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Phil Keaggy was wearing his trademark cap and had just started playing his trademark scorching acoustic guitar when his musical ear noticed something amiss.
Randy Stonehill, the enthusiastic fellow father of modern Christian music who had preceded Keaggy on stage, "left a lot of energy up here … (because) I'm playing way too fast!" Keaggy said.
Truth be told, the veteran performer's version of his "True Believer" sounded about right to most of the crowd — as did just about all else the two Christian-music pioneers did during their show.
Keaggy and Stonehill, both in their late 50s and with more than three decades of experience each in music, took 1,100 people at Lancaster's Manor Church on a special three-hour musical journey Sunday night.
VIDEO: Stonehill and Keaggy in concert
It showcased the tremendous singing and playing skills of the two — Stonehill's gift is for writing dead-on, sometimes funny and sometimes sad songs, while Keaggy is simply one of the most creative and prolific guitar players of all time, in any genre.
Christian music is now a growing segment of the overall entertainment business, but was a mere blip on the musical radar when Keaggy and Stonehill began their careers decades ago.
Both showed Sunday at the Manor Township church that they're far from resting on their laurels and still pack a creative and talented entertainment punch.
Stonehill, in his hourlong set, gave the mixed young and not-so-young crowd a spirited version of the singalong "Shut de Do."
He included an almost heartbreaking rendition of "Rachel Delevoryas," about a girl who gets picked on in school for her "plain-Jane face," but ends up later playing violin for a top symphony.
There also was an excellent version of "I Am A Servant," written by Stonehill's friend and fellow Christian music pioneer, the late Larry Norman, and the 57-year-old Stonehill ended with a moving version of "King of Hearts."
Stonehill also displayed his trademark humor.
On his one-time social-comment hit "Great Big Stupid World," his tenor voice reached out of the strike zone and hit a high one, and he said, "Even if you're secure in yourself as a man, you shouldn't sing like that. Note to self."
Keaggy, for his half of the special double-bill concert, got "True Believer" straightened out right away with some Stanley Jordan-esque tapping that almost turned into a song of its own.
Like Stonehill, Keaggy, 58, played solo, doing a nearly 10-minute version of "Salvation Army Band" and adding frills like slaps and quick solos throughout.
He added a tasteful solo on "Let Everything Else Go," and in several places you'd swear there were three guitars playing, not one.
He then invited Stonehill back onstage and they ended things as they should have, as a duo, with Keaggy's anthem "Sunday's Child" and "Your Love Broke Through."
The show was a free concert offered by Lancaster-based contemporary Christian station WJTL-FM in celebration of its 25th anniversary.
Keaggy and Stonehill are "just great singers, great musicians, great guitar players … it brings back a part of my childhood" to see them, said Eric Fisher, who helps lead worship at Lititz United Methodist Church.
The two "really cleared the way for a lot of other Christian artists," he added.
Mark Stivers of Manheim Township loved Stonehill's "passion and humor" and Keaggy's "raw, pure talent on guitar, as well as his heart."
As WJTL station manager Fred McNaughton said in introducing Stonehill, "Where would Christian music be without Phil Keaggy and Randy Stonehill? Other people come and other people go, but these two guys just keep going."
