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Three-time Grammy award winner Michael W. Smith will be recording another live worship album six years after releasing his second worship album, Worship Again (2002).

After producing two successful worship albums, Smith is taking on the third live worship project this Friday at Lakewood Church in Houston. The Christian music star will be recording with African Children’s Choir and leading a congregation at the prominent megachurch that is expected to exceed 15,000. With its weekly service attendance figure at 47,000, Lakewood Church is currently the largest church in the nation.

During the live recording, Smith will feature both familiar worship songs as well as original songs that he wrote for this project. Smith is regarded as one of the most influential artists in Contemporary Christian Music, working as an artist, composer, and worship leader. He also received success in the mainstream music industry.

Doors for the event will open at 6:30 p.m. and the worship will start at 7:30 p.m. The admission is free and tickets are not required, but offerings will be accepted.

Phil Keaggy describes himself as having been a cocky kid back in 1970, a ”little hot guitar player” with a critically acclaimed rock band.

The guitarist and vocalist had leapt right from high school in suburban Youngstown to touring and recording with Glass Harp, a band that would open for the Kinks at Carnegie Hall before Keaggy even turned 20.

Then, with one tragic event, his world changed.

His mother’s car was hit head-on on Valentine’s Day, and she died several days later. During that time of anguish, his sister, Mary Ellen, led him to Christ.

It was an experience that transformed his life and his music.

Keaggy found himself on the vanguard of the emerging Christian rock movement. He left Glass Harp in 1972 to pursue a solo career that has resulted in more than 50 albums, including the one considered his masterpiece, The Master and the Musician.

That all-instrumental album from 1978, described in his press materials as ”worshipful without lyrics,” is being celebrated with a 30th anniversary tour that stops at Akron’s E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Akron is special to Keaggy. It was here he met Bernadette Markwell in 1971 at a Glass Harp gig at Odin’s Den, a University of Akron hangout at Brown and Exchange streets. And it was here they married in 1973 at St. Martha’s Church in North Hill. They now live in Nashville.

What’s more, Akron is part of the region that embraced Glass Harp and its progressive sound, he noted.

”That’s my home state, you know,” he said. ”There are people there who appreciate me.”

Keaggy, 57, spent his early years in Hubbard, then lived in Youngstown from age 6 until his family moved to California when he was in the fourth grade. The family went back and forth between the two states during his teen years, but he spent 10th and 11th grades at Austintown Fitch High School.

He started his senior year at Boardman High, but left for the road when the band got a recording contract. He ended up getting his high school diploma via a correspondence course.

Keaggy will be performing in Akron with six other musicians, including his Glass Harp co-founder and longtime friend, drummer John Sferra. ”They all have a heart for the music, and they put their hearts in it,” Keaggy said.

Keaggy’s own love for music was fostered by a family that appreciated a diversity of musical talents, and encouraged by the gift of a Sears Silvertone acoustic guitar for his 10th birthday.

He started by learning the surfing music popularized by the Beach Boys, he said, but his interests changed when the Beatles burst into prominence. He described his own music as still ”Beatlesque” and fondly recalled jamming with Paul McCartney after the wedding of McCartney’s sister-in-law (Keaggy sang at the wedding and the former Beatle was a groomsman).

Today Keaggy is praised as a great among guitar players, despite losing half the middle finger of his right hand in a childhood accident. Legend has it that Jimi Hendrix — or, in other versions of the story, Eric Clapton or Eddie Van Halen — once proclaimed Keaggy to be the greatest guitarist of all time, but he dismisses that as rumor.

Still, he chuckled at the story. ”Who knows? It might get me some gigs in the future,” he said.

Keaggy’s faith is central to his music. Christianity made him a free man, both spiritually and musically, he said, and ”it’s still the best news I’ve ever heard.”

That’s what he seeks to share with his audiences. He never tries to push his religion on people, he said, but rather he tries to convey something ”that might lift their hearts and their spirits.”

He said he finds that same comfort both through his own music and that of others. The Master and the Musician, in particular, was a cathartic work that helped him through the despair he experienced after he and his wife suffered several miscarriages and lost another child just three days after his birth.

