Jamie Soles

solmusic.ca#

I like Jamie Soles! From his music telling Bible stories for kids to his versifications of the Psalms there is something for every Christian in his repertoire. As his website, solmusic.ca says, “If you love how the whole Bible testifies of Jesus, you will love this music!".

solmusic.ca

A bit of history#

We’ve been listening to Jamie Soles for a long time. Our boys grew up on his Bible stories from albums like “Fun and Prophets" and “The Way my Story Goes” .

He turned stories about lists of kings and apostles and repeated sacrifices by Jewish tribal representatives into memorable and singable songs that prompted questions and looking up of Bible passages. We are indebted for helping us to teach our children the Bible because, as he put it, “stories are your biblical A-B-Cs”.

I think we were introduced to Jamie Soles back when we lived in the Hamilton area. I played violin at our church and was teaching music to one of our pastor’s daughters. We visited with their family a lot, and on one visit the children came to me and excitedly asked me to listen to “This is the Sign” which is about the covenant significance of circumcision. I remember thinking, “Wow! That’s not something most people write a song about”. I’ve been hooked ever since.

We took our boys years later to one of Jamie’s concerts, and met up with him at OCHEC conferences as well. His music is still a part of our lives and I find myself humming tunes like “These are the Prophets” and “Jesus to the Rescue” on a fairly regular basis. I’ve even purchased his albums as gifts for friends on more than one occasion.

Why I’m telling you about this#

Music is a big deal! It’s an important way to teach your children about God’s word. It’s also an important way to help fill your heart with scripture and worship. Music is obviously an essential aspect of corporate worship on Sundays as well.

The thing is, music should be skilfully done and it should be theologically sound. Jamie Soles delivers on both counts. You can’t go wrong with teaching his songs to your kids, and you can’t go wrong with walking around humming them yourself either.

Soles' music is very difficult to categorize. It ranges from what sounds a bit like folk to songs that are more akin to rock and roll. But his music and his words always seem to suit each other and he seems to always have a fresh take on a biblical theme or a little-known Bible story. It doesn’t hurt that his wife and his children have often been a part of his albums and their contributions make many of his recordings that much better.

I highly recommend Jamie Soles' music. You can find all of his albums on Spotify and you can purchase them as CD or MP3 downloads at solmusic.ca .

I want to leave you with one song that I especially love. Soles' wife Valerie sings the poignant story of Luke 7:11-17 from the perspective of the widow whose only son has died. My sons call me a softy, but this never fails to bring me to tears, mainly because of the widow’s realization that this man is the great prophet whom God has finally sent to Israel.