I'm not a big fan of most music made by teenagers, or with teenagers in mind. Not that I despise those who are younger than me, and not that I look down on them as automatically being less intelligent... shoot, if anything, it's the music aimed at that crowd that does that. Write some inane and simplistic songs, snatch up a powerhouse vocalist from your local junior high school while their voice is still changing, throw an army of keyboards and drum machines and producers at it, and you'll have the average album marketed to young people in the year 2004. Doesn't our youth deserve better? Does meeting them at their level have to mean dumbing it down? Does the music industry think they're that stupid?

Well, I know I wasn't stupid at age fifteen. And I can tell from listening to the promising debut album by folk/pop singer Bethany Dillon that she's not stupid at age fifteen either. We can infer from this that there are probably a lot of teenagers out there who aren't stupid, and who don't appreciate being talked to as if they are. The same is hopefully true for adults. Unfortunately, in popular music, and especially within the confines of Christian music, you get a lot of that kind of treatment. But Bethany seems to be one young artist who is resolute to not dish it out.

Now I know what you might be thinking - "Folk music isn't really for that age group." Yeah, I considered that too. It kind of begs the question - who determined that bouncy pop songs and programming were the only way to get a young person's attention? I think that might be the fault of adults, for feeding them whatever will supposedly snag their interest the most quickly - either sugary-sweet lovey-dovey pop music or sludgy power-chord rock with angst to the nth degree. Sure, I've enjoyed some music in those styles - I did all those years ago, and I still do now. But back then, I would have loved to hear an album that was basically a heart-to-heart with someone my age who shared my Christian beliefs, who was being honest with me, not pandering and pretending they knew what it was like to be my age when they had clearly forgotten all about it. Do that, and I think musical style is secondary.

Besides, it's not like Bethany's album is devoid of pop and rock influences. Much like her primary musical influence Jennifer Knapp, whose music Bethany fell in love with at age 10 (can you believe it? 10??!?! I wish Jennifer Knapp had been around when I was 10!), Bethany knows how to infuse a song with a killer melody, a sweet guitar hook, a lovely sprinkling of folksy instrumentation, and a bit of rock energy when needed. It's a fairly catchy and engaging album - maybe not as deep and soul-searching as Jen's best stuff, but certainly an achievement for a budding young songwriter. Yeah, that's right, Bethany writes or co-writes pretty much all of her songs. This has been done by very young artists many times before - LaRue and Rebecca St. James come to mind - but it's much more common for teen performers to just show up and sing. It's always been that way, I guess - even some of the most popular adult "artists" to do that. I get excited when, at a very young age, someone has a good amount of influence on the creative process of his or her own music, because they've got their whole life ahead of 'em and that means plenty of time to develop their own talent rather than letting everybody else call the shots 100% of the time.

Sure, I wouldn't say that Bethany is a visionary quite yet. Her songs remain fairly transparent, easy to understand, and easy to sing along to. Not too many big surprises on this album - though the surprises that do exist are rather pleasant ones. The themes that seem to be closest to Bethany's heart are fairly common for a CCM album - physical vs. internal beauty, not following the crowd, realizing that the planet Earth isn't your final destination, and of course, worship. Bethany weaves these together rather effortlessly, creating a collection of songs that demonstrate her skill and her personality. And really, that's the function that a debut album should serve - we can get into more heavy thematic stuff and more musical experimentation later on. For now, we've got some sweet vocals to enjoy (but not too perky or breathy like some of those pop/faux-R&B types), a bright color palette of folksy sounds to take in courtesy of Bebo Norman's favorite producer Ed Cash, and some generally thoughtful words of encouragement to take with us when the music is done. Sounds like a sweet enough deal to me!

