The following is producer Roy Salmond’s reflections about the process of working with Steve on the song Almighty God from Steve’s 2008 album Devotion:
Almighty God was one of the first 3 tunes we did. We took the single verse, which is from the Anglican prayer book, and stretched it. Gord Johnson (the original songwriter) had written this wonderful “la de da” part that was almost so hook-y as to be the chorus, except there was no lyrical chorus. So we laid down a scratch groove and guitar, then a scratch vocal.
Randall Stoll
Drummer Randall Stoll and bassist Tony Marriot came and played to that. Then Steve played acoustic guitar on top of that. I think the guitar was the Ryan acoustic most of his fans will be familiar with. Then we decided to try a 2nd acoustic. We used one of the Duncan guitars I have at the studio and Steve came up with this wonderful counterpoint guitar part that complimented the 1st one.
After the initial guitars were put down, I was convinced we needed an electric guitar hook to start the song with a bang. Steve felt strongly otherwise. He thought it should start chilled and build from there. After a bunch of discussion and phone calls (and I think we solicited Carolyn Arends opinion), we left it as is. Almost a Bruce Cockburn feel at the beginning with the 2 acoustics interweaving. After all, a big part of a producer’s job is fulfilling the artist’s vision.
Tony Marriot
So Steve sang his lead vocal to that and we sat down and listened (probably after sushi!). It sounded good but was missing something. Now the basic form of the song was verse , la de da, then repeat. After the la de da part we left about 4 bars to “do something” that we’d figure out later. I picked up an electric, I think it was the ‘63 Gretsch and played along and came up w/ the electric hook that plays after the la de da chorus part. It came right away. We both liked it so we kept it. However, there was a bit of arguing over the sound. We were open to electric guitars but didn’t want them to dominate or make Steve’s album a pop record. (If anything is too commercial Steve gets a little nervous:-) We tried various guitars on the part, and I kept trying even after he went home. I tried a Paul Reed Smith, and several versions of a Strat. We ran them thru amps (Vox AC30 and an old Fender Princeton amp). Then we tried it through the Pod XT Pro effects unit and various combo’s of the above. Finally we went back to what we had at the beginning which was a Strat thru an amp and a Pod, and we put it down for real. We were still nervous if it sounded too ‘pop’.
Then we realized that the song ended with a stop ending around 3 minutes and 4 seconds. Problem was, we just wanted it to keep going. So I edited a chunk of the beginning and verse (leaving out the vocals) and pasted it to the back and got rid of the last chord, so it seemed like it was a false ending and we were just warming up. That kept the groove going and we kept it, although you can hear the original ending on the radio version of the song.
I added piano, and Steve Dawson was in to do some overdubs. We got him to play guitarbanjo on it, which is a 6 string banjo tuned like a guitar.
Carolyn Arends
Carolyn Arends came and sang harmonies on it with Steve. That’s Carolyn doing the delayed part on the 3rd time they sing la de da. Then Steve’s buddy Brent Barkman in Toronto laid down some tasty organ bits and lastly we had Sal Fereras add congas, shakers and triangle. We went back and forth on this thinking it muddied up the mix, and then thinking it propelled the end better.
After much discussion (& probably more sushi) we decided to keep it because I think we were just tired of trying to make up our minds. Now I listen to it and hardly even noticed the percussion coming in at the 2nd verse.
The best part of the song to me is the soaring la de da chorus that just begs one to sing along. Not only singing to God but singing to ourselves and enjoying ourselves. What is worship without the latter?? It’s becomes only a dutiful rehearsal, and worship is so much more than that!
Here’s the song.
Almighty God
Roy Salmond - Whitewater Productions
Posted on July 16th
Wow, that really has the feelk of friends just getting together to play and worship. a live quality that I really like. Will look forward to the whole shebang so to speak.
Posted on July 12th
Thanks for the great article. It’s great to get to go behind the creative scene and learn more about the production of Steve’s incredible songs. Please keep these articles coming.
Posted on July 11th
Hi Steve,
Great job on your new website! Although I really love your music, what I really love about your concerts is coming to know you through your stories of your personal spiritual journeys. Adding these stories in your website and then even including the songs is like inviting me into your own home as you talk about how the songs came to be. Thank you very much and God bless you in your family, music, and ministry. I know I came away blessed visiting this site.
Steve Posiak,
Kelowna