Christian artists breathe new life into tradition NASHVILLE - As Christians across America rediscover the power of hymns, the music community is reviving the classic church repertoire through a wave of albums from some of the biggest contemporary Christian stars.
Coming on the heels of the praise and worship boom, the hymns movement is already having an impact in the marketplace.
But where praise and worship contributed potent new songs to the religious music lexicon, this new movement relies on the traditional hymns that most church-going Christians grew up singing in pews on Sunday morning.
And that seems to be a big part of the attraction.
“Hymns are timeless,” says contemporary Christian superstar Amy Grant, whose “Rock of Ages … Hymns & Faith” debuted at No. 1 on the Top Christian Albums chart in May. The Word/Curb/Warner Bros. release has sold 54,000 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
“What I find interesting is those of us that are recording hymns are not recording them the way we grew up with them,” Grant adds. “We’re all going in and putting a more current, creative twist on these songs.”
Genre mix
So, while the lyrics are classic, the projects represent an array of styles. They range from the Oak Ridge Boys’ signature country/Southern gospel sounds on “Common Thread” (Spring Hill Music) to the urban pop of Out of Eden’s “Hymns” (Gotee) to the jazzy organic approach MercyMe frontman Bart Millard takes on “Hymned,” a solo effort due Aug. 16 on Simple/INO Records.
Other key recordings include Jars of Clay’s “Redemption Songs” (Essential), Ashley Cleveland’s “Men & Angels Say” (Rambler), Buddy Greene’s “Hymns & Prayer Songs” (Spring Hill) and numerous multi-artist collections such as Spring Hill’s “Shout!Hymns” and Maranatha Music’s “Top 25 Emergent Hymns” and “Celtic Hymns.”
Further, Dove Award-winning trio Selah has built a successful career reviving hymns on several Curb Records albums.
“When you put all those hymns records up together, those unique voices come together and the one unified voice is the timeless truth of the lyrics,” INO Records president Jeff Moseley says.
Indeed, Grant says the lyrical depth and theological content found in the hymns are providing inspiration for artists and fans.
“The lyrics are the things that are so phenomenal about the hymns,” Grant says. “You might forget every sermon from your childhood, but you remember the teaching because it was in the songs.”
Grant’s most recent set, released in May, features a rootsy take on such favorites as “I Surrender All,” “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee,” “Sweet Will of God” and “Rock of Ages,” a duet with husband Vince Gill.
“Rock of Ages” is Grant’s second hymns album. Her 2002 hymns collection, “Legacy … Hymns & Faith,” has sold 465,000 units.
Revival spirit
Whatever the commercial possibilities for hymns albums, many of the artists seem more driven by a quest to revive the repertoire.
Millard chose to make his first solo album a hymns project in part because he wanted to create something special for his young son. “I was talking to someone and said, ‘It’s weird. The way that music is going, there may be a chance that my son won’t have memories of old hymns as I did growing up,”‘ he says, pointing out that many churches have replaced hymns with contemporary worship music. “It was hard to think about it, and that’s part of the reason I wanted to do this, to respect where I came from and the music I grew up (hearing).”
Soulful rocker Ashley Cleveland agrees. “I’m an ongoing crusader to keep the hymns alive in the church. This is my maximum effort on that front,” she says of “Men & Angels Say.”
“I’ve played so many churches where no hymns are done and so many people that have come into the church in the last 10 to 20 years don’t come from a church background and don’t know them,” she adds.
Likewise, the members of pop/rock outfit Jars of Clay loved the idea of introducing their young rock audience to the classics. Their hymns album debuted at No. 1 on the Top Christian Albums list in April and has scanned 84,000 units.
“The hymns are such a big part of our experience,” the group’s Matt Odmark says. “We really hope this record will connect with people that are younger, that have not grown up in a church environment … that they’ll be attracted to the timeless nature of what goes on in a good hymn.”
Renewed relevance
But some younger people still are not familiar with hymns and might be predisposed to think of them as an older generation’s music.
“There is a mind-set that they represent antiquity, (that) they are dusty old relics that aren’t relevant, but to me nothing could be more relevant,” Cleveland says. “There is so much division in our culture and even within the Christian community, but when you pull out a hymn that everybody knows, we are all unified.”
Artists admit that there’s a risk involved if hymns become the next trend. “We got a bittersweet taste thinking people are trying to saturate the market,” Millard says of the onslaught of praise and worship albums.
Out of Eden’s Kimmey agrees that while it’s good to see the hymns receiving renewed exposure, she hopes the pendulum does not swing too far.
“I think worship got branded as a style of music and to me, a rap artist can do a worship song. It doesn’t have to be acoustic guitar and a vocal. It’s dangerous if you begin to brand things because then we leave out a lot of different cultures. So I hope the hymns don’t become so commercialized that they lose some of their strength and purity.”