Revolutionaries
They shake their heads
As they drive away in the bandwagon
Didn't feel like hitching a ride...
Well, if you're going to have any sort of folk influence in your music, it only makes sense to write yourself a "traveling" song. This is Bethany's version of such a song, which gets the CD off to a laid-back but steady start with its palm-muted acoustic intro and someone counting off the rhythm. Once the guitar is in full strum and the drums are lightly shuffling along and a warm accordion is thrown into the mix, the song begins to sound like a train chugging along through the woods - it's a perfect setting for Bethany's lyrics. Her song is a keen observation about those who beckon to her to follow the crowd and be "cool", and she just can't see what the point of it all is. I love that she doesn't use her age as a defense for ignorance, either - "Who am I?" she asks, "just a youth? Why has that become the excuse?" It's also great that she uses "bandwagon" as an actual physical metaphor - others have climbed aboard the vehicle and are looking strangely at her as she decides to forge her own path ahead on foot. "Come with me", she sweetly calls out to the listener, "we'll be revolutionaries". Excellent way to start an album!

Great Big Mystery
The fingers on my weathered bow
Are giving out and letting go
I need You now to take me in
I cannot fight alone again...
The second track is probably Bethany's most rock-oriented number, nothing terribly aggressive by rock music standards, but definitely a bit chunkier than her average song. In fact, the combination of acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and rather busy strings that add a dramatic flair to the song's midsection makes this sound like a lost upbeat song that didn't make the cut for Jennifer Knapp's The Way I Am. That's not a bad thing at all - Bethany wanted this to be a big and loud song about the power of God and how she sometimes tries to "be the queen" and resist God's authority. Pretty simple stuff on a lyrical level, but there are still some pleasing lyrical touches if you listen closely - lines like "The fingers on my weathered bow" that you wouldn't expect the average CCM artist to come up with. The song is propelled along nicely by the electric guitar, but it scales back to let Bethany's acoustic riffing cut through the mix with great precision - sonically, this is just a killer song.

Beautiful
I was so unique, now I feel skin deep
I count on the make-up to cover it all...
The record's first radio single definitely lives up to its title, but that doesn't mean that it's a pretty little ballad. No sir, Bethany chooses instead to lead in with a fast-paced piano intro, and the drums and a sea of vocals come crashing in, pounding along on the song's 3/4 rhythm. Now that she's got your attention, the instruments scale back a bit in order for Bethany to share with us that she, a young woman with nicely made-up album photos and songs that get played on the radio, struggles with the desire to be seen by everyone as "beautiful". It's a common teenage struggle, and we've certainly heard about this from the likes of ZOEgirl, but the looping melody that Bethany sets her confession to is uniquely compelling. She's been "fighting the mirror happy", and what she really wants in the end is to let go of the foolish pursuit and hear God say that "who I am is quite enough". Yeah, easier said than done. It may not be as poetic as Caedmon's Call's "Piece of Glass", but it's definitely a strong and memorable single.

Move Forward
My eyes are soft and wise, they tell a story
Of things left behind, defeat and glory...
Bethany pulls out a little bit of rhythmic trickery on the next song - the lilting, "Yeah, yeah-eah-eah"s in the intro as she strums her guitar can lead the listener to think that this song follows in the same 3/4 pattern as "Beautiful". But then a weird thing happens when the verse builds towards the chorus - the beat becomes a more rigid 4/4, sounding like a total shift in time signature at first until you realize that it's been the same beat all along, just emphasized in different places due to the way the guitar was being strummed. It's a clever example of syncopation that gives the tune a slight Beatles tone, as some electric riffs show up to caress the acoustic strumming. Lyrically, this is one of Bethany's plainer efforts, returning us to the travel theme and describing her as a "Foreigner" who is moving on and exploring new lands, pushing her hindrances aside, letting go of the things she clung to in the past as she makes her way towards a home she won't reach during this lifetime. The song is more notable for the music than the lyrics - if Bethany can match up her smarter lyrical moments with her quirkier musical ventures in the future, she'll be a real force to be reckoned with.

