From Aussies to analog recordings, here's a snippet of what's happening in the world of Christian music.
1211 at SXSW
Gateway Church’s latest worship band,
1211, will join Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket), Ed Kowalczyk (LIVE) and Chris Pierce for "
A Night of Film, Music, and Inspiration" to be held March 12 during SXSW in Austin, Texas. 1211--a band whose members share stories of redemption--will be part of an event that features live musical scores of three films. The event is presented by Creative Arts Group. SXSW is the largest music festival of its kind in the world, bringing more than 2,500 “official” performers and bands playing for more than 30,000 attendees in more than 100 venues.
WE LOVE AWARD Winners Recap
We're getting closer to the end of our amazing inaugural year of the WE LOVE AWARDS, and this past week, we were able to hand out the following awards (click the award name to watch the official acceptance video):
The Hardcore Award, awarded to Disciple;
Female Artist of the Year, awarded to Britt Nicole; and
New Artist of the Year, awarded to For King & Country. If you've missed the previous 22 awards, check out
theweloveawards.com to find out who took home the teardrop trophy!
Speaking of For King & Country...
The Aussie brothers will be performing their new single,
"Middle of Your Heart" on FOX News Channel’s hit TV show, "Huckabee," March 23 at 8 p.m. Eastern. The single is the third release from the band’s debut,
Crave. A previous single, the WE LOVE AWARD-winning Song of the Year "Proof of Your Love," has been featured on the soundtrack of the epic History Channel mini-series, The Bible. The band also recently appeared at a Tim Tebow-led teen rally 1,000 people strong on March 10 in Florida.
Shawn McDonald’s 'Old-School' Approach
As he approaches the ten-year mark of his music career, singer/songwriter/storyteller
Shawn McDonald releases
The Analog Sessions (Sparrow), a collection of nine re-recorded via live-to-tape hits and fan favorites, plus two brand new tunes. The project releases March 26. McDonald went to an old-school recording studio to capture the songs live to tape. "I didn't even know if those places still existed, but we found [Nashville's] Welcome To 1979 Studio, which used to be a record pressing company back in the day," he explained. "There were no computers, just tape machines, vintage amps, and old keyboards." He even used a microphone that Frank Sinatra used for years.
"Analog is warmer and sounds better naturally," continues McDonald of the retro-minded decision. "But tape is a tricky thing, and if you mess up, you have to rewind it and punch in the corrections so you just have to hope you get it. The reality is we just recorded live without stopping, trying to get all the way through without messing up. There's no stacking, overdubbing vocals or any of that studio stuff you might find on my regular records."
UNITED Celebrates Record-Best Debut
Last week
Hillsong UNITED released the widely acclaimed studio project,
Zion, which has garnered the international worship band its highest ever Billboard 200 debut at No. 5, with a 25 percent increase from their last studio album
Aftermath. The project, selling more than 34,100 units its first week, also topped the Billboard Christian & Gospel album and digital charts. During street week, UNITED peaked as the No. 1 album overall on iTunes in the United States, South Africa, Sweden, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Singapore, Ghana and Columbia in addition to reaching the Top 5 at iTunes in Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Switzerland, Uganda and Ecuador. Zion also debuted at No.1 on the Australian ARIA Albums chart making this album an international hit.
The Blind Side Mom Gets TV Show
GMC TV this week announced it has started production on a new show featuring Leigh Anne Tuohy, the real-life charitable mom depicted by Sandra Bullock in the blockbuster film
The Blind Side. The show, Family Addition with Leigh Anne Tuohy, will follow different families every episode as they make the ultimate commitment to open up their hearts and add a new member or members to their family--similar to the decision the Tuohy family made to take in Michael Oher (currently a Super Bowl champion offensive lineman). The series will make its premiere in June.
