Every year NewSong sponsors the Winter Jam tour and every year I look forward to it coming to the Hampton Roads area. And every year - I attend. In fact, when you're filling out your CCM Reader's Choice Awards votes this year, I hope you'll consider Winter Jam for the best tour of the year. This is what the Tour offers for a meager $10 admission charge:
Tobymac
Hawk Nelson
Brandon Heath
Francesca Battistelli
PureNRG
Stephanie Smith
NEWSONG
Speaker: Tony Nolan
About 3 weeks ago I received a Fa…
Continue
Added by Craig on February 23, 2009 at 10:46pm —
1 Comment
I received the below email from Early Harvest Band and wanted to pass it along to everyone! If you're not already their friend, look them up on myCCM and check them out!
Early Harvest Band is asking all of you to please help us out by calling your local radio stations and requesting them to play our new single, "See You In Heaven". Also, please pass this along to your friends & family!
Thank you and God bless,
Early Harvest Band
Continue
Added by Craig on February 5, 2009 at 4:05pm —
No Comments
Joy is a nominee in the Best New Artist category of CCM's 2009 Reader's Choice Awards! Voting ends March 31st and the winners will be announced in May! Take a few moments and vote for Joy!
http://www.ccmmagazine.com/news/stories/11598923
CLICK HERE to read a review of Joy's album, "God And A Girl"
Continue
Added by Craig on February 4, 2009 at 1:08pm —
1 Comment
Stephanie Smith is up for “Best New Artist” in CCM Magazine’s
Reader’s Choice Awards !!
This is a HUGE honor for Stephanie just to be nominated in this category!
Here’s where YOU come in.
YOUR votes decide the winners.
Steph is listed in Category 5:
Best New Artist
She would als…
Continue
Added by Stephanie Smith on February 3, 2009 at 2:51pm —
No Comments
For any who are fans of early CCM pioneers, you might be interested in this...
Continue
Added by Craig on January 19, 2009 at 10:14am —
No Comments
Everyone seems to be making lists this time of year. Christmas lists, New Years Resolutions, Naughty and Nice, you name it - someone is making a list and checking it twice. So, remaining in the tradition, here is my Top 10 Albums (CDs) list for 2008:
10. Great God Who Saves (Laura Story): My daughter had the privilege of attending a dinner in which Laura was the guest speaker and I attended the after dinner concert with her. Even if the girl couldn't write a lick or sing a note (which I assure…
Continue
Added by Craig on December 30, 2008 at 10:30pm —
1 Comment
Received the following bulletin from the Relient K MySpace site:
This Tuesday, the 16th, us boys in Relient K will be performing "Sleigh Ride" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. There will also be a very special guest playing with us......TOM F. WILSON!! If you have no idea who that is...thats Biff from the Back To The Future trilogy! Get into it!! Be sure to tune in Tuesday night!!
Continue
Added by Craig on December 11, 2008 at 11:49pm —
2 Comments
Well, it's been a full 6 months since our local mail courier stopped delivering a copy of CCM Magazine to my mailbox each month. To be honest, I miss it. I seldom ever have the time to sit down at the computer and read entire articles online. I've really only visited the site a few times since then. I've checked out a few new release CD reviews and read the snipets from the featured articles but don't think I've ever opened one for a complete read.
I wonder how the site is doing? Has readership…
Continue
Added by Craig on October 9, 2008 at 10:29pm —
2 Comments
Every Sunday morning I am encouraged as I walk into the SHED, an old trailer that has become home to our Middle School ministry at my church. For the past several years we have encouraged our middle schoolers to take ownership of their services, and our Praise and Worship time is led by an all-middle school praise band. Some Sundays sound better than others, but every Sunday is an encouragement seeing these students using and developing their talents for God.
The artist in the spotlight for thi…
Continue
Added by Craig on September 26, 2008 at 11:30pm —
3 Comments
Die hard CCM fans will be no strangers to the band being featured tonight. Forming in Southern California in the early 1970's, this band spent several years playing concerts in and around California as a trio (drums, bass, keyboards) before adding a lead guitarist in 1977 and releasing their first full length album on Maranatha! Records.
They released a total of six albums as a band between 1977 and 1984, but remained active as solo artists, session players, and producers well beyond those year…
Continue
Added by Craig on August 16, 2008 at 12:30am —
1 Comment
I considered featuring Ivan Parker's new album Unseparable tonight but thought I might lose what little readership I have if I continued down the Southern Gospel path. So instead, I reached back into my vault of 1984 releases and came up with another "Blast from the Past".