For My Love
I want to hide what's deep in my eyes
I'm scared to be known by you
But when I turn my head and see you there
I want to be pursued...
One of the great things about being a teenager is that your romantic fantasies are generally untainted at that point. Songs written from that perspective can generally be unbearable for us older folks to listen to, but Bethany's got a great take on it here - a simple acoustic strum starts off a gentle dance by itself, and soon a mandolin and an electric guitar are circling around it, as Bethany describes her dream of being noticed over all the other girls on the dance floor, and swept off her feet by her imaginary Prince Charming. When she happily croons, "I want to be pursued", what guy wouldn't want to cut across the room, take her gloved hand, kiss it, and ask her for a dance? (OK, other than me. I'm taken. But my point still stands.) Of course, love doesn't come without its commitments and promises - when she tells the guy, "Let me know you'd fight thousands for my love", it becomes clear that non-Braveheart types need not apply. (So I'd be out of the running anyway.) I love that she's able to describe this innocent dream without coming across as being too old-fashioned or naïve.

All I Need
There are a million voices calling out my name
But You're the One I want to hear
So make the others disappear...
This song is probably the closest Bethany has come to writing a typical CCM lyric - it's not terrible, but it's also nothing to write home about. "You are all I need when I'm surrounded, You are all I need when I'm by myself" is the main thrust of it, with the line "You are all I need" repeating several times during the verses. There's still a tiny bit of poetic language describing God's interaction with her and with Creation, but songs that return to a generic catch-phrase rather than something specific and original tend to get glossed over when I'm listening to a CD. One good thing about the song is that it's generous with the acoustic instrumentation - a quick bit of mandolin picking follows Bethany through the song. In that regard, it's a lot like one of Casting Crowns' better moments - but then I probably shouldn't drag Bethany down by making such a comparison.

Aimless
His glass falls, breaks into a thousand pieces
Spilling out all he's tried to hide
"I only wanted to be strong, to be brave
But it's driven everyone away..."
The mellowest song on the record - probably the only tune I'd consider a "ballad" (which is surprising for a folk-oriented album) - is one of those story songs about lost people, the kind you might expect from Nichole Nordeman. The rhythm is a relaxed 6/8, allowing Bethany to frame the story of a lonely guy in the first verse, and then a lonely girl in the second verse, and to finally bring it back around and relate these character's situations to her own realization that "I've always known this wasn't home". It's a format that's been used many times before, and the song fails to fully take hold with me since it never really explains why these characters are feeling so lost. Perhaps focusing on one of the characters rather than using them as a device to get to a chorus would have worked better. Still, the chorus is one of her strongest vocal moments - you can hear the desperation of those lost souls in the way she cries out for them. Not a bad track, but not one that I'm always in the mood for.

Lead Me On
Shoulder to the wheel
For someone else's selfish gain
Here there is no choosing, working the clay
Wearing their anger like a ball and chain...
Now here's a cover of a song that really should be common knowledge to every CCM listener, but due to my getting into it later in my life, I'll admit that I've never been terribly familiar with anything Amy Grant did before Heart in Motion. What's surprising is to see such a song pop up on an album by an artist who was born the year it came out - I was like 10 then! Bethany and her makeshift band give this song more of a triple-A rock treatment, much like "Great Big Mystery" but not as fast-paced. The song builds off of a percussive acoustic riff and, thanks to some solid drumming and some thicker electric guitar chords, lays down a really strong chorus. Bethany fools with Amy's original melody a little bit, but thanks to the rather open instrumentation, the vocals are front and center, allowing me to focus in on some rather poetic lyrics that I must have overlooked when hearing Amy's version in passing on my local Christian station so long ago. I love the depiction of people slaving away under the sun for no good reason, and the songwriter asking God to lead them away from this land of slavery into a place where God can be experienced more fully. Classic songs tend to stay that way, and this is one of few times I can think of when a young artist has been able to update such a song without killing it by trying to make it sound more "hip" or "urban" or whatever.

