Books by Dale Harris

Books by Dale Harris
A Feast of Epiphanies

Though I Walk, A Novel

Daytime Moons and Other Celestial Anomalies, a book of poems

Second Wind

Second Wind
An album of songs both old and new. Recorded in 2021, a year of major transition for me, these songs explore the many vicissitudes of the spiritual life,. It's about the mountaintop moments and the Holy Saturday sunrises, the doors He opens that no one can close, and those doors He's closed that will never open again. You can click the image above to give it a listen.

The Song Became a Child

The Song Became a Child
A collection of Christmas songs I wrote and recorded during the early days of the pandemic lockdown in the spring of 2020. Click the image to listen.

There's a Trick of the Light I'm Learning to Do

There's a Trick of the Light I'm Learning to Do
This is a collection of songs I wrote and recorded in January - March, 2020 while on sabbatical from ministry. They each deal with a different aspect or expression of the Gospel. Click on the image above to listen.

Three Hands Clapping

Three Hands Clapping
This is my latest recording project (released May 27, 2019). It is a double album of 22 songs, which very roughly track the story of my life... a sort of musical autobiography, so to speak. Click the album image to listen.

Ghost Notes

Ghost Notes
A collections of original songs I wrote in 2015, and recorded with the FreeWay Musical Collective. Click the album image to listen.

inversions

inversions
Recorded in 2014, these songs are sort of a chronicle of my journey through a pastoral burn-out last winter. They deal with themes of mental-health, spiritual burn-out and depression, but also with the inexorable presence of God in the midst of darkness. Click the album art to download.

soundings

soundings
click image to download
"soundings" is a collection of songs I recorded in September/October of 2013. Dealing with themes of hope, ache, trust and spiritual loss, the songs on this album express various facets of my journey with God.

bridges

bridges
Click to download.
"Bridges" is a collection of original songs I wrote in the summer of 2011, during a soul-searching trip I took out to Alberta; a sort of long twilight in the dark night of the soul. I share it here in hopes these musical reflections on my own spiritual journey might be an encouragement to others: the sun does rise, blood-red but beautiful.

echoes

echoes
Prayers, poems and songs (2005-2009). Click to download
"echoes" is a collection of songs I wrote during my time studying at Briercrest Seminary (2004-2009). It's called "echoes" partly because these songs are "echoes" of times spent with God from my songwriting past, but also because there are musical "echoes" of hymns, songs or poems sprinkled throughout the album. Listen closely and you'll hear them.

Accidentals

Accidentals
This collection of mostly blues/rock/folk inspired songs was recorded in the spring and summer of 2015. I call it "accidentals" because all of the songs on this project were tunes I have had kicking around in my notebooks for many years but had never found a "home" for on previous albums. You can click the image to download the whole album.

Random Reads

The 81 Percent, a song


I wrote this song back in 2017, upon learning that 81% of white, male evangelical voters in America voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election. I'm Canadian, and the Canadian church has all kinds of its own problems, to be sure, but inasmuch as this statistic is the truth about a tribe that I still identify with in some way (i.e. the global evangelical church), it broke my heart to hear it. Think of this song as a cry of anguish over the current state of evangelicalism in North America. 

 I'm thinking about it in new light these days, as I find myself reeling to see the chaos that has unfolded in America during the last four yeas of the Trump administration, and especially after the spectacle he staged at  Washington DC's St John's Episcopal Church during the Black Lives Matter rallies. I offer it here knowing that, as an outsider looking in, my voice is one of the least important in the conversation right now, but such as it is, it's still mine to offer.

The dealer played the trump card
When the stakes were getting high
And the Joker upped the ante
With a twinkle in his eye
And all the players folded
Cause they knew just what it meant
That the chance of drawing aces was 81%
The chance of drawing aces
The chance of drawing aces (yeah)
The chance of drawing aces was 81%

And I don’t wanna talk
About politics and faith
And I don’t wanna walk the line
Between the church and the state
Cause I can’t really say
Who’s hell bent or heaven sent
But I don’t wanna be a part of the 81%

The temperature was rising
And the cistern was bone dry
And the clouds were piling up
In an apocalyptic sky
With lightning on the wind
With a cold metallic scent
Cause the chance of thunderstorms was 81%
The chance of thunder storms
The chance of thunder storms (yeah)
The chance of thunder storms was 81%

And I don’t wanna talk
About politics and faith
And I don’t wanna walk the line
Between the church and the state
Cause I can’t really say
Who’s hell bent or heaven sent
But I don’t wanna be a part of the 81%

And if we sold our souls
At least it was on the level
That’s the art of a deal
With the 81%

And all the merchants gathered
Together for the feast
And someone raised a glass
To the dragon and the beast
And Lazarus was calling
But no one would repent
Cause the profits all were up by 81%
The profits all were up
The profits all were up (yeah)
The profits all were up by 81%

And I don’t wanna talk
About politics and faith
And I don’t wanna walk the line
Between the church and the state
Cause I can’t really say
Who’s hell bent or heaven sent
But I don’t wanna be a part of the 81%

 

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