Deseret News | Pianist has worldwide fan base

Pianist has worldwide fan base

He takes familiar music and plays it in a new-age style

By Rebecca C. Howard
Deseret Morning News

Published: Friday, Sept. 8, 2006 3:10 p.m. MDT

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New-age pianist Paul Cardall has found that some of his most popular recordings have been arrangements of LDS Church hymns. But the funny thing is, many of the people buying the albums have never even heard of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Case in point: his last album, "Primary Worship," hit No. 9 on the Billboard Charts in the "New Age" category. "It's a collection of some of my favorite Primary songs," Cardall said, "but done in a new-age style, so it didn't just appeal to people that knew the songs, but to a mass audience."

In addition, fans in other countries are buying Cardall's CDs that are specifically LDS-oriented. "I have a song, 'Joseph Smith's First Prayer' — they don't know what that is. They like the song, so they share it with their friends.

"It's been kind of fun being able to record whatever I want, no matter if it's about my faith, or whether it's about people out there. The important thing is that they like the music."

Cardall's music has worldwide appeal. "The Christmas Box" and "The Looking Glass," both released on the Narada record label, debuted on the Billboard charts in the top 25. Since concluding his contract with Narada, Cardall has been publishing through his own label, Stone Angel Music, which has allowed him to contract with other labels around the world — in Malaysia, Korea and Spain, for example —to distribute his products.

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He estimates that 45 percent of his sales are over the Internet. "My 'Miracle' CD was No. 2 on the Belgium iTunes chart. I don't know anybody in Belgium. I'm just here in Salt Lake City, and somebody out there heard something."

However, when he does his concert at the Sandy Amphitheater on Friday, Cardall will be leaving the religious-themed music off the playlist. "It's not the right setting."

Instead, Cardall said he'll bring together a program that will touch on music from all his albums from the past decade, combining solo piano and performances with his band, similar to what he's done in the past at Kingsbury Hall. "It's the songs people usually want to hear that I'm going to play. It's my first time playing Sandy Amphitheater. I'm excited about that. I haven't played an outdoor show before."

The cellist in his band, Steven Sharp Nelson, has the distinction of being the first artist to sign on with Stone Angel Music. Nelson has just released a solo album, produced by Cardall, titled "Sacred Cello," which will be distributed through Deseret Book.

Cardall said he wants to feature Nelson on the program. "He's been the guy behind the scenes, not only on my records, but also for Peter Breinholt, Jon Schmidt, David Tolk and Marshall McDonald.

"I think it's time to bring him more into the spotlight, because he's got an amazing personality. And when he's in front of an audience, he's very entertaining."

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