Christian Music Online

band Jars of Clay

October 8, 2010 – 10:03 am

Since coming on the national scene in 1995 with their platinum-selling debut, the band Jars of Clay has been at the forefront of contemporary Christian music. With each new release, the band reinvents itself and pushes the limits musically, with albums that favor everything from synth and keyboard-heavy tunes to British alt-pop to straight-ahead rock and roll.

Vocalist Dan Haseltine, pianist Charlie Lowell, lead guitarist Stephen Mason and rhythm guitarist Matthew Odmark met while attending Greenville College in southern Illinois. Since then, they’ve won three Grammy Awards, heaps of Dove Awards and sold 6 million albums. The band’s latest effort, ” Jars of Clay Presents the Shelter ” (out last Tuesday), was recorded in the middle of the horrific flooding in Nashville, and that experience helped shape the faith-filled tracks.

The band plays a live, sold-out show with Brandon Heath on Saturday at Great Lakes Christian College for the kickoff date of their tour in partnership with non-profit organizations Blood: Water Mission and Food for the Hungry.

LSJ: Let’s talk about your new release, “The Shelter.” Amy Grant, Derek Webb, Toby Mac and a slew of others guest on the release.

Matthew Odmark (guitarist): Yeah, the title of the record is based on this old Irish proverb that says, “It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.” So, the idea is to express the deep experience we’ve had in our community. For us, allowing our communities to shape us has brought us closer to the gospel or and Christian community. Since it was a record about community, it needed to be made by community. So, we had an amazing chance to work with these artists we’ve been friends with for years.

LSJ: Recording and production of “The Shelter” was at the midpoint of the flooding in Nashville. Did anything happen to your studio and gear during recording?

Odmark: Several of us had homes affected by the flood and the space where we were recording the record was in a major floodway. Most of the first floor was filled with water, but we were able to get some irreplaceable things up to the second story. But we lost merchandise and old vintage instruments that we weren’t able to move in time.

band Jars of Clay

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