The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music — #64: Phil Keaggy, Love Broke Thru (1976)

Intro

Appearing at #64 in The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music, Phil Keaggy’s Love Broke Thru (1976) captures a moment when craft and conviction aligned. It remains a touchstone for how faith can sing with both sincerity and skill.

The Album in Context

Coming out of his Glass Harp years, Keaggy steered his formidable chops toward intimate testimony and studio discipline. The album balances folk warmth with progressive touches, letting guitars shimmer while lyrics carry pastoral weight. It became a map for combining excellence with humility.

Arrangements keep the focus on melody—acoustic filigree, tasteful electric lines, and rhythm parts that breathe. You can hear a craftsman resisting flash for the sake of feel. That restraint allowed the record to play in living rooms, small venues, and Sunday afternoons for decades.

Within CCM, Love Broke Thru established the archetype of the guitar‑centric devotional album. Its blend of literate songwriting and jaw‑dropping technique offered permission for instrumental sophistication inside explicitly spiritual pop.

Standout Songs

• “Love Broke Thru” — A conversion testimony written with Keith Green and Randy Stonehill that became an enduring anthem. Its luminous chorus and cascading guitar lines made the title track a calling card for Keaggy’s ministry and musicianship.
• “Time” — Philosophical reflection rendered in elegant pop form. The song’s aching melody and intricate guitar textures invited listeners to consider mortality and mercy without losing radio appeal.
• “As The Ruin Falls” — C. S. Lewis’s poem reimagined as a devotional art‑song. Keaggy’s sensitive setting modeled how rich literature could be woven into CCM without pretension.

Why It Matters

Artistically, the record showed that virtuosity could kneel—technique serving text, not eclipsing it. Keaggy’s guitar language influenced countless worship leaders and studio players, shaping the sound of faith music for decades.

Historically, the project cemented Keaggy as a pillar of Jesus Music’s maturation into professional pop. It also broadened lyrical horizons by welcoming literary sources and philosophical themes into the heart of CCM songwriting.

What’s Next

Tomorrow on The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music countdown, we continue with #63 — Daniel Amos’s transitional classic, Horrendous Disc (1980), where art‑rock wit meets spiritual wrestling. Be sure to catch the companion podcast episode of The CCM Professor with Greg Rice, where we connect the dots between these landmark recordings.
 

Soli Deo Gloria!

This post is part of the series The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music, celebrating the artists and recordings that defined a generation of faith-filled creativity.

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