Tomlin's one of those guys whose music you know, but whose name you might not. He's part of the magic behind the Passion Worship Band and the live Passion tours that steered contemporary worship music in a whole new regenerated direction. As a worship leader, he's penned standards like "We Fall Down," "Forever" and "The Wonderful Cross." His music is incisive and influential, comparable to Charlie Hall, Chris Tomlin, Bebo Norman, or Matt Redman. As he branches out further into solo territory, he unleashes glowing new embers of rock, leaning more toward the David Crowder end of the original Passion sound with each new release.
- abartlett
Like the chicken and the egg, it's hard to say exactly which came first: alternative bands recording standard Sunday morning praise and worship songs, or praise and worship bands picking up the alternative sound and injecting new life into the church music scene. Either way, Passion Worship Band have done both, inadvertently becoming one of a small but vastly influential group of forefathers in the modern worship movement -- so much so that for a while it was called "The Passion Movement," inspired by their Passion album series. Suddenly, worshipers were crying "turn it up"; the acoustic guitar made friends with driving, wired guitar riffs; drum sets on church platforms grew Plexiglas soundboards; and church worship leaders became the new hot charting artists and Dove nominees (like Matt Redman, Mark Schultz and the epic Darlene Zschech). The David Crowder Band, Chris Tomlin and Charlie Hall were partners in the movement and on its tour, which drew hundreds of thousands of college-age people looking to marry their love of the music and their love of the Lord. And a musical era was born.
- abartlett
Originally known as the News, Newsboys started out in 1987 as "danceable" Christian band from Mooloolaba, Australia. For a handful of Christian rockers from a place that's hard to pronounce without smiling, they seemed unlikely candidates to become some of the most influential performers, producers and ministries ever to hit Nashville's contemporary Christian music scene. During the nearly 20 years that followed, Newsboys' releases defined the direction of Christian contemporary music as the new millennium approached, beginning with 1994's Going Public, which exploded with the hit "Shine," and continuing on with 1998's Step! Up to the Microphone, which marked their first release for Virgin Records. Despite having just placed six No. 1 singles on the charts, the band went through a stylistic makeover which found them embracing the secular alternative music scene. More recently, they added their hefty alt rock influence to the modern praise and worship movement, contributing some of Christian radio's most recognizable anthems such as "He Reigns" and "You Are My King." With no signs of slowing down, having released a "best of" in late 2005, it's to be expected that they will remain a musical and spiritual influence in the coming years.
- Amy Bartlett
From the very start of his career, songwriting awards, industry accolades and chart success have been regularly heaped on Steven Curtis Chapman. His sanctified mixture of country roots, Lite Rock fluency and contemporary pop wisdom has been a winning combination since his 1987 No. 2 hit "Weak Days." The Christian music community has witnessed Chapman's growth since then, from a precocious young talent to a Springsteen-esque figure on the scene. In a league with big names Sandi Patty and Michael W. Smith, Chapman stands as the true artist among them, writing much of his own material and branching off into unforeseen directions with each release. Investing his everyman tales and prayerful odes with a fireside warmth and a deep-soul commitment to the Lord, Chapman provides a musical form of support to countless believers across the nation.
- Mike McGuirk
RED are one of those all-too-rare bands for whom success came fast and hard. Founded in 2004 by ace guitarist/composer Jasen Rauch and drummer Andrew Hendrix (who would eventually leave the group), the Nashville-based quartet was quickly signed to Essential Records, Sony BMG's hugely successful Christian music imprint. RED's debut, End of Silence, produced by the in-demand Rob Graves, made the group an instant force not only in the world of Christian metal but in all of modern rock as well. With its crunchy yet melodic mix of post-grunge angst and snarling metalcore, the group's first single, "Breathe Into Me," cracked the Top 20 on Billboard's U.S. Mainstream Rock chart. RED's second full-length, the even heavier Innocence & Instinct, generated more crossover appeal, debuting on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart at a whopping No. 15. In November 2007, the group's tour van was in a serious highway accident near Nashville. But despite injuries to drummer Hayden Lamb, who sat out the rest of the tour and subsequently left the band, RED soldiered on, tirelessly delivering its brand of brooding Christian hard rock to an insatiable and ever-growing fan base.
- JFARRAR
Apropos to their name, husband and wife hard rockers John and Korey Cooper, joined by Ben Kasica on guitar and Lori Peters on drums, have spent their first five albums throwing all things rock into a pan and seeing what cooks up the best. Techno, thrash metal, grunge, even an excursion into acoustic alternative went into the mix, but the constants have been their strong spiritual lyrics, challenging themes, musical boldness and their worshipful willingness to experiment. It's been that sense of fearless unpredictability that keeps the charts and the "Panheads" -- as their fans dub themselves -- satisfied.
- Amy Bartlett
Redman benefited from the wave of church worship leaders being hurled onto the top of the CCM charts. But his success is not just a matter of good timing. He earned his status by writing what became the number one worship songs. A prime example is "The Heart of Worship" whose lyrics capture the conundrum of the platinum-worshiper phenomenon, not losing sight, under the bright lights of fame, of what worship is: "I bring you more than a song, 'cause a song in itself is not what you have required I'm coming back to the heart of worship." Other runaway Redman praise songs include "Better Is One Day," "Let Everything that Has Breath," "I Am Yours," "Let My Words Be Few" and "Once Again."
- Amy Bartlett
Phillips, Craig & Dean are a sentimental favorite and a staple of contemporary Christian music. From the beginning, they've had the formula down: a soft, welcoming sound, harmonies as lush as the Imperials, and the compositional know-how to create immediate classics such as "Mercy Came Running" and "Favorite Song of All." And yet, Phillips, Craig & Dean continue to impress by improving on a good thing, their emergent sound matching step with the industry maturing around them and keeping them atop the Christian charts.
- Amy Bartlett
Selah debuted in 1999 with the hymns project Be Still My Soul, which earned them multiple Dove Awards, including Inspirational Album of the Year. Originally comprised of brother and sister Todd Smith and Nicol Sponberg along with Alan Hall, the trio is known for its powerful vocals and straightforward Christian message. Sponberg departed in 2005 and was replaced by soprano Amy Perry, who debuted on the 2006 album Bless the Broken Road: The Duets Album. The tragic loss of Smith's fourth daughter just hours after her birth inspired the song "I Will Carry You," featured on You Deliver Me.
- WNENTWIG
Sanctus Real has the Midas touch in music and in marketing. Starting out as a couple of tenth graders at Toledo Christian School playing worship for youth groups, they added a bassist and a drummer and took off for Gospel Music Week in Nashville with a backpack full of CDs. The labels started banging down the door and reaped the benefitsÂSanctus Real's 2002 debut Say It Loud broke records with the highest first-week sales of any debut rock album in Sparrow Record's history. It shouldn't have been a surprise considering how they first grabbed the public's attention: they beat out 74 other mainstream bands to win a commercial radio station's best band contest as four Christian rockers from the Midwest.
- Amy Bartlett
