Description
I dearly love Randy Stonehill. I discovered his music in about 1974 and continue to listen and enjoy it to this day. And as of this writing, in late 2025, Randy...at age 73...and his wife Leslie continue to tour the country, sharing his gift with anyone who will take the time to listen. Randy is, without question, one of the strongest musical influences in my life. He has affected how I write music, and how I think about how much connects with people. In terms of talent, I would compare Randy quite favorably with James Taylor, someone else who I deeply love and respect. Both men are troubadours who can speak right to the heart and tear you in two. But Randy has this extra dimension, which is his zany sense of humor. It's not always switched-on, but it adds a fun extra dimension to his space in the heads of his fans. When I put together a project in the late 90s called The Grace Project, we included covers of a couple of Randy's songs, because I wanted more people to have a chance to be exposed to his musical brilliance. You can hear those songs here:
One True Love: https://youtu.be/XbOd4KFiQ-k?si=bus9vFqaQMmfdRzQ
Bad Fruit: https://youtu.be/UsBQX8ZeZ88?si=tZ0_R87DjNa1APxu
And here are some more songs from Randy. This first one I recorded some years back when I caught Uncle Rand in concert at a small church in Central Ohio:
Switzerland: https://youtu.be/y_S3TcqsTzE?si=SpaViOPGpuYsuhIu
And some lyric videos I put together from some of my favorites of his songs:
Even The Best of Friends: https://youtu.be/RPccJ0JQeKw?si=iRlHoLhHT-hAY-8d
Puppet Strings: https://youtu.be/zydeDiap8KM?si=Tpvrnfp954K4Nmy_
And a wonderfully Beatlesque song that Randy and Phil Keaggy recorded together:
Backwards on Her Bike: https://youtu.be/uXzX3nCi6VA?si=t0VD3TFTp2zqLehR
This clip was excerpted from First Love: A Historic Gathering of Jesus Music Pioneers
You can watch this delightful documentary here on YouTube in 2 parts.
Part 1: https://youtu.be/TxvOfr1XnzI?si=fj7t8iQOqV4BncRb
Part 2: https://youtu.be/6ZK-6iT3KmA?si=o1YRr6GkklZUoVTS
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