse of the church’s devotion.
“This album is a conversation with God,” Shust says. “There are words on my heart that God gives me and I put them to music because I love music. When I can put those things together, and people embrace it, then I feel like I’ve birthed a song in the world.”
Anything Worth Saying overflows with well-crafted pop hooks wrapped in memorable, vertically-oriented songs. From beginning to end, brutal honesty best describes the project’s tone. The record’s hub is the 19-second opening track “Give Me Words,” a prelude stemming from a year-long dry season when Aaron didn’t write much, if anything, he says.
“I was just thinking, ‘If I’m a songwriter, then why haven’t I written in so long?’ But I didn’t feel like I had anything to say.” A desperate prayer finally formed on his lips: “Give me words to speak/Don’t let my spirit sleep/Because I can’t think of anything worth saying.” Eventually, glimpses of mystery caught Aaron’s heart, mind and soul again, sparking the inspiring words and music that now form this collection.
On “Matchless,” for example, aggressive opening guitars match beat-for-beat the energy behind Aaron’s spot-on vocals as he sings a litany of God’s sovereign names, each pointing to love beyond measure. Such love, ultimately made tangible in Christ, leads to a moving bridge:
“In Your name You took the blind man and You gave him back his sight/In Your name You took the dead man and You brought him back to life/In your name You took this prisoner and You opened up the doors/And I will sing before Your throne forever more.”
Shust addresses humanity’s basic quest for meaning in “My Savior, My God.” Our longing to be a part of something bigger than ourselves is met, Shust sings, through an ever-present God who rescues us from meaninglessness. The song ultimately gives way to a big, irresistible chorus that pours out an unshakable faith proclamation:
“My Savior loves/My Savior lives/My Savior’s always there for me
My God: He was/My God: He is/My God is always gonna be”
Shust possesses an enviable knack for creating wide-sweeping, emotional brushstrokes within the same track. “Give It All Away” starts simple enough—an acoustic guitar anchors a prayerful devotional statement thanking God for His grace in Christ. But summarily the song evolves into as an escalating wall of sound, one metaphorically parallel to our own ever-increasing devotion as we come to understand more deeply the incredible sacrifice made on our unwitting behalf.
Anything Worth Saying was produced by Dan Hannon and mixed by Steve Bishir (Amy Grant, Chris Tomlin, Garth Brooks) and Dan Hannon. Players include John Chalden (drums), Tim Gibson (bass), Candi Pearson-Shelton and Michael Mellett (backing vocals). Shust contributed acoustic guitars and piano while Hannon and George Cocchini (Michael W. Smith, Michael McDonald, Tim Hughes) played electric guitars.
“I think the majority of the songs have moments of introspection, moments of real honesty that confess, I don’t have what it takes. I’m empty. But I’m running to the God that has it all,” says Aaron.
Artistic honesty invokes great risk. But as Aaron Shust confirms, such revelation yields abundant reward.
“We’re here for a reason,” Aaron says, “and it’s right to give praise for who God is to us. His name is matchless.”
"When I began thinking about this album," Scott says, "I thought 'Wow, this is the fourth of a four record deal, so if this is my last record in this whole CCM thing, I want to go out and give it all I have.' Of course, I've felt that way about every record I've done, but I remember saying on the front side of this one, 'I really want to take some risks on this one, to build a new box. I just wanted to be true to my creative instincts, to my own heart, my own mind."
With Gentle Revolution, Scott and co-producer Kent Hooper explored larger musical territory, inspired by the innovation of bands like Switchfoot, Maroon 5 and pop icons like Sting and Billy Joel. You can still hear the piano-driven pop sound Scott Krippayne has become known for, but the polished pop edge has been burned away, leaving behind a barrage of aggressive guitars fused with an authentic 'live' rock feel. "We operated with a 'no rules, just right' philosophy," Scott says of the musical approach. "We wanted it to be as true musically as it is lyrically, so we agreed to let our mistakes guide us."
Also guiding Scott was the desire to write new songs that reflect his own spiritual journey of the last few years, to be transparent, even at the risk of being not-so-radio friendly.
"The idea behind Gentle Revolution is change," Scott says. "Any revolution means change, and we associate that idea with overthrow, and yet Jesus brought a gentle revolution into the lives of everyone he met. He touched them. He listened to their stories and gave them the truth…. With some of the songs on this album, there's a risk of misunderstanding. People can read a lot into it, if they want. But it's the most honest I've ever been. I'm convicted by these songs every time I sing them…"
From the pounding opener of the title track, which reveals the heart of the album, listeners will hear an urgent relevance in each of the 10 songs-each one about living true to Jesus' words in an ever-changing world.
A riveting picture of the real world, "I Am Jesus," the most aggressive song on Gentle Revolution, speaks to Jesus' words in Matthew 25:45: "Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." An inescapable message for our times.
"Something Different," the most musically distinctive song on the album, dares to explore the truth that living like Jesus is not the safest way to live: I can't ignore injustice and the tragic human cost / Love should make me radical / worldly incompatible…
"In the Name of God," a powerful ballad co-written with Regie Hamm (whose work has been recorded by Kenny Loggins, Bob Carlisle and many others), is the timeliest song on the album. A song ripe for misinterpretation.
Grand inquisitions / great Holy Wars / Crusade and conquer / Slaughter the Moors / Fighting, fighting / All in the Name of God
"We didn't set out to make a political statement," Scott says. "It's a difficult song, but the message is very important. And I didn't want to not say it just because I didn't want to take any flak for it. …I'm not a pacifist, and I've got friends in Iraq, and yet when I search scriptures and when I look at the life of Jesus, I just don't see that he was about war. We live in a different world, one that will unfortunately involve war, and I will always support those we send…. This song simply admits that 'we mess it up more than we get it right,' and yet there's hope here because God is merciful."
"Renee," a pensive poem-of-a-song that began in a Starbucks in Los Angeles after a brief encounter with celebrity Renee Zellweger, is Scott's attempt to explore the reality behind the myth of fame. "I just started thinking about what life must really be like for her," Scott muses. "She's got to have struggles, and you know at some point she's got to just want to go home and be herself…" If you listen carefully, you'll hear the acoustic piano squeak along, echoing the humanity behind such a glamorous life.
Other songs like Scott's confessional litany in "Lyin," the energetic wake-up call of "Alive Again" and the "blazing beauty" of "Shadow On The Sun," punctuate Gentle Revolution's more convicting moments with jolts of encouragement and strength for this journey we call life. Which in itself, Scott says, should center on Jesus' revolutionary way of life.
"If I've learned anything over the past year or two, it's that I've got a long way to go to really make a difference, to be a true follower of Jesus. That's where I've been living lately, trying to sort out what's really important in life and how to represent Christ in the world. …I can't pretend to know how or if these songs will impact people, but my hope is that God's Spirit will reveal what he will to those who will hear."
*Only some of which is true.