Despite the strong spiritual and emotional elements of his music, though, he has difficulty defining it.

”I can’t describe it. It’s never fit in any niche,” he said. The best he can come up with is ”Heinz 57, with a little spirituality thrown in.”

And a whole lot of staying power.

Concert: Phil Keaggy’s Master & Musician Tour

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday

Where: E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall, 198 Hill St., University of Akron

Tickets: $25-$35

There are many major artists in gospel and Christian music, but only a select few manage to get their names out of the church pews and into the public consciousness. Artists such as Kirk Franklin, the legendary Mahalia Jackson and Christian alt-rock band Jars of Clay all have been able to take their message out to the mainstream. But arguably the biggest family and one of the biggest names is the Winans.

David ”Pop” Winans and Delores ”Mom” Winans produced 10 musical children who, in various groupings and solo, have been a force in gospel music. Child No. 8, Priscilla Marie Winans, known to friends and fans as CeCe, has been one of the most successful crossover members of the family, releasing six albums (plus a scheduled 2008 release) with her brother BeBe and eight on her
own. She’s received six Grammys, 20 Dove Awards and numerous other accolades and honors.

On Friday, Winans will perform a rare area concert at the House of the Lord. The concert will serve as the annual spring fundraiser for the Emmanuel Christian Academy in Springfield Township. In its six-year history, the spring concert has welcomed popular Christian singers such as Damaris Carbaugh, Wintley Phipps and Babbie Mason, but Winans is easily the biggest name the school has corralled.

The concert will benefit the academy’s scholarship program, with a goal of raising $60,000 to help the more than two-thirds of the student body that receives financial aid. Tickets for the show are available at Berean Christian Stores and at Emmanuel Christian Academy.

Winans, who has two grown children — including son Alvin Love II, who co-produced her latest album and has written songs for his mother in the past — says that though she doesn’t seek out benefit events, she welcomes any opportunity to help.

”You know I haven’t really tried to find them; they find me, which is always good. I think it’s exciting to be a part of great, great causes and definitely, I really get excited about children because they are the future,” Winans said.

For the school, the timing couldn’t be better, as this year’s star is coming to town with a fresh new album called Thy Kingdom Come. Some critics and her own record label have called it a return to the church for the singer, whose previous album Purified had a strong pop/R&B contemporary edge and won a Grammy for best contemporary soul gospel album.

”That’s so funny to me when they say that, but I understand what they mean,” Winans said.

”Within the church or within Christian music, there are different styles of music. You have those sounds that are more contemporary and those that have a more traditional praise and worship sound. So whenever you’re more traditional [in your music] these are things that are more ‘inside of the church,’ where the other music lends itself to other formats.

”But I’ve always been in the church,” she said, laughing.

Musically, Winans’ eighth album does contain several praise songs, such as the ballads We Welcome You (Holy Father) and Thy Will Be Done, which builds in intensity to a string- and choir-buoyed crescendo. Forever features classic gospel call-and-response, but there are contemporary touches, such as the funky, syncopated beat of Worthy, and the gutbucket, staccato, horn-laden, gospel-funk groove that is underneath the inspirational ‘’stay strong, God’s got your back” lyrics of It Ain’t Over.

Also, Thy Kingdom Come doesn’t bother with the lyrical obfuscation that some contemporary Christian albums use to help cross over to the pop charts. Winans’ words (she co-wrote more than half the album) leave no doubt that the subject of her songs is not some earthly ”him” to whom she gives her love, but the heavenly ”him.”

But Winans says that reaching people is more important than adhering to any particular musical tradition.

”Even as a kid I loved the contemporary as well as the traditional. It’s important because different sounds will reach different people,” Winans said.

”There are different ages as well as different races, and different people who only appreciate one type of music. So you have to have the good news wrapped up in all different types of packages, so that it will be something people will pick up and give a listen to and their lives will be blessed.”

When circumstances are difficult or hard to comprehend, God is still present, contemporary Christian recording artist Jami Smith said.

This is the theme of the Chickasha native’s 13th album, to be released Friday during a CD debut concert at Crossings Community Church, 14600 N Portland.

