Christian Music Online

Label brings its artists to Southland Christian

November 27, 2005 – 12:08 pm

A glorious Christmas tour

Label brings its artists to Southland Christian

Christmas brings busy people together with their loved ones for some family time.

That has applied to the Rocketown Records family the past couple of years.

For the second year in a row, some of the label’s marquee artists, including Ginny Owens, Watermark and Shaun Groves, are touring behind Gloria: A Christmas Celebration, an album that features those label favorites along with Rocketown owner Michael W. Smith and Christian pop superstar Amy Grant.

“This project really did bring a lot of busy lives together,” says Christy Nockels, who with her husband, Nathan, comprise Watermark. “Collaboration, that has been Rocketown’s strength. It’s a family atmosphere.”

The tour’s first stop is next week at Southland Christian Church, where the stars will join with Southland choirs and worship leaders for three nights.

“We wanted to do something a little different for outreach into the community this year,” says Greg Corona, seek minister for Southland Christian. “This is a season where people are more open bringing people to church and coming to church.”

To make it happen, the Southland folks traveled to Nashville to meet with the tour manager and producer to plan the event.

The evening will feature the artists performing some of their own material, a performance of the Gloria album with a dramatic flair, and other Christmas and worship music.

Christy Nockels says that last year, they had talked about working with choirs at the churches they visited, but it didn’t work out.

“Since we’re able to stay in one place longer, it will be easier to make that happen,” she says.

Getting all of the artists together for the record must have driven producers Scott Dente and Charlie Peacock crazy, Nockels says.

“Even though Nathan and I are married, they couldn’t even get us in the studio at the same time,” she says.

Like many Christmas albums, it was recorded in much warmer months, albeit with a tree and lights in the studio for atmosphere.

Part of the thrill for Owens was working with and being on the same project as Smith and Grant, whom she listened to while growing up.

“I remember when Scott Dente and I were working on these tracks at Charlie’s studio and remembering what it was like to listen to Out of the Grey’s music,” Owens says, referring to the name Scott and Christine Dente record under. Reflecting on that and opening the Gloria CD in a duet with Peacock,”This is a fun life I get to lead,” she says.

There was fun on the road too, including a birthday party for the Nockels’ daughter, Noel, with stars Owens and Groves in attendance.

Corona says he looks forward to Southland artists getting to see and spend time with some of the stars because it will give them a chance to see how normal they are.

On the Gloria tour, the artists will have time to share favorite Christmas songs and memories. A few of those are captured on a reissue of the Gloria CD, with selections from last year’s tour, including Owens’ rendition of The Christmas Song. She introduces the song, saying she doesn’t know why she likes it, because “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” and “Jack Frost nipping at your nose” were not part of her Christmas memories growing up in Jackson, Miss.

“I think it’s because it has a lot of jazz chords,” Owens says.

Southland has hosted contemporary Christian music acts before, but this collaboration is a first, Corona says.

“There’s a lot of anticipation,” he says.

And while it’s several weeks before Christmas, Corona says he likes the program being the week after Thanksgiving to “set a mood” for the holiday season putting the focus on the birth of Jesus Christ.

——————————————————————————–

‘Gloria’ tour

What: A holiday concert featuring Watermark, Ginny Owens, Shaun Groves, Michael Olson and Taylor Sorensen, along with the Southland Christian Church worship choir, vocal teams, praise band and orchestra.

When: 7 p.m. Wed.-Fri.

Where: Southland Christian Church, 5001 Harrodsburg Road, Nicholasville.

Tickets: $10 general admission, $5 ages 12 and younger; available online at www.southlandchristian.org (click the “Gloria” banner ad) or by calling Mia at (859) 224-1650 or Sarah at (859) 224-1651.

By Rich Copley

HERALD-LEADER CULTURE WRITER

---

---