TMI Tuesday – I Wanted to be Lindell Cooley
I lived a mostly sheltered life. I was raised in a Christian family, and for the most part, was in regular attendance at some church somewhere. All I ever new of church music was hymns, and the occasional ’special singing’. The idea of a worship leader was entirely foriegn to me.
There was no Christian radio where I lived, a small (extremely small) town in central Texas. I could not have named one CCM artist (Amy Grant? Michael W. Smith? Who?) The extent of my exposure to recorded Christian music was the Gaithers, and the Hinsons.
After I relocated to Alabama in 1994, I made a decision to rededicate myself to faith in Christ. As part of that, I began exclusively listening to Christian radio (which is a lot easier to do in Alabama, since there seems to be a Christian format radio station in every city). It was on one of my many drives to Florence, Alabama (where I attended the University of North Alabama) that I first heard the “Enemy’s Camp/Can You Believe/Look What the Lord Had Done” medley (Track 2 from “Revival at Brownsville”).
At the time, I had no clue of what had transpired at Brownsville Assembly of God, or any idea of who this guy Lindell Cooley was. I had never heard anything like what I heard in that song, and I was immediately attracted. At my first opportunity, I found my way to the nearest Christian store and bought a copy of “Revival at Brownsville”.
For the longest time, that CD was on endless repeat in my 1984 Buick LeSabre (via a portable cd player with tape deck adapter). I memorized every song. My singing, which at the time was overwhelmingly country (due to my teenage affinity for Country music) began to take on just a little of the bluesy soulfulness of Lindell.
A short time later, I would get to watch videos from the revival services and finally see Lindell in action. It was through Lindell, I began to learn what a worship leader was, and I was inspired by the passion and enthusiasm he displayed. I had rarely seen a person that seemed to be so moved by what he was singing, like he believed every word. I even once made the trek to Pensacola (around 1997) to be a part of one of the services.
I decided that I wanted to be a worship leader, but not just any worship leader, I wanted to be just like Lindell Cooley. I had played guitar most of my life, but I took on learning the keyboards (just like Lindell), and when I finally got my opportunity to lead worship, I sang the songs he sang, and used his arrangements. I was breaking new ground where I was, as the churches I attended were steeped heavily in the traditional worship model, but if Lindell could do it, I was going to do it too.
In some ways, it worked for me, but if I could go back knowing what I know now, I would probably do a lot of things differently. I’ve matured, my musical styles have broadened, I play guitar almost exclusively again, but it’s not because Chris Tomlin does it, it’s what fits me.
I still owe a lot to Lindell Cooley. I doubt I would have ever become a worship leader, had I never encountered his music – had I never had him as an inspiration. So, thanks Lindell. I hope someday I can thank you personally.
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Sweet action! Strange how are our minds are akin somewhat now, yet we grew up in two separate worlds…. I wanted to be Mick Mars of Motley Crue LOL! Or Warren DeMartini of RATT.
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First, Petey, I have to say how much I respect you, because I wanted to be Warren DeMartini, also!
For real. I was (I believed) north Alabama’s biggest RATT fan by far.
Anyhow, Dub, I feel a little bad about this, but the one time I had to meet Lindell Cooley was earlier this year at a worship team conference that Lenny Leblanc hosted at Faith Church in Florence. Lindell had spoken to the large group about the origins of hymns, and used the bit about the music for old hymns actually being taken from bar songs (that is, bar-room songs). This is a pretty popular theory, but it’s far more likely to be incorrect than accurate. However, it makes a heckuva good argument for using rock music to go behind songs of praise to God (something that I don’t have a problem with).
I went up to him afterward and said that while I appreciated his heart, it was very irresponsible for him to have said the “bar” thing to a large group of people (or anyone, for that matter), because there’s no factual basis for that statement. The reason I said anything to him was because I knew that it was something that had been passed on via word of mouth rather than study.
And I felt really badly for it afterward, though I think I did the right thing. I started to feel like I was being legalistic, but to correct a factual error when someone is speaking in the name of Christ is definitely not legalistic, and I didn’t mean it as negatively as I’m sure I came across. He probably went home that afternoon thinking, “Wow, that guy was really a jerk.”
That was my blog-jacking story about Lindell Cooley. My story is very similar to yours; just substitute Don Moen for Lindell Cooley and Paul Baloche or Lincoln Brewster (I wish…) for Chris Tomlin.
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dub Reply:
December 3rd, 2009 at 10:59 am
Thanks for commenting. On the bar songs thing, while there may be no proof of hymn writers taking pub/bar/drinking songs and using the melodies for hymns, I think that it is true that those hymns were written
in the style
of the popular music of that time, which would have made them
like
bar songs. So, for people to revere that particular style of music out of tradition, and decide that only music in that style is ’sacred’ is a fallacy.
I do think that it is right to make sure you have the facts to back up your stories. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard some sort of inspirational garbage from the pulpit that’s been passed around like backyard gossip that is not even close to the truth. I mean, if it’s a parable, that’s one thing, but if you are telling the thing like it really happened or happens, check your facts.
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I am South American, living in Chile and as three years ago I saw some old videos in pensacola Lindell and I was impressed by his playing and worship, I’m keyboardist and I can say that the last time I tried to get his music, I feel it is one of the top lid are of worship throughout the United States. (Sorry for my English)
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