Smith’s popular song “Faith in You” also is the title of the new CD, and its faith-full premise is to be shared through music and video throughout the evening.

“We’re really going to try to create an atmosphere where people who have been through really tough times can come and maybe just have a night, kind of in memory of someone they’ve lost,” Smith said in a recent interview.

“It is to be a night of healing, a place for them to be with others and grieve a loss, whether it be a person, a job or a marriage — whatever it might be.”

Faith in Him
The “Faith in You” concert is the first of three April events that place Smith in the center of activities focusing on faith and healing.
The day after her CD debut concert, Smith is scheduled to perform at the 13th anniversary remembrance service of the Oklahoma City bombing, set for 9 a.m. April 19 at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. Smith also will perform at the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon-related Sunrise Prayer Service at 5:30 a.m. April 26 at the Survivor Tree on the memorial grounds.

Smith said each of these events will give her a chance to emphasize a message that people need to hear more and more: “God is not against, but for you, no matter where you find yourself.

“A lot of these songs focus on a particular verse in Isaiah which says, ‘My ways are not your ways, My ways are higher than your ways, My thoughts are higher than your thoughts,’ ” she said.

Smith said the Lord often will not give an explanation as to why things happen, though people often seek one. The Book of Psalms, she said, is full of people asking, “Where are you? What’s going on? Why is this happening? Would you please be with me? How come you’ve forgotten me?”

Smith said through song, she is hoping to convey God’s faithfulness, even in times of trouble and periods where His answers are long in coming.

Concertgoers will view video vignettes featuring others who also have trusted God in times of adversity.

One video will focus on Steve Saint, whose father Nate Saint was one of five missionaries killed in Ecuador in 1956.

Smith said another video will show an interview with Donna Weaver, whose husband, HUD employee Mike Weaver, died in the Oklahoma City bombing. Another video will feature friends and family of Sonya Hill Payne, a woman who attended Oklahoma Baptist University with Smith and died of breast cancer.

“I just hope to focus on His goodness, despite wherever we might be with our circumstances,” Smith said.

Some of the lyrics in “Faith in You” perhaps say it best, she said. The song, made popular through the St. Anthony Hospital commercials airing locally, encourages the listener to have faith and walk in the joy of the Lord, even in times when he does not “understand it all.”

“It’s still our good pleasure and still our joy, eventually, to continue to have faith in Him,” Smith said.

“I know that I haven’t walked through every story that everybody in that room will have walked through. No way I could, but I still believe in just the few things I have walked through, that He is good and He is consistent and He is faithful.”

Editor’s note: Look for Smith’s “Keeping the Faith” column on Wednesday’s Religion page.

You might be familiar with Christian band Hawk Nelson even if you’re not really into Christian music.

That’s because the pop/punk foursome has achieved significant exposure through secular venues, including television shows such as “Smallville” or “Laguna Beach,” professional sports league promotions, the Nickelodeon television channel and Tiger Beat magazine

Hawk Nelson performs Thursday at First Christian Church of Newburgh, along with opening act RunKidRun.

The 4-year-old group’s third album, “Hawk Nelson Is My Friend,” was released earlier this month and debuted at 34th on the Billboard Top 200.

“I think we’ve had a great chance of balancing both worlds, and I’m really grateful for it,” said Daniel Biro, the band’s bassist.

One of the songs from the debut album, “Right Here,” was featured in a commercial for the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Hawk Nelson’s music also has been used in promotions for a number of professional sports leagues: “Bring ‘Em Out” in the National Football League’s “Sunday Night Football” commercials; “The Show” and “Right Here” during the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup finals; and a baseball tour last summer in which the band toured more than 30 minor-league baseball stadiums and a handful of Major League Baseball parks. Its song “California” has been featured on episodes of MTV’s “Laguna Beach” and the WB’s “Smallville,” and “Like a Racecar” was featured on another WB program, “Summerland.”

Perhaps one reason for Hawk Nelson’s secular exposure is the lyrics to many of their songs aren’t explicitly religious.

That’s by design, Biro said — the band prefers to get its point across without always using the expected Christian language.

