Catholic Music is Busting Out all Over

First, of course, is my fellow Patheosi’s bluesy new CD Late to Love, based on the work of St. Augustine. If there was ever a Catholic theological rationale for the blues needed, Augustine, the guy who gave you original sin, is the man to provide it. (Okay, actually it was Adam who gave you original sin, but Augustine is the guy who did the most thorough and penetrating account of why that man of yours cheats on you, why you keep going to the bottle for solace and ending up hung over on Sunday morning, why the boss screws you out of your pay, and why this old world keeps spinnin’ when the blues have got you down.)Here’s the blurb from the album site:On August 28, 2014, Wiseblood Records will release our inaugural collection of music, Late to Love, by Sam Rocha. Late to Love is musically inspired by the genealogy of soul music that scans the genres of spirituals, folk, gospel, country, R&B, blues, funk, jazz, hip-hop, neo-soul and nu-jazz. T-Bone Walker, Ray Charles, Gil Scott Heron, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers, and Curtis Mayfield—with dashes of Willie Nelson and Pat Metheny—are the old foundation for something entirely new: Augustinian soul music.Late to Love is an original concept album that performs a reading of Augustine’s Confessions through soul music. It is not a generic ode to a saint or holy person, nor it is a neutral and uncontroversial celebration of an important ancient book. From beginning to end Rocha offers a bold and fresh reading of Augustine’s Confessions where the form is the content, where melody and verse take the place of assertions and argument.I’ve given the album a listen and it’s good stuff. Check it out! And you can pre-order it here! (And, by the way, note