Exodus (Faithful)
Reflect, reflect on all your days
You weren't so free then
Once you were all called slaves
But now, blessed children...
While this song has nothing to do with the multi-artist Exodus album that came out six years ago and helped to usher in the "modern worship" era, this fast-paced, celebratory song has a definite air of worship to it. I'm not sure whether a mandolin or just a high-pitched guitar is being picked in the background of this song, but I think that it manages to do "All I Need" one better by giving the song a very open, festive mood as Bethany lays down lyrics that parallel "Lead Me On" in terms of describing an exodus from captivity into freedom. It's very much a "we" song, calling God's children to cast off their burdens and shout for joy. When she joyfully signs, "Our enemies are at the bottom of the sea!" And an upright bass can be heard dancing about, it's hard not to smile. If that doesn't get you, the fact that a 15-year-old just used the word "windswept" should at least get a small reaction.

Why
You're a good strategy when I need one
An angle when there is none
Like a doormat that always says welcome
No matter how much dirt I rub on...
Taking another turn out of folk territory for a few minutes, this slower, electric guitar and piano-driven song is probably the dark horse of the album - it's the more serious and less catchy song near the end that a lot of people will skip over. What the hey, I like it. I'd usually expect a song called "Why" to have one of those "shake your fist at God and demand world peace" types of lyrics, but Bethany uses it to question herself instead. She wants to know why she continually gives God the cold shoulder when she knows how much God loves her. And she's baffled at how God can still pursue her relentlessly with that love. Simple questions, perhaps, but it's good to be in touch with your own frailty and tendencies to try and go it alone with God's help. It's lyrics like this that make me realize all over again how superfluous it is for labels like the very one Bethany is signed to to have acts like Jump5 who can't seem to do much more than babysit their listeners. Pop music can have soul-searching lyrics, too. It's not that hard, so younger artists, step up!

A Voice Calling Out
I see a generation rising up, no longer accepting lies
Running to the battlefield and losing their lives...
Remember the Braveheart type that I described earlier? Well, that's not just the type of guy Bethany wants to date - it's the type of person Bethany wants every Christian in her generation to be. And this song, opening with a lovely bagpipe solo, is her battle cry. As battle cries go, it's probably more "Riverdance" than "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", given the Celtic-style breakdown in the middle, but we'll let that one go - it's a lovely song, once again making great use of a 3/4 rhythm and a circular melody by filling it with bright acoustic guitar and piano and of course, Bethany's lovely and exuberant voice. Her passion for her generation to find their lives by losing them is admirable and believable here, unlike so many of the corny "fight songs" you hear from other Christian artists. The voice calling out, the trumpet sounding, the drum beating - these are all instruments described in different parts of the Bible that herald the coming of the Lord. It's a song that neatly ties together Bethany's themes of bravery, rebellion against the world's standards, and the purpose of her own life, and musically speaking, it's probably got the most acoustic instruments for me to go ga-ga over out of anything on the album. It almost feels like it's too soon when the last chord is struck and Bethany's last words hang in the air, awaiting a resolution that never comes, but I really can't complain - this is only the beginning of a hopefully long career.

Would I gush about Bethany like this if she were, say, 10 years older? I'm not so sure. But before you go accusing me of reverse age discrimination, consider this: Someone who is 15 is likely to have a different perspective on life than someone who is 25. From a 25-year-old, these same songs might come up feeling a tad shallow - by then, one has had more time to be let down by life, to have to trust God through some harder stuff, to be jaded about some things but ultimately have some more wisdom. Bethany is looking ahead and knowing it's coming, and knowing she'll need the strength to face it. She knows she's not that wise in the grand scheme of things, and yet she's got a better perspective than a lot of her peers. I guess what I'm saying is that you have to be true to where you're at and not candy-coat it, but also not try to make it sound like you know more than you really do, and I think Bethany walks that line quite well as a young artist.

So maybe I'll be harder on her when she's 18 or so. But somehow, I think she'll be ready for it.

ALBUM WORTH:
Revolutionaries $1.50
Great Big Mystery $2
Beautiful $2
Move Forward $1
For My Love $1.50
All I Need $.50
Aimless $.50
Lead Me On $2
Exodus (Faithful) $1.50
Why $1
A Voice Calling Out $2
TOTAL: $15.50

Website: http://www.bethanydillon.com

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Reading or Studying