TobyMac celebrated the RIAA Gold certification of his first two solo projects, Momentum (2001) and Welcome to Diverse City (2004) at BMI in Nashville in mid-December. With a new project, Portable Sounds, coming out on February 20, 2007, and dcTalk’s Jesus Freak 10th Anniversary Special Edition just releasing on December 26, 2006, the timing couldn’t be better. TobyMac thanked the team around him including management, record company personnel, his band and his wife of 14 years, Amanda, saying, “all of this is impossible without you.” […read more]

They spit out rhymes like other rappers, but their words are deeper, more profound and definitely God-inspired. Gospel rap or holy hip-hop gets more popular every year.

Here are the Top 10 Gospel Rap Albums of all time! […read more]

Faith: A Hymn Collection originated from the members of Avalon’s longtime love of church worship standards. Greg and Janna Long as well as Jody McBrayer, grew up in the ministry, making this a project that was almost like coming home. If you’re thinking something along the lines of tired and over-done, think again! These are not your grandma’s hymns, dusted off but not quite ready for prime-time. 21st century musical components and the ever-present perfect harmony that Avalon is known for don’t just bring these standards back around … they give them new life that will stand toe-to-toe with any modern worship tune. […read more]

One of the questions that I’m asked most by readers, family and friends is, “Is ______ a Christian song/band/album?” Since Christian music has many different styles (rock, pop, country, rap, metal, inspirational, praise and worship, reggae, blues, celtic, etc.), it truly is the only genre’ of music out there that is defined by its lyrics; however there is more to it than just the lyrics. The band or artist that is making the music and that person’s beliefs have to come into play somewhere in the equation. Doesn’t it? […read more]

Every year new Christmas music starts trickling in in the fall. This year we’ve got new albums from Third Day, Muriel Anderson, Todd Agnew, Wayburn Dean, Mary Mary, Linda McKechnie and Juju Song, the Annie Moses Band and a compilation from INO Records to look forward to. […read more]

Circleslide’s frontman, Gabe Martinez, tells a funny story in his website blog about a chance encounter with Nicole Kidman and his star-struck reaction to her. We laughed about it in our recent conversation but it begs the question: who have you met in your musical journey that has impacted you in this way? And it’s almost like Gabe was waiting for me to ask. His enthusiasm levels are high as he shares, “The coolest moment for me in this band was the time we were playing a GMA event and when we went backstage to warm up, there was Phil Keaggy, just sitting there playing his guitar. We were all blown away, but he talked to us for the longest time. I got to ask him about Keith Green, guys like Larry Norman, and he was so kind, so generous with his time. It was the coolest thing for me because growing up I was a huge Phil Keaggy fan.” […read more]

Stellar Kart is not afraid to tackle the gritty realities of life in their music, be it depression, suicide, or any other challenge. “We like to deal with issues that either we ourselves faced at a younger age or are dealing with now in our own lives or the lives of friends. But we try to leave with as optimistic impression as possible and give people hope to help them on the other end of what they’re going through,” Adam reveals. “We’re in a position of responsibility, and we’ve been preparing for the last several years so that we can stand up to the tests and are ready to do the right thing. The whole reason we play our music is to do ministry, to hopefully work in as many kids’ lives as possible. And we’re all in agreement with that position, or we couldn’t work together or stay together.” […read more]

Nicholas Jonas still has an incredible voice that has plenty of room to grow, but in many areas of the album, it clashes with his brothers. When you add that to lyrics that are shallow and music that can’t decide if it wants to be bubblegum pop or pop/punk, you don’t get much that will appeal to anyone beyond the pre-tween crowd - no matter how “hot” the 6th graders think Nick is. I don’t know why the label decided to scrap Nick’s solo album in favor of this, but I think it was a bad move. […read more]