Rollin' Like a Semi

The first time I played Waterdeep's new album for my housemates, they were up and dancing within seconds. Midway through an exuberant Temptations-meets-Michael-Stipe-meets-former-Deadhead routine, one of them pointed triumphantly at the stereo. "You see?" he shouted over the full-throttle rock and roll pounding from the speakers. "You see what Christians can do?"

That's the thing about Waterdeep: They're unmistakably Jesus-y, and they're also really, really good musicians—something a lot of "Christian" bands don't necessarily have going for them. In fact, you could argue that Waterdeep's lyrical-honesty-cum-musical-talent is their shtick, except they're too genuine to have one. The unassuming Kansas-based band has flown under the radar of mainstream music for years, quietly building a huge, devoted fan base and selling 150,000 copies of their six independent releases in a grassroots sneak-attack.

Waterdeep's growth was temporarily stunted last year, however, when they faced a flood of personal and professional tragedy. Bandleader Don Chaffer (vocals/guitars) lost his mother to leukemia in July 2001; his father was diagnosed with cancer four months later. Meanwhile, the only record label they'd ever dared to sign with was falling apart, leaving the group frustrated and broke. And then came Sept. 11. Believing that, as Chaffer says, "the grieved heart needs room to breathe, reel, and fall before rising again," Waterdeep announced an indefinite hiatus.

Whole 'Nother Deal, then, is the proverbial phoenix soaring from the ashes of the band's personal grief and devastated career. After departing from their label last spring, Chaffer began playing through some songs in his journal and realized he had material begging to be recorded. The ones requiring a full band became Whole 'Nother Deal, which was tracked live over four days in May by 11 musicians, all of whom were the group's friends or former collaborators.

WHOLE 'NOTHER DEAL is Waterdeep's most sonically and thematically mature album; it exhibits wisdom gained by those who have gone through the fire and emerged, wounded but alive, with a story to tell. Far superior to their last two records, which suffered from Nashvillian overproduction and censorship, Whole 'Nother Deal is Waterdeep in its essence. Rich with the band's trademark spontaneous, exploratory jams, Whole 'Nother Deal also draws on '70s R&B and funk, country, delicate folk, and straight-ahead guitar riffs.

There's not a weak track on the album, but the standouts are those in which the message and the music seem organic to one another. The slow groove of "We're All Dying, Tracy James," inspired by Martin Scorsese's film Bringing Out the Dead, evokes seduction and human frailty; the wind-in-your-hair road-trip rock of "Rollin' Like A Semi" suggests overcoming setbacks; and the upbeat instrumental "Finding Reasons to Live" closes the album in tribute to Chaffer's father, who requested that Chaffer include "something [hopeful] to say that we all made it through."

The most compelling thing about the album is its profound and almost supernatural invocation of the Other. Perhaps because of how the album was made (in a compressed time period, with all the musicians working together in one room), or perhaps because of the Spirit within them, Chaffer and company are able to transport listeners beyond time, space, and themselves—a gift that's rare in live shows and even more rare on recordings. It's what sets apart the creative Christians of Waterdeep and makes their latest release a whole 'nother deal.