I don't know about you, but I was an avid Top 40 Radio listening in the 1970's. Those were my teen years and music was a huge part of my life. And tonight's featured artist played a prominent role in that era as a member of o…
Continue
Added by Craig on August 9, 2008 at 11:30pm —
1 Comment
They say confession is good for the soul. They're right, you know. As I confessed Sunday, I am a closet Southern Gospel fan. This past Sunday night I had the good fortune of taking my oldest daughter to an Ivan Parker concert. I know, you're thinking since I write all those 1980's CCM blogs, I'm kinda outta my zone at an Ivan Parker concert. And who is Ivan Parker anyway? Well, the first time I was introduced to Ivan Parker was at a good old "All Night Gospel Sing" down in Waycross, GA. My wife…
Continue
Added by Craig on August 6, 2008 at 10:30pm —
1 Comment
I'll begin tonight by apologizing for missing last week's blog. My Cowboys defeated Houston on TV so I had to watch. And then Saturday I got locked into watching Carolina destroy the Redskins - what a weekend! So tonight I'm digging out another oldie but goodie to review.
This band has been around since the 1960's and has shared billing with a few well known secular artists such as Styx, Black Oak Arkansas, Cheech & Chong, The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Chuck Berry, and Stevie Wonder. The…
Continue
Added by Craig on August 5, 2008 at 10:30pm —
No Comments
For the past several months I have been blogging my experience with CCM and, in the process, introducing those who read to the pioneers of what has become the genre known as Contemporary Christian Music. I have been working my way through the early years of CCM while also working my way through my personal music collection. But tonight, as promised, I add another twist to this blog.
Back in May of this year, I received an email from an employee of Ardent Records asking if I’d be interested in r…
Continue
Added by Craig on August 2, 2008 at 10:00pm —
1 Comment
First off, let me apologize for skipping a week last Friday. I took the night off from CCM Blogging to attend the Dark Knight movie with my son (who just turned 18) and then never got caught up over the weekend and the next thing I knew I was in San Diego, CA on business and I just returned about midnight last night. I must also apologize for not sending out "ballots" to allow voting this week so I am closing my eyes and reaching into my box of 1984 cassette tapes for the featured artist.
AHA!…
Continue
Added by Craig on July 25, 2008 at 11:30pm —
1 Comment
As fate would have it, the vote this week ended in a tie. Therefore, I must assume the role as tie breaker and chose one of two albums to review. To be fair, I'm going to use the alphabet system. And since Edin comes before Sweet, the featured album tonight will be Edin-Adahl's X-Factor.
You won't find a lot about Edin-Adahl on the Internet nor on the albums liner notes, but I'll try to provide a little background on the band. The band consists of 2 sets of brothers: Lasse and Bertil Edin and S…
Continue
Added by Craig on July 12, 2008 at 12:30am —
1 Comment
One thing was made very clear to me this week - there aren't many people (or at least people who read my blogs) that are familiar with the early pioneers of what we now call Contemporary Christian Music or CCM. More than a few had never heard of any of the artists on my list. While some I wouldn't expect you to know (John Sellers, Edin-Adahl, Tim Miner), there were several that had several hits through the years (Randy Stonehill, D&K, Morgan Cryar, Servant, Scott Wesley Brown, Dan Peek). Str…
Continue
Added by Craig on July 5, 2008 at 11:00pm —
1 Comment
This week I decided to add a new twist to the CCM Blog by letting you, the readers, pick the topic. The only stipulation was that it had to be a 1984 release and that it had to be a part of my personal collection (i.e. I have to have the album in order to review it). After reviewing all the entries, I'm going with the suggestion from my myCCM.org Peep, Jimbo, who hails from Rochester, NY. A US Postal Worker by trade, Jimbo is one of the most well-connected CCM fans I know. Though we've never met…
Continue
Added by Craig on June 28, 2008 at 1:00am —
1 Comment
Tonight I find myself in a slight dilemma. I still have 1983 albums to review, great LPs from David and the Giants, D&K, Debby Boone, Michelle Pillar, and Phil Keaggy among others. The problem is that they are true LPs, not cassettes or CDs and I don't have a turntable in the office where I type my CCM Blogs. So for now, I'm going push into 1984 and rewind to those LPs at a later date, when you least expect it.
Tonights artist has been a staple in CCM since 1981. One of the first high-vis s…
Continue
Added by Craig on June 20, 2008 at 11:00pm —
1 Comment
I've already introduced you to PETRA in an earlier review of More Power To Ya (See Blog Archives from January 2008) so I'll press right into this review. This was PETRA's 6th Release and was a great follow up to More Power To Ya. Next to that album, this is my 2nd favorite offering from this great band.
The album cover artwork continues in the same vein as More Power To Ya, as the "Guitar Spaceship" is depicted in full flight toward a ringed planet with a green aurora surrounding it. Flying out…
Continue
Added by Craig on June 14, 2008 at 11:00pm —
1 Comment
Winter Jam is Jammin' !
Steph is nominated for "Best New Artist" in CCM Magazine's Reader's Choice Awards!
