Although Garland Headley is releasing his first album, Dimensions of Faith, at the age of twenty-six, he is no stranger to the world of gospel music. Headley credits his father for much of his musical influence, remarking that he was 'just born into the music.' Headley started with the piano at the age of four, and by the time he was eight, he was writing songs and playing with his father's gospel band, The Advent Messengers. 'When my dad's band started, it was definitely the hottest thing that happened to Trinidad for a long time in terms of gospel music,' he explains. 'I mean, as a result of the band, drums began to be played in the church, and before that was kind of like a sacrilege.'
The differences between the gospel music Headley spent fourteen years playing along with his father and the hip-hop-esque Dimensions of Faith are numerous. 'My father's music was, not in a negative way, definitely a timely sort of thing,' he says. 'And in a lot of ways my music is timely too, but it's of this time. People will listen to it for as long as it's of the time.' Headley's musical influences are varied, including both gospel artists such as Take Six, and secular artists as diverse as Alanis Morisette, Brian McKnight, and Maxwell. Dimensions of Faith is exactly what the title suggests, a musical exploration of modern Christianity via the forum of hip-hop music.
'I'd like to reach everyone,' Headley explains. 'If they're willing to listen, I'm willing to perform.' Whereas a more traditional gospel singer may be limited to a church-oriented setting, Headley's mission goes beyond preaching to the converted. 'That's one of the reasons I included the love song,' he says in reference to the album's twelfth track, "You've got to love her," a song written by Headley's parents on is father's anniversary, but which they have yet to hear. 'A lot of preachers give the impression that when you're not saved you're nobody, and once you're saved you become somebody, and I don't believe in that theory at all. So what I'd like to do for the non-Christian is offer an alternative perspective. Instead of ending your life or turning to drugs, here is another way to look at the problem.'
And certainly, Headley's music is accessible. 'I think there are a lot of songs people can relate to,' he says, citing the last song on the album but the first he ever wrote by himself, "Thank You Lord." as an example. 'The song was born out of a very hard experience when I was the leader of a gospel acapella band. One of the guys in the band got this girl pregnant, and the church decided to censor him so that he couldn't sing with us anymore. Than a couple of weeks after, a good buddy of mine died.' "Thank You Lord" was written between two and four in the morning, and isn't precisely the kind of song one would expect from such an experience. 'We have to thank God that we made it through,' he explains. 'We're the ones alive. In spite of the church censoring him, he didn't lose faith, and we were there for each other. We were just really grateful that we were still here.'
All of the songs on the CD are written, composed, and arranged by Headley except for "My Jesus Took These Tears," which was originally a love song written by his younger brother, but which Headley modified to be a gospel song. His favourite tracks are those that 'just groove', notably "What This World Would Be," "Did I Hear Someone Say," "Jesus in the Wind," "Today," and "A Better Way." However, Dimensions of Faith in its entirety is about groove, about the sound and faith and rhythm entwined into an unlikely but exceptional example of modern gospel music. Headley is breaking ground for a succession of talented musicians unhappy with the limitations of traditional gospel music, those seeking to share their faith in a new and exciting way. Dimensions of Faith is unprecedented, it is accessible, but most of all is it just good music. Garland Headley had discovered something, and fortunately for the world, he has come to share it.
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