Rich Mullins is known for the gimmicky CCM hit ‘Awesome God’. But that’s an unfair reputation – dig deeper, and he’s one of the best songwriters to emerge in the 1980s.
Mullins was born in Richmond, Indiana. He was a successful songwriter before embarking on his own recording career. He had a monastic bent, donating most of his income to charity and spending his last two years living on a Navajo reservation.
I struggle to connect to Christian music, but Mullins’s keen intellect, sincerity, and songwriting skills won me over. In the 1990s, he moved away from the CCM machine towards rawer, folk-flavoured music.
There were so many of us who were drawn to his complex and honest expressions of faith, expressions that were so different from other messages that the culture of evangelicalism was giving us. In the face of a rising tide of prosperity Protestantism and sometimes brazen dogmatic certitude, he croaked his stumbling and inquisitive lyrics in a voice that strained in the upper registers. He told us that Jesus was sometimes hard to follow, that a life of faith might leave us tired and broken and disoriented.
Anthony D Baker, The Other Journal
Mullins passed away at 41, killed in a car accident in Illinois. But he left a terrific legacy – here are ten of his best songs. Spoiler – there’s no ‘Awesome God’ in this list.
10 Best Rich Mullins Songs
#10 Steal At Any Price
from Pictures in the Sky, 1987
Even though he was already an established songwriter, Mullins’s first two albums are disappointing. ‘Steal at Any Price’ is all smooth synths, gated snare, and cheesy metal soloing.
But it works because of the grit in Mullins’s voice – “he’s a thief in the night/where souls are for sale but nobody buys”.
#9 Heaven is Waiting
from The Canticle of the Plains, 1997
The Canticle of the Plains was the final project Mullins released during his lifetime. It was a musical based on the story of St Francis of Assisi, transplanted to the American plains. Based on YouTube recordings, it’s more of a humble church play than a big-budget production, but the soundtrack features CCM stars like Leigh Nash and Michael Tate. It’s long out of print, and one of Mullins’s weaker records, but ‘Heaven is Waiting’ is a highlight.
Mullins wrote the music with his friends Beaker and Mitch McVicker. McVicker’s smooth voice features on ‘Heaven is Waiting’, which delivers typical Mullins sentiments about finding God in the beauty of creation.
#8 The Color Green
from A Liturgy, a Legacy, & a Ragamuffin Band, 1993
For his seventh album, Mullins recruited a backing group with friends from other Christian bands. With an earthier sound, it feels more like the album that Mullins always wanted to make. It’s clearly his strongest album, his best collection of songs with his best presentation.
Mullins often used Celtic textures, but they’re most explicit on ‘The Color Green’ – apparently Mullins played the Irish tin whistle himself. He later said, “It started out with this guy who was yelling at this kid for running in the “House of God,” because he was running through a church building, and I thought that was funny because I think the Bible was fairly explicit that earth is God’s footstool and heaven is His throne.”
#7 Jacob and 2 Women
from The World as Best as I Remember It, 1991
‘Jacob and 2 Women’ is based on the biblical love triangle of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. But Mullins takes it somewhere different – acknowledging that the Bible is more than simple Sunday school lessons:
Not a concert has gone by when somebody hasn’t come up after “Jacob and Two Women” and said, “Man, I don’t get that song.” And I don’t get it either, except that a man married two women and had his hands full.
Rich Mullins, radio interview
#6 If I Stand
from Winds of Heaven … Stuff of Earth, 1988
Producer Reed Arvin figured out how to present Mullins on his third album – the straightforward arrangements showcase Mullins’s songwriting talents.
For my money, ‘Awesome God’ is one of the lesser songs on Mullins’ 1988 breakthrough album. My favourite is the stripped-back, contemplative ‘If I Stand’. It supplied the album title:
The stuff of Earth competes for the allegiance
I owe only to the Giver of all good things
#5 Hold Me Jesus
The prayer-like ‘Hold Me Jesus’ is one of Mullins’s simplest songs. Mullins and Arvin said that “Cuts 2–6 of this album loosely follow the pattern of a liturgy – a tool used for collective worship. In it there is proclamation, praise, confession of sin, affirmation of faith and celebration of grace.” ‘Hold Me Jesus’ is the confession of sin:
Beaker and I were talking in a train station about the whole thing – kind of where we were and where we wanted to be – and we’d gotten into some pretty explicit detail about the nature of our temptations and of those struggles. And this guy leans over – and we’re in Germany and assuming that nobody would be interested enough in whatever we would have to say to actually bother to translate and listen. But this guy leans over in the train station – the only other guy in there – and says, “Excuse me, but are you Rich Mullins?”
Rich Mullins, Pursuit of a Legacy
#4 Calling Out Your Name
from The World as Best as I Remember It, 1991
Mullins was an excellent hammer dulcimer player. It’s the same instrument featured on The Rolling Stones’ ‘Lady Jane’, but distinct from the Appalachian dulcimer that Joni Mitchell used on Blue.
The first line of that I wrote when I was on tour with Amy Grant on the Unguarded tour I think or whatever tour that was. That was years and years ago. We were driving through Nebraska and there was a big beautiful full moon and I don’t know how it happens but I just thought well, the moon moved past Nebraska and spoke laughter on those cold Dakota hills. Buffalo Bill.
That was where it started. I went, “Oh I will use that someday. I have no idea where but I know I will use it.” And so I just kind of stored it away. Then I was riding my motorcycle in the Flint Hills and pretty much finished the song there. This would have been six years later that I finished it. But I do that. I keep little scraps. I think writing-wise, I am probably more of a quilter than a weaver cuz I just get a little scrap here and a little scrap there and sew them together and…
Rich Mullins, radio interview
#3 Sing Your Praise to the Lord
from Songs, 1996
‘Sing Your Praise to the Lord’ was Mullins’s breakthrough song. Amy Grant recorded it for her 1982 album Age to Age, and released it as the lead single. Age to Age topped the Christian album charts for an astounding 85 weeks.
‘Sing Your Praise to the Lord’ is ambitious, with a piano intro based on J.S. Bach’s ‘Fugue No. 2 in C Minor’. Mullins was a fan of 1970s Genesis, so the prog-rock flavours make sense. Mullins recorded his own version for his 1996 compilation Songs.
#2 Nothing Is Beyond You
from The Jesus Record, 1998
Nine days before his death, Mullins recorded the demos for his next project in an abandoned Illinois church. His friends later joined forces to complete the album without him, enlisting vocalists like Phil Keaggy and Michael W Smith.
Amy Grant fronts ‘Nothing is Beyond You’. It’s a big, sophisticated song that suits the slick arrangement.
#1 While the Nations Rage
from Never Picture Perfect, 1989
I prefer Mullins’ 1990s work, when he strained against the limitations of CCM. But my favourite song from Mullins’s catalogue is ‘While the Nations Rage’, pure CCM.
A straitlaced CCM arrangement is given some zing by Mullins’ complex chord structures and impassioned vocal.
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