God Always Has His Day
Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio at BMI's Songwriter's Showcase, photo by Andy Argyrakis
by Melissa Riddle, with reporting by Jenny Bennett
Gospel Music Week officially kicked off on Saturday, with all manner of seminars for radio, retail and music marketing professionals. And there were a few concerts about town: Casting Crowns at the Sommet Center, Mark Lowry at The Grand Ole Opry House, and indie artists at Global Café. But the week really kicks into high gear on Sunday. Morning Chapel speaker Beth Moore and worship leader Travis Cottrell started the Lord’s day with worship and the Word, and the afternoon found five-time GRAMMY winner Steven Curtis Chapman taking his place on the Music City Walk of Fame, alongside gospel/jazz saxophonist Kirk Whalum, Hank Williams Sr., and others. Here’s a GospelMusicChannel.com recap of the rest of the evening.
Sunday Night Worship at The Ryman
Always a highlight of GMA Week, the Sunday night worship event at the Ryman Auditorium attempts to set a reverent tone for the entire conference. Once again this year, Michael W. Smith, along with special guests Israel & New Breed and Mandisa (American Idol), led the pew-packed crowd in familiar worship songs including Shout to the Lord and Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone). An enthusiastic choir made up of local Nashville area choirs provided an incredible wall of sound and let the worshippers know it was okay to lift hands and voices in praise, or be content to simply stand and take it all in. And in a venue like the Ryman, with some of the best acoustics anywhere, they certainly filled the house with praise. But it was a stirring medley of Smith’s Healing Rain simultaneously echoed by the worship anthem Let It Rain that served as the memorable moment of the two-hour plus event. MWS ended with his well-known anthem, Stand, and encouraged all who participate in GMA Week to “lay all ego down.”
Farris Holds Revival
While most of the GMA Week audience gathered for worship in the Mother Church of the Ryman Auditorium, a standing room only crowd packed in at a little hole in the wall known as The Station Inn to participate in Sunday Night Shout, a non-GMA sanctioned concert series featuring Mike Farris (INO Records). Tonight, in his third consecutive show, Farris held his own gospel revival, cranking out several cuts from his critically acclaimed Salvation In Lights, backed by the incomparable McCrary Sisters and the Roseland Rhythm Review (and a house full of shaker-egg percussionists/enthusiastic crowd members). All-star guest Ricky McKinnie of Blind Boys of Alabama laid down his own brand of history with God’s Gonna Make A Way, followed by Amazing Grace set to the bluesy strains of The Animals' House of the Rising Sun. Soul diva Ashley Cleveland and her fret man Kenny Greenberg cranked the heat up with Queen of Soul, a track headed for her next release, which she described as “a little bit about Aretha, a little bit about women and their place in the world, and a little about Jesus”, as well as Blind Willie Johnson’s Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning. Between Farris, McKinnie Cleveland and the McCrary Sisters – add it all up, and you’ve got six of the best soul voices you’ll ever hear on a postage-stamp of a stage. This Little Light of Mine never sounded bigger or truer.
All The Songs, All The Time
One of the most anticipated showcases of the entire week is the Sunday night Songwriter’s Showcase, this year presented by BMI. Hosting the late-night event, supergroup front-men Bart Millard (MercyMe) and Mark Hall (Casting Crowns) started the ball off right, joking that they were “pound for pound the biggest host duo ever” and taking credit for writing each other’s popular songs. The event, which featured 15 performances by artists (often accompanied by the songwriter or co-writer) including eight of the ‘song of the year’ Dove Award nominees: Bring on the Rain by MercyMe, How You Live (Turn Up the Music) by Cindy Morgan, Undo by Rush of Fools’ Kevin Huguley, Wes Willis and Scott Davis, Brandon Heath’s I’m Not Who I Was, Made To Love by Toby McKeehan, Cary Barlowe, Jamie Moore and Aaron Rice, along with Leeland Mooring and Jack Mooring’s Tears of the Saints, By His Wounds, written by Mac Powell and David Nassar, In Better Hands by Cat Gravitt, Jim Daddario and Thom Hardwell and East To West by Bernie Herms and Mark Hall. While the showcase gained momentum as it progress through each of three sets, standouts included:
Cindy Morgan’s interpretation of her own song How You Live (Turn Up The Music), recorded by Point of Grace once again proved in one three-minute song why she’s long been one of Christian music’s premier lyricists.
Listening to Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio explain their trepidation at even attempting a new interpretation of John Newton’s Amazing Grace for the motion picture, was a treat. When first approached, Giglio said, “I wouldn’t touch that with a 10-foot pole," and said he "didn't want to be the punk that messes with Amazing Grace. We'd better pass on that.” When they found out Newton's original version had already been "messed with" (an extra verse had already been added 100 years ago), they decided to go for it. Good thing they did. A truly powerful revisionist take on Newton’s classic and deserving of recognition.
And special kudos to Steven and Amanda Potaczek, the GMA Academy ‘Song of 2007’ Grand Prize winners for their song How Big Can Small Be, a beautifully arranged piece performed by Steven on vocals and piano.
Producer-in-demand Bernie Herms (Mr. Natalie Grant) and Crowns’ Mark Hall closed out the evening with East to West recorded for The Altar and The Door.
