Combining strains of Top 40 pop, country, soul, and Americana, Andrew Ripp’s music has earned him fans from far outside the world of Christian music. Born in Chicago, the singer and guitarist got his first break as a songwriter, writing music for pop talents like Ryan Cabrera in the mid-2000s. With his 2008 solo debut, Fifty Miles to Chicago, Ripp flexed his singer-songwriter bona fides in stripped-down, soulful arrangements (“Dresden Wine”). Subsequent projects like 2021’s Evergreen found him broadening his sonic profile and pulling in elements from a wide array of contemporary pop styles to accompany lyrics addressing sophisticated religious themes (as on the gospel-meets-Britpop trappings of “Jericho”).