Album Back-Story

 Fire Alive! goes from rock to the most tender and touching songs that you can hope to hear, with a few fun songs thrown in. At the time we recorded these songs, our studio name was Round Check Productions. All of the vocals and instruments were arranged and performed by Jim, while my part was graphic design of the cover elements, artwork, print prep and logos.

The album cover is a photo of an actual bonfire that we built in our yard specifically for the cover of this album. Since this was before the age of cell phones that had cameras, we had to take many shots from many angles to be sure that we got one that would fit our purpose because building one bonfire in your front yard is one thing, but doing it multiple times (after dark with many mosquitoes as guests) is a little inconvenient.

Why a Donkey?

We adopted the donkey image as a visual representation of Music for the Christian Warrior for an earlier album. Why a donkey? In the book of Numbers, chapter 22, God reprimands Balaam by allowing a donkey to speak to him prophetically because he ignored the warning of the prophet that God sent. We simply wanted to remind ourselves that, while God prefers to use His people, He can use any method He desires to get His message across. This was our semi-humorous way of remembering that it is God who gives us voice.