“We never wanted to get wrapped into the idea of selling the name of Jesus,” he said.

On its latest album, “Hawk Nelson Is My Friend,” Biro said, “there’s probably four or five songs that are about our relationship with God.”

“It doesn’t say ‘Jesus,’ per se, but that’s what we’re about.”

Hawk Nelson’s fan base has grown more diverse over time, Biro said.

Early on, many fans were teens.

A Nickelodeon television special earned Hawk Nelson some preteen fans, Biro said, and more recently entire families have started showing up for concerts.

With its latest album, the band hopes to again broaden its listening audience.

Co-writers on the album include Trevor McNevan from Christian band Thousand Foot Krutch; pop songwriter/producer Matthew Gerrard of “High School Musical” and “Hannah Montana”; Raine Maide of rock band Our Lady Peace; and pop star/songwriter Richard Marx.

“We co-wrote with a wide spectrum of writers because they’re experienced and talented, and we want to learn and grow,” Biro said.

Éowyn , an independent artist based out of Nashville, TN, is releasing her new album ” Silent Screams ” in April but it is already creating a dominant stance in the Christian rock market today. Her first release to radio is the title track, Silent Screams, featuring Rob Beckley from Pillar, which debuted this week on the Radio and Records’ Christian rock chart at number 28. It has also made its third appearance on the Most Added list in just three weeks since its release to radio, as well as, landing a spot in the Most Increased Plays category twice.

Nashville, TN (PRWEB) March 29, 2008 — Éowyn, an independent artist based out of Nashville, TN, is releasing her new album “Silent Screams” in April but it is already creating a dominant stance in the Christian rock market today. Her first release to radio is the title track, Silent Screams, featuring Rob Beckley from Pillar, which debuted this week on the Radio and Records’ Christian rock chart at number 28. It has also made its third appearance on the Most Added list in just three weeks since its release to radio, as well as, landing a spot in the Most Increased Plays category twice.

An independent artist acquiring this type of attention from radio is not unheard of but very rare to say the least. Éowyn has driven past several barriers not often accessible to those without label backing. One of the most obvious separations between independent artists and those on a label is the distribution and placement of physical product. Though many “indies” sell their music through various online avenues, it is increasingly difficult to gain any placement for their physical albums on a store shelf. Éowyn has also unraveled this obstruction with the help of Wesscott Marketing. Together, Wesscott Marketing and Deep Wade Entertainment have not only placed Éowyn’s “Silent Screams” album in private stores and the leading distributors of Christian products, but also it can be found this spring in Lifeway Christian Bookstores throughout the U.S.

Éowyn further distinguishes herself as a unique independent artist with national touring and a list of sponsorships supporting her. Éowyn has shared her music with people from Washington to North Carolina. These national appearances have put her on the stage with some of the biggest names in Christian rock music. This exposure has also given her the opportunity to partner with some different companies along the way. Some of which are C28.com, a Christian clothing company based out of California, and LiveWires Custom Fit In-Ear Monitors.

Regardless of all the accomplishments of this young lady, Éowyn continues to denounce any accolades for her successes. Instead, Éowyn gives God the credit for any success she has seen through what she defines only as her ministry. She states it this way, “I have literally put all that I own on the line for this ministry; but not for my glory but Christ’s, so that others may see Him and experience His amazing love!”

SIOUX CITY — Picture hordes of teens, piling over each other, screaming Bible verses at the top of their lungs.

This isn’t the apocalypse — quite the opposite, really. It’s a scene from a concert by local ministry metalcore band For Today.

“These are kids that couldn’t walk into a church and worship this freely,” said vocalist Mattie Montgomery. “That’s something I couldn’t trade for the world.”

The Sioux City band’s faith, hard work and heavy tour schedule paid off when they were signed to Facedown Records in December. The Southern California label will distribute For Today’s debut album, “Ekklesia,” which is due to hit stores such as Best Buy on April 1.

The band was on the road 200 days in 2007 and plans to tour for 300 days this year. After performing in Baltimore, Jacksonville, Fla., Nashville, Tenn., and other cities this month, the band will return to Siouxland for a record release show in Jefferson, S.D., on April 5. The band will also shoot a music video this spring or early summer for the single “Agape.”

