''Return to Paradise'' is an album by

Randy Stonehill Randall Evan Stonehill (born March 12, 1952) is an American singer and songwriter from Stockton, California, best known as one of the pioneers of contemporary Christian music. His music is primarily folk rock in the style of James Taylor, but ...

, released in 1989, on

Myrrh Records __NOTOC__ Myrrh Records (also known as Myrrh Worship) was an American Christian music record label. According to ''Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music'', the label was instrumental in developing a popular following for contemporary Christian ...

. The title is a reference to Stonehill's earlier album, ''

Welcome to Paradise "Welcome to Paradise" is a song by the American rock band Green Day. It first appeared as the third track on the band's second studio album, '' Kerplunk''. It was re-recorded and rereleased as the fifth track on their third studio album, ''Dookie ...

''. This album was listed at No. 76 in the 2001 book, ''CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music''.

Track listing

All songs written by Randy Stonehill except as otherwise noted.

Side one

# "Starlings" – 5:00 # "Stand Like Steel" – 4:55 # "I Don't Ever Want to Live Without You" (

Pierce Pettis Pierce Pettis (born April 14, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter from Fort Payne, Alabama. Biography A former staff writer for PolyGram Publishing in Nashville, Pettis' musical career was started in 1979 when Joan Baez covered one of his ...

) – 4:10 # "This Friend of Old" (David Edwards) – 4:00 # "You Can Still Walk Tall" – 5:00 # "True Blood" – 5:02

Side two

# "Strong Hand of Love" (Mark Heard) – 2:54 # " Christmas at Denny's" – 5:53 # "Love Tells No Lies" – 4:20 # "Weight of the Sky" – 3:28 # "Ready To Go" – 4:44

Personnel

* Randy Stonehill – acoustic guitars, lead vocals, backing vocals (3) *

Mark Heard John Mark Heard III (December 16, 1951 – August 16, 1992) was an American record producer, folk rock singer and songwriter from Macon, Georgia. Heard released sixteen albums, and produced or performed with many artists, including: Sam Phil ...

–

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

, electric guitars,

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

, bass (2, 9),

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

(7) *

Phil Keaggy Philip Tyler Keaggy (born March 23, 1951) is an American acoustic and electric guitarist and vocalist who has released more than 55 albums and contributed to many more recordings in both the contemporary Christian music and mainstream markets. H ...

–

classical guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor o ...

(3), 12-string guitar (9) *

Greg Leisz Gregory Brian Leisz ( ; born September 18, 1949) is an American musician. He is a songwriter, recording artist, and producer. He plays guitar, dobro, mandolin, lap steel and pedal steel guitar. Biography Leisz grew up in the garage band cu ...

–

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional ...

* Bill Batstone –

fretless bass A fretless bass is a bass guitar whose neck does not have any frets. While the instrument is played in all styles of music, it is most common in pop, rock, and jazz. It first saw widespread use during the 1970s, although some players used them befo ...

* David Miner –

acoustic bass The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar a ...

* Tom Willett – bass (7) * Doug Matthews – drums * David Baker – percussion * Joe Weed –

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

* Pam Dwinell – backing vocals

Production

* Tom Willett – executive producer * Mark Heard – producer, recording, mixing * Randy Stonehill – co-producer *

Derri Daugherty Derri Daugherty (born Derald Daugherty; October 13, 1958) is an American record producer, songwriter, guitarist and singer, best known as the lead singer and guitarist for band the Choir. Daugherty is also one of the founding members of the R ...

– second engineer * Gary Gerhart – second engineer * Dave Hackbarth – second engineer * Stephen Padgett – second engineer * Dan Reed – second engineer * Tom Baker – mastering at Future Disc Systems (Hollywood, California) * Laurie Fink – cover coordinator * Karl Shields – art direction, design * Linda Krikorian – photography * Roseanne McIIvane – hair stylist, make-up * Ray Ware – management

References

{{Authority control 1989 albums Randy Stonehill albums