The popularity of praise and worship music lately has been enough to make a genuine music listener close their ears to any mention of those two words. The name Trees and Chaff Ministry is definitely enough to conjure up ideas of the typical stereotypes found in praise and worship music. However, once the listener gets past this and actually places the CD in the player, they will find something of value here.
The Trees and Chaff Ministry is Arthur Alligood, a guy with a guitar, a rich voice, and an honest spirit in his music. The music is kept simple; with Alligood's acoustic work generally the only thing backing up his vocals. What makes this mix work is the lyrics that Alligood pens. The songs aren't concerned with being preachy or with using the typical Christian buzzwords. What they are concerned with is expressing in simple language the significance that Christ has in the every day life of a normal human being. This idea may not seem groundbreaking, but at the same time it hasn't been carried out very often either without an industry entering the mix.
CD02 is a very purposeful album without being pretentious. Sometimes a solid dose of simple, honest songwriting can go a long way in creating an album worth listening to, as Alligood has proven here.
3.5 tocks