Those are great heights for a group of Sioux City high school students who just wanted to sound different from other local bands. The band formed three years ago as teens who wanted to make heavy music, said David Morrison, the band’s drummer.

Morrison and guitarist Mike Reynolds then met up with brothers Brandon Leitru, on bass, and Ryan Leitru, on guitar, in Merrill, Iowa. The current lineup was established when Montgomery joined up last September.

For Today’s songs used to feature singing, but now it’s mostly Montgomery’s aggressive guttural screaming. Somewhere between Iron Maiden and Hatebreed is where you’d find For Today’s sound, with Montgomery’s vocals influenced by other metalcore bands Zao and Haste the Day.

“I would listen to those bands all the time, trying to figure out how they did it and what they were doing,” he said. “Five years later, it’s all starting to come together.”

Montgomery’s been at it long enough that his vocal chords are used to the abuse.

“If someone runs 10 miles a day, running 10 miles the next day isn’t going to be very much trouble,” he said.

But the band members are quick to say the only reason they continue to record this aggressive style of music and play shows is to spread their Christian faith.

“This is the platform we have been given and the only thing we can do, as people who claim the name of Christ, is to use this platform to tell every single person we possibly can about it,” Montgomery said.

He said there has been a mixed response so far. There are some in the metal scene who aspire to be anti-religious, but there is also a Christian movement gaining steam.

Because there are so few bands that are being bold about their faith, For Today is seeking to lead the way for ministry bands.

“The only reason we tour, the only reason that we eat on $2.50 a day is so we can use this amazing platform we’ve been blessed with to spread the truth and the love and the hope we’ve found,” Montgomery said.

Montgomery calls the group’s shows “our worship.” And although the band doesn’t fight while on the road, he said he couldn’t handle living in a van for most of the year if he couldn’t perform.

“Every time we play a show, we’re playing a concert for the God that made us,” Montgomery said.

Littlehampton-based charity Compassionart has reserved the famous Abbey Road Studios in London this week to begin recording songs written collectively at a retreat in January by a team of internationally recognized songwriters.

Several of these songwriters are re-grouping in the UK for the recording, including Paul Baloche, Stu G (Delirious?), Israel Houghton, Graham Kendrick, Matt Redman, Martin Smith (Delirious?) and Michael W. Smith.

The resulting music will be for a Compassionart studio album being planned for a late autumn release.

Although not able to attend last month’s retreat, 2006/2007 Gospel Music Association Artist and Male Vocalist of the Year Chris Tomlin contributed to one of the songs written at the retreat and will be joining the others at Abbey Road to record.

“I know that Compassionart is in the heart of God,” says Tomlin. “I am so honuored and thrilled to be a part of it. What an amazing gathering of people and songwriters.”

While all of the Compassionart songwriters will not be able to gather in London for this recording session, future recording opportunities are being planned now. Additionally, Michael W Smith, who has called the recent Compassionart retreat “one of the most significant weeks of his life,” and 2008 GRAMMY winner, Israel Houghton, have already recorded the song So Great. The song will become the first from the Compassionart retreat to be released to the public in April and on the

I swore I wasn’t going to do another review that talked about Christian music’s integration into the mainstream.

The move has been going on for years, including the AC radio acceptance of I Can Only Imagine by MercyMe, the headliner at Friday night’s Winter Jam at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. Skillet, also at the Jam, had its Savior crash into the college radio rotation a couple years back.

Going over the topic would have been cliche.

But the Jam’s opening band, NewSong, decided to demonstrate some newfound appreciation for Southern rock by covering Sweet Home Alabama five songs into the show.
Skynyrd. At a Christian festival. Can’t ignore that.

The night was equally varied. Ten bucks at the door got you five bands over about 3 1/2 hours. It was the sonic equivalent of the chocolate sampler that clueless boyfriends are buying for Thursday’s big day.

