The musical adventures by the keyboard/guitar duo first began with their popular and critically acclaimed, Frio Suite (2009). Their second collaboration, full of thoughtful melodies, rich textures and sublime segues, takes their listeners on eight new instrumental voyages akin to floating in a canoe through the awe-inspiring Frio river canyon.
Jeff Johnson: Keys, percussion & vocal
Phil Keaggy: Guitars, chumbus & bass
WaterSky
You and I –
drift above the WaterSky
While the river
like the palm of someone’s hand
holds us,
keeps us to the very end.
Cicada song fills our ears,
reflected stars, our eyes,
Together,
they still the soul,
heal the heart,
one dare not move.
This illumination,
this wonder,
cannot last,
Yet its memory will be enough,
it will sustain –
As you and I,
drift above the WaterSky.
– Jeff Johnson ©2012
Music Reviews –
Jeff Johnson and Phil Keaggy have created a music with images reflecting and shimmering through each other in a layered journey. WaterSky is an album that is as intimate as a fireside conversation and as expansive as the sky that arcs over the Frio Valley ...
– John Diliberto / NPR's Echoes November 2012 CD of the month
echoesblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/reflect-on-watersky-echoes-november-cd-of-the-month/
Jeff Johnson and Phil Keaggy are masterful, veteran instrumentalists, and combining their talents has proven a magical move. Their first collaboration, Frio Suite, is first rate. They've upped the ante with WaterSky.
– Dave Urbanski / Christianity Today
www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/october-web-only/watersky.html
How do you follow up a five-star duet between two artists, each brilliant in their own fields - more of the same or a fresh approach? Many fans would enjoy either option from Jeff Johnson and Phil Keaggy, but this follow-up to the remarkable Frio Suite keeps the format. It certainly ain’t broke.
– Derek Walker / CEN
WaterSky, the second collaboration of keyboardist Jeff Johnson and guitarist Phil Keaggy, proves the truth of what the poet George MacDonald once wrote: "there is great power in quiet." ... From start to finish, WaterSky is a fully realized soundscape. Few recordings can say as much. In a word, this album is a classic ...
– Kevin Belmonte / Hieropraxis
View a film shot at Laity Lodge on the Frio river in Texas documenting the creativity and creation behind Jeff and Phil's musical inspiration:
www.vimeo.com/49259461
released March 19, 2020
Produced by Jeff Johnson
Recorded at The Cody Center, Laity Lodge, TX; The Ark; Camano Island, WA & Kegworth Studio; Nashville, TN
Mixed at The Ark; Camano Island, WA
Frio canyon evening sounds recorded on location by Ark Mobile
Mastered by John Golden Mastering; Ventura, CA
www.goldenmastering.com
℗ 2012 Jeff Johnson & Phil Keaggy released by Ark Records, Inc. / ArkMusic ©2012 Sebastian Boy Music (ASCAP) / Sola Scriptura Songs (BMI) administered by
www.musicservices.org
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Artwork by Kathy Hastings (
www.kathyhastings.com) ©2012
Package design by Court Patton (
www.pattonbros.com)
These songs are dedicated to Betty Ann Cody who with her husband Bill, were part of the ministry at Laity Lodge from 1965 to 1980. The Cody Center overlooking the Frio River is where most of this music was first conceived between the fall of 2011 and winter of 2012.
A heartfelt thanks to our wives, Susie & Bernadette, the Butts & Rogers families, Steven, Amy, Tim, Fern, Connie, Ann & all of the gracious staff from the HEB Foundation & Laity Lodge, Kathy Hastings, Tegid Bard, Holly Benyousky, Ron Davis, Eric & Spectrasonics, and to the Creator of all things seen and unseen, may He be pleased and magnified with this music.
AKD-1532