Songwriting of Joel Houston (Hillsong UNITED)

Joel Houston is a world renowned songwriter and worship leader who has written songs for Hillsong Worship and is one of the founders of Hillsong United.

Common Songwriting Techniques

• Utilizes similar phrases to begin or end his verses or similar verse structures.

• Repeats verse 1 (e.g. Salvation Is Here) or verse 2 (e.g. From The Inside Out) after the chorus.

• Utilizes “Woah”

Joel Has Written several songs which are based on hymns. They may feature parts of the Hymn with reimagined melodies or additional parts that are written in response to the Hymn

• “Broken Vessels (I Can See You)” is based on “Amazing Grace”

• “Behold (Then Sings My Soul)” is based on “How Great Thou Art”

• “Chariot” is based on “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”

When Joel began to write with Benjamin Hastings, they would have long conversations and usually write a lot a verses.

Sound: dotted 8th delay lead guitar (e.g. “The Time Has Come”, “Point of Difference”)