The dark chocolate with hazelnut in the middle was NewSong. The agreeable stalwart, they’ve been playing for three decades. After a couple praise songs, Blessed Be Your Name and Psalm 40, they covered People Get Ready, Shout and the aforementioned Skynyrd tune. Their strength is vocals, clear on Arise My Love and Rescue.

Then it was on to the chocolate-covered coconut. Skillet was all hard rock, shooting flames and exploding sparklers. Ben Kasica’s crunchy electric guitar and John Cooper’s standout bass pegged the decibel meter from the first notes of Whispers in the Dark. The screams built through the next three in the set, also from the current Grammy-nominated Comatose album. Rebirthing was prefaced with Cooper’s novel audience request: “I want you to think back and remember this is the song you hurt your neck on and lost your voice on.”

The band’s head count was one faux-hawk, one Green Day-style muss, one black-and-red dye job and one drummer thrashing her blond hair through to the closer, Savior. For parents who hadn’t been to a Christian concert since the heydays of Amy Grant, things were far removed from leopard-print jackets and mall bangs. The audience text-messaged for chances at prizes. Cooper implored the crowd to tell him to shut up and rock. NewSong announced a Radiohead-like plan to offer its next CD free via download to the first 100,000.

Third up was the fruit nougat you wince at. BarlowGirl, three hard-rockin’ sisters, write decent pop hooks and thoughtful lyrics rewarded with constant Christian radio play. But their guitars and drums drowned out nearly any hope of catching a word, and they must have drawn the short straw: They played only one to two verses of their songs, almost all at punk speed.

The last bite was all milk chocolate and caramel. MercyMe’s lead vocalist Bart Millard has one of the most emotive voices in any genre today, and his rich tenor complemented the seasoned and confident guitars, keys and drums around him. How confident? Guitarist Barry Graul sat his toddler son (with earplugs in place) on an equipment box close to the edge of the 5-foot tall stage for much of the show.

They played the longest set, 11 songs including hits from all five of their regular albums. The list included Billboard’s current top song in Christian music, God With Us. Millard closed things out by turning the singing over to the audience in a moving, a cappella I Love You Lord.

By recent arena attendance standards, the crowd wasn’t bad: 8,000 paid, filling up the bottom bowl. It was even better by the standard of tour pastor and Jax native Tony Nolan. A third of many of the sections chose to become Christians after his message in the middle of the show (the total given was 1,241 souls). There are plenty of pastors in town who’d love that kind of crossover appeal.

By JOHN TIMPE
The Times-Union

Damil Records announces the debut release of the captivating album entitled “The Greatest Gift” from Batiste Music! Batiste Music is comprised of two dynamic brothers who have used their inspired lyricism and powerful musical ability to create compositions that serve as riveting worship, praise and overall momentous songs. Listeners have already stated this is a “life changing” project. In the words of Batiste, “for some music is only a business; and that’s fine. For some, like us, the music is a ministry and an assignment from God.”

Lionel and Lyndon Batiste began their musical journey from a very young age. The duo has been performing together since 1996. From that moment. Batiste yearned to serve Christ thru the avenue of music. Batiste took their calling very serious and intensely studied, researched and rehearsed while Christ used that season to mold and make their vision into a ministry. With the help of their songwriter father, Lyndon Batiste, Jr., they perfected their art as they wrote, produced and sang every masterpiece in house. Batiste Music is a fusion of gospel, jazz, classical and Christian contemporary that will leave you breathless with tracks such as: “Fisher of Men”, “In My Name”, “U”, and “Love Is Your Greatest Gift”.

Batiste was nominated one of Atlanta Gospel’s Choice Award finalists for “Best Duo/Group” and “Best New Artist” for 2007. Their performance schedule has included: Radio One Indianapolis Yolanda Adams Morning Show, BYOBB television program, Atlanta Catholic Archdiocese MLK weekend Celebration and Radio One Thanksgiving Hosea Feed the Hungry. As Batiste books events for 2008, they grasp onto the knowledge that their calling is not a “want’ to entertain or even a “need” for ratings; it is a necessity in God’s plan.

Please visit the official website at www.batistemusic.com or their myspace at www.myspace.com/batistemusic to listen and purchase this amazing project today!