Chris Sligh placed 10th in the 6th season of American Idol (Jordin Sparks won that year). I saw his testimony on YouTube and I was more amazed by his album because of it. He had several offers from major record labels and he had the potential to launch a huge mainstream career. The cost, though, is that the major record labels wouldn't allow him to write songs about his faith, as it wasn't considered mainstream material. On the other hand, he felt that God was calling him to write about his faith and to make a Christian album. He turned his back on $250,000 and made a record with a semi-mainstream Christian label, Brash Music. The result was an album that sounds original and honest. Chris Sligh wrote or co-wrote all the songs in the album. We hear him sing about his faith with an honesty that is almost unheard of in the music industry today. I have two favorite songs in the album, although most songs are very good. "Arise" is the first track, and an appropriate one. It celebrates the mercies of God that are renewed each morning. "Empty Me," the CD's first single and the 4th track, is an honest prayer all Christians must make: "Empty me of the selfishness inside / every vain ambition and the poison of my pride / And every foolish thing my heart holds to / Lord, empty me of me so I can be filled with you." With very few exceptions, I have never heard an American Idol contestant come up with an album this brilliant and ambitious. The downside is that because it is marketed as a Christian album, most major record stores don't carry it. I have not seen a single copy of this album sold in any of the local stores. I was in the US last week and even the bookstores there don't have this on their shelves (I didn't check Tower Records). I made it a point to pass by Amoeba Records in San Francisco, and happily, I found a previously owned copy there. It was so worth my $11.