Jonathan D. Blundell

My first memory of Shaun Groves was receiving a demo version of his album Invitation to Eavesdrop (circa 2000). I don’t recall if it was for a project we were doing with Lighthouse 21 or for Powerline 89.9… but I do recall us giving a number of the tracks a fairly good rotation during our Saturday night radio program in Waco.

It was a great album to introduce us all to Shaun.

A few years later (2003/2004?) he gave a concert at UMHB and I remember thinking afterwards as he took the time to talk with those in attendance, that he wasn’t like most of the “christian artists” I had worked with over the previous few years at UMHB.

Fast forward a few years, and his record company was gone and Shaun was left without a recording contract.

But it wasn’t long before he found a new voice through his blog (which I discovered through Kevin Hendrick’s recommendation). And then after months (if not years :-)) of trying, we finally connected earlier this year and I was able to interview him and share his story on our podcast.

As part of the interview, Shaun told us about his latest project – Third World Symphony – an album that was crowd-sourced through Kickstarter.

Fast forward to today and now the album is complete and the countdown has begun until it officially releases August 30.

(You can pre-order the album now on Shaun’s website for only $10!)

But Shaun, being as gracious as he is, has published the final mastered versions of the album online so we can all wet our whistle and get a first listen.

And so… I’ve listened. And I really enjoyed it.
Continue reading Shaun Groves – Third World Symphony (my first listen)