Christian Yacht Rock

  

First a summary of events from the Yacht or Nyacht Podcast(s) and then a personal anecdote.

On the Beyond Yacht Rock Podcast, Episode 99, they're listening to audience suggestions to determine, officially, whether the song is Yacht Rock. The suggestion is "Can't Stop Runnin'" by Roby Duke (above). The deck is stacked against it. They are decidedly anti-Christian and isn't Christian rock always lame? To top it off, the cover of the album, a photo of Roby himself, looks like this:

Rock Star.

But they listen to the song, and even with all these biases going against it, they are swayed that it is not just Yacht Rock, it garners a 90+ Yachtski score to be recognized as Essential Yacht Rock. They don't want to believe but the power of smooth music is undeniable and irrefutable. For the purposes of this narrative, it was like that clip where Susan Boyle goes on a show and everyone's like "Ugh, ugly people can't sing" and then she sings and everyone is shocked that ugly people can sing. It's just like that.

The floodgates are open. In the Yacht or Nyacht Podcast, Episode 35, they give "Seasons of Change" by Roby Duke an even higher score on the Yachtski Scale - 92.5 - another Essential song. In YONP Episode 58 it's Roby Duke's "All Lost" (below). The result is a lower score but still in the upper echelons of Yacht Rock canon. Finally, for completeness, in YONP Episode 60 they determine that Duke's "Dreams Alive" from 1989 is not Yacht.

"All Lost" and "Can't Stop Runnin'" are my personal favorites so those are the two I've embedded here.

  

And now a personal anecdote.

When I was a young teen, this one singer would sometimes visit my church to do concerts and/or lead the music in the service. I always especially enjoyed when he would make an appearance because he had such a relaxed, casual, somewhat goofy style. He was constantly talking, telling stories and making jokes, even at the expense of the music, if need be. He was like 60% singer with an acoustic guitar, 30% storyteller and 10% stand-up comedian. And when you're a kid in church, that's a really great break from the norm. The singer was Roby Duke.

The thing was, every time I saw him it was pretty much him with an acoustic guitar; he may have had a backing track sometimes but it was never a full band. Furthermore, I only saw him in church, I never investigated any of his albums. So how shocking it was to find that a small Yacht Rock podcast is listening to the "unknown acoustic guitar guy." And how much more shocking to find that he was not just a Yacht Rock artist all along but actually a Yacht Rock legend. Mind blowing.

Roby Duke's albums today are rare and seem to fetch hefty prices; some are apparently being imported from Japan. I learn from the internet that Roby Duke died in 2007. RIP.