For right now being key.
Primarily because it could literally change in like a split second.
I will say that favorite is determined primarily by what I have been wanting to listen to mostly lately, and mostly lately I have been wanting to listen to Caedmon's Call. Why might you ask?
I am so glad you asked!
They are amazing!
But the two things I enjoy about them are that they have a folk sound and a theological message that I not only enjoy hearing and agree with, but its not presented in a stupid cheesy way. I love things that have a folk sound to it, like Paul Simon and Nickle Creek or Mumford and Sons and Fleet Foxes. It's just something about the sound of acoustic guitars layered over each other, or even the use of folk sounds from other parts of the world. My favorite song by them is "There's Only (Holy One)". It is on their album
Share the Well, which was produced during and after they spent time traveling Ecuador, Brazil and India. So there is a world folk sound to the whole album, and I think it's really evident in this particular song primarily because it's played in DADGAD tuning or D modal tuning, which was popularized by Davey Graham. (I love to play in this tuning, if you never have I suggest you should, it's so much fun just to jam in it, and relatively easy to do so.) This is evident in a lot of their other songs though, some have like a poppy folk sound, others not so much, some have a really world folk sound, and some sound as if though they were made for radio, but all I think exhibit a Singer/Songwriter feel. Which is very different from a lot of the music you hear on Christian radio, or other Christian sources. A lot, not all, is either cheesy Christian pop/adult contemporary or teen-angst fueled, alternative rock; at least half of it, though, isn't even good. I don't want to throw out examples, but if you are familiar with Christian radio you know what I mean, or if not, oh well. There's just not depth or meaning to it, Bob Dylan's "Hurricane" tells such a brilliant story about social injustice and in such a musically pleasing, appropriate way, but you rarely hear such adept story telling tied to good, appropriate music on Christian radio.
Thus, their other greatest asset is their ability to translate a Christian theology and perspective into music and lyrics. I'm not gonna lie, very many artist trying to be Christian Contemporary are terrible at it and terrible for the industry. I'm not a huge fan a Bruce Springsteen (please don't hate), but I have a huge respect for his ability to translate American ideas into appealing lyrical form. Heck, I could go on and on about amazing classic rock acts who are amazing lyricists, Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, John Mellencamp, etc. those are just the ones that pop into my head, I'm sure you could name plenty more yourself. I'm not saying that Caedmon's Call is equal to them, at least not yet, but Derek Webb is pretty dang good at it, as well as the rest of them. They are able to capture the emotions of the Christian trying to live out Christian ideology and at the same time able to capture the ideology and don't bank on the poppiness to make it stick.
I'll admit I'm very biased, as you can probably tell. But if you are one of those Christian music cynics like me who actually likes substance to their music then I suggest you check them out.
