Chuck Girard (1975)

Chuck Girard is the self-titled debut solo album by Christian singer - songwriter Chuck Girard. It was originally released in 1975 on Word Records' Good News label.

Girard's debut album was released right after the brake up of his Christian band Love Song. It was pretty much a soft rock album with some ballads and some rock and roll. It opens with the track "Rock and Roll Preacher," which presents Girard's testimony to a rollicking beat and presents it with a good dose of humor. Definitely considered a classic. "Lay Your Burden Down" is a hymn-like invitation to surrender all at the foot of the cross. "Tinageria" is a melodic mid tempo ballad about youth who have to face adult pressures before their time; the name is short for "teenage era." "Slow Down" is a song about a call for stressed-out people to just relax and trust God.

Chuck Girard's final track is his signature worship ballad "Sometimes Alleluia." It has been much covered by many Christian artists including The Imperials, The Gaithers and evangelist Jimmy Swaggart. CCM Magazine has ranked the song at number 96 in their 2006 book The 100 Greatest Songs in Christian Music and features backing vocals from 2nd Chapter of Acts and the Shekinah Fellowship Choir. "Sometimes Alleluia" is a popular chorus that is now found in many hymn books. Girard wrote and produced the album himself, with the exception of the track "Everybody Knows For Sure," which Girard co-wrote with fellow singer -

songwriter and one-time Love Song member Denny Correll. The mainstream soft rock band Ambrosia were the musicians who played on the entire album along with other studio musicians. Girard, in turn, was involved as a performer participating on Ambrosia's second album Somewhere I've Never Travelled, released in 1976.

In 2010, Chuck Girard was reissued digitally on Girard's own label Seven Thunders Records.

Track listing

All songs are written by Chuck Girard, except where noted.

1. Rock and Roll Preacher -2:42

2. You Ask Me Why -3:14

3. Evermore -3:29

4. Quiet Hour -3:40

5. Everybody Knows For Sure (Chuck Girard, Denny Correll) -4:24

6. Galilee -3:17

7. Tinageria -3:48

8. Lay Your Burden Down -5:18

9. Slow Down -4:10

10. Sometimes Alleluia -5:34

Next release: Glow In the Dark (1976)