For anyone out there who's still not listening to these guys...

The best Christian band you don't know about would have to be The Lost Dogs. Essentially a Christian Rock supergroup, the players are all members of other Christian rock groups that, well, you probably haven't heard of, either, but you should have. Their music is Americana at its best - mixing the finest of rock, blues, gospel, and country to produce some of the finest recordings out there. They are:

Terry Scott Taylor: Lead singer of the massively influential band Daniel Amos, which started out of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in the mid-seventies as a country rock outfit, much in the mold of the Eagles. After two country-styled albums (Daniel Amos and the excellent Shotgun Angel), they began to move in the direction of the early 80's New Wave, while still maintaining their country rock roots. Horrendous Disc was their first album in this style, which was followed by what is known as the Alarma Chronicles: a series of four albums spanning five years that create a pastiche of the Christian experience in the modern world. The first album, Alarma, focuses on the quandry of laxity among Christians in a dying world. Part II, the album Doppleganger, uses the notion of the German myth of the "doppleganger" or "double" (the idea that every person has another somewhere on earth who looks exactly as they do) to explore the dual nature of a Christian, who is both saved yet still under the influence of the temptations of this world. Part III, Vox Humana, addresses how we often get lost in our modern technological world, and how Christ is the only exit from this trap. The final part, Fearful Symmetry, ties the whole series together and readdresses the idea of living for Christ in a fallen world. Once the Alarma series was finished, they moved on to a postmodern late eighties alternative rock sound for the album "Darn Floor, Big Bite," the title track of which refers brilliantly to our inability to truly conceive of God: as the story goes, there was that gorilla back in the 80's that could communicate in sign language. One day, there was an earthquake centered near the zoo where Koko the gorilla lived. When asked what happened, Koko signed, "darn floor, big bite" over and over again. Now, we smart humans know that this is nonsense; pressures deep in the earth caused the planet's crust to move along a fault line, causing shock waves that we recognize as an earthquake. Terry Taylor uses this incident, however, to illustrate how far we are from truly understanding God: the scriptural concepts of God as a roaring lion, as a consuming fire, as a loving father, whatever you want to look at, are about as close to describing God's true magnificence as "darn floor, big bite" is to explaining an earthquake. Several other albums have followed in the intervening years as well, including "Kalhoun," "Bibleland," "Motor Cycle," and "Mr. Buechner's Dream." All are excellent, and worth a listen. (Incidentally, the band's name changed over the years, from Daniel Amos, to the initials "DA", to the minimalist "da," finally back to Daniel Amos).

Gene Eugene: Lead singer of the band Adam Again, a band that fused alternative rock and funk. Sadly, Gene died in 2000 of an aneurysm following a car accident. Albums by Adam Again include In a New World of Time, Ten Songs by Adam Again, Homeboys, and Perfecta.

Derri Daugherty: Lead singer of The Choir, a band that dates from the mid-eighties, when they were known as Youth Choir, and were a synthpop band. Voices in Shadows and Shades of Grey were put out as Youth Choir releases, and they switched their name to the less young-sounding "The Choir" for Diamonds and Rain. This album was followed by the dark and brooding Chase the Kangaroo, which had a definite Cure influence musically, and was driven by songwriter Steve Hindalong's wife's miscarriage. Printed on the back of the album was Ecclesiastes 7:3, "Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart." The sad faces disappeared on Wide-Eyed Wonder, inspired by the birth of Hindalong's daughter Emily (who, as a teenager, contributed to one of the later Choir albums a couple years ago). Circle Slide followed in the early 90's, which moved the band into an ethereal sound, sometimes reminiscent of Enya. Later albums include Flap Your Wings and Free-Flying Soul.

Mike Roe: The final member of the 'Dogs is Mike Roe, of the band The 77's. The Sevens started out in the early 80s in Sacramento, as part of the ministry that also produced Charlie Peacock, known mostly for penning songs such as DC Talk's "In the Light" and Amy Grant's "Every Heatbeat." Oh, man, where to start with the 77s? How about that they started as a new wave act (like their friends The Choir), but soon ditched their synthesizer to focus on Mike's unreal guitar licks. Blues rock is their main focus, and has been for a number of years (think Led Zeppelin - they even do a screaming cover of "Nobody's Fault But Mine." They seem to have produced a catalog of albums surpassed only by the Grateful Dead in sheer number of recordings, in addition to several independent releases by Mike. Highlights include 1984's All Fall Down, and the self-titled The 77's from 1986 (released on Island Records, which was U2's label at the time - they half jokingly, half bitterly refer to this as their lost shot at teen superstardom, as Island Records kind of lost this magnificent record in a shuffle of trying to figure out how to market a Christian band that didn't sound like any other Christian band). I won't go into all the albums, as there are too many. Listen to any of them, if you can find them.

Sadly, many of these fine recordings are out of print. Ebay is a good place to start if you want to find them. Lo-Fidelity Records also keeps a good back catalog, as does M8 Records as well.