Gig Harbor musician to host free concert

Lillie to play Friday at Best Western Wesley Inn

Susan Schell

of the Gateway

Jason Lillie describes his music as gospel, but the songs on his new CD, “Breaking the Silence,” sound more like classic rock.

“You’d only really know it was Christian music if you listen to the words,” he said.

Lillie will share the fruits of 18 months of labor by launching “Breaking the Silence” at a free concert Friday night at the Best Western Wesley Inn in Gig Harbor.

Lillie, a sound engineer by trade, has ties to the Inn through his profession. His musical influences, like his favorite, Tom Petty, can be heard in his style. In fact, one of the songs on the CD, “King’s Highway,” is Petty’s.

“It was hard to track down the reproduction rights,” Lillie said. “But I ended up actually writing a check to Tom Petty.”

Besides Petty’s and a couple of other titles, the rest of the songs on the CD are originals. The album is named after a flood of creativity the artist experienced when he came out of a long self-described “writer’s drought.”

“A lot of the songs were things I’d been working on for a long time,” Lillie said. “But, finally, the dam broke and the flood gates opened.”

Lillie has been writing songs since he was in high school, and he regularly sings and occasionally leads worship service at Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church in Gig Harbor. He also sang and led worship services at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Purdy, and he’s played with various musical groups.

Lillie produced and contributed songs to a CD for Chapel Hill, “Offerings,” at Pacific Studios in Tacoma.

“It’s fun to go out and do things like that,” he said. “I would eventually like to branch out beyond Gig Harbor.”

Lillie currently is selling copies of his CD on Amazon.com, and he’s looking for area markets.

The musician and his wife, Gina, are long-time locals. His grandfather was local historian Lee Makovich.

“I’m the fifth of seven generations in this town,” he said.

Lillie said there are different types of Christian music. There are joyful, worship tunes, but a lot also comes from struggle, pain, loss, insecurity and doubt.

“All of those little things are just life,” he said. “Even King David, the greatest writer of all time, wasn’t all about sunshine and butterflies. These are the things that make my songs relevant to me.”

One particular song on the CD, “Changing Me,” fleshes out feelings of how people are constantly being changed and molded through processes that happen in life — especially when they make mistakes.

“The process is not, ‘If we mess up,’ it’s, ‘When we mess up,’ ” Lillie said. “People have guilt and shame, and they dwell on the past. You have to look at things good and bad, because everything happens for a reason. It’s about how we’ve been changed through lessons, good and bad.”

Joining Lillie for Friday’s concert will be Dave Thomas on guitar, Dave Dickenson on bass and Steve Fischer on drums.

The concert is free, but tickets are required. Tickets can be picked up at the Best Western Wesley Inn or at Chapel Hill church.

Gospel singer to host free concert

When: 7 p.m. Friday

Where: The Best Western Wesley Inn, 6575 Kimball Drive in Gig Harbor

Tickets: Free tickets can be picked up at the Best Western Wesley Inn or at Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church, 7700 Skansie Ave. in Gig Harbor.