1. There's a lot of multi-tasking in parenting. Meredith Andrews shared a picture of her husband and songwriting partner Jacob Sooter holding their baby girl, Frankie, in one hand while sitting at the keyboard, plunking out notes with the other. Meredith said Frankie's really getting the hang of the whole songwriting thing.
2. A bunch of rock bands on a bus. Early morning ride to Dusseldorf Airport. What do you do? Well, if you're Disciple, RED, Wolves at the Gate, Children 18:3, Sleeping Giant and The Ongoing Concept, you wake up like Buddy the Elf and sing some Christmas songs. There's a video of their singing "Rudolph" on Disciple's Facebook.
3. The Afters are back in the studio! Their songs from Life is Beautiful are still getting massive airplay, but they're posting pics from their next record. No signs of saxophone or cowbell just yet.
4. V.Rose recently released a music video for her song "No Better U," where she talks about the struggles people sometimes experience in this image-crazed culture. She features pictures of real girls looking, well, real, dispersed throughout the video.
5. Colton Dixon and Matthew West are going on tour together in March, Colton said on his video blog. He also said that he wrote the song "Limitless" with Matthew, so creative shenanigans are sure to ensue.
6. for KING & COUNTRY's band is pretty talented, and some of them have formed an instrumental side project called NITELIGHT. NITELIGHT has come out with a holiday project, Sounds for Christmas, and 100 percent of the proceeds are going to help end human trafficking.
7. It's been 15 years since Newsong released their iconic song "The Christmas Shoes," and in an interview with NRT, Russ Lee and Matt Butler say that despite its being maligned by people, it's still pretty popular, and the opening notes of the song bring the biggest moment of applause of the night during their Christmas tour. But how do they feel? Russ says they always know the song is coming, and it fills them with, quote, "Joyful dread."
8. In Australia, Rend Collective is battling for the No. 1 album with… Rend Collective? Indeed, Rend's The Art of Celebration is playing leapfrog with the band's independently released Christmas project, Campfire Christmas Volume 1, as the two records have traded being Nos. 1 and 2 in consecutive weeks, according to Australia's Official Charts.
Quotes (3)
1. "It's very easy to look at the hardships that befalls us sometimes and allow them to become the focal point of everything." - Jonathan Thulin
2. "The Lord has been teaching me that I don't have to choose between my calling as a musician and motherhood. It's not either/or. It's both. There will be failures as I integrate the two, but there's always room for grace. Thank The Lord." - JJ Heller
3. "Christmas Cookies are a cure for the common cold." - Trey Pearson (Everyday Sunday)
