Part 1 of a series in which Mat Kearney talks about the making of his new album City of Black & White.
Behind the Scenes with Mat Kearney Part 1
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Michael Tait to join Newsboys!
After 22 years and more than 2000 shows, newsboys frontman Peter Furler will no longer front the band in concert. Michael Tait will be touring with the band as lead singer with Peter making special appearances throughout the year.
Peter will continue with the band and his trademark songwriting and production will remain as he focuses his professional career toward future newsboys recordings.
Michael has been on the road with the band over the past weeks working alongside Peter in what has been a positive and enjoyable experience for both parties. It has been a graceful process that both Peter and Michael have worked through as they prepare to make the change in the coming weeks.
Peter states “newsboys to me has always been a mission, and I entrust Mike, Jeff, Jody and Duncan to continue all that is in store for us as a band. I’m looking forward to focusing on the band’s studio career and spending time in my own bed after many years in a tour bus and hundreds of thousands of miles on the road.”
Wes Campbell, newsboys manager explains, “While the decision to replace Peter on the road was a painstaking one, when the idea of dc Talk vocalist Michael Tait was presented it was a no-brainer to all of us. No one can replace Peter, but we know Michael will bring a new attitude, energy and vocal style that will thrill our audience. To be able to continue a world class show and still have Peter behind the scenes guiding the career and making of newsboys music is a huge opportunity for all of us. It’s amazing that after many years of touring with dc Talk in the 1990s that in 2009 our paths would cross once again. It’s an exciting time for all of us.”
“For years, dc Talk and newsboys have been family and thus shared the same loyal and adoring fans, says Michel Tait. “When I received the initial call from newsboys to consider joining the band as lead singer, I was speechless! I immediately sought wise counsel and flooded the heavens with endless prayers for insight and vision, and I soon received a clear and definite peace. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to perform my first show as newsboys’ frontman to an audience of 12,000 people. I was completely wrapped in love and support by newsboys’ fans, who are clearly the best fans on the planet. Now I know this is exactly where I belong in this new and wonderful moment in my life’s history. This is a definite highlight of my career and for my 20+ years of walking with Jesus, and I am humbled, proud and privileged to call myself a newsboy.”
In the coming days Peter will be releasing a personal statement on the band’s website in more detail.
The band has recently finished recording its new studio album, In The Hands Of God, which features Peter as lead vocalist on the entire album. Street date for this record is May 5th.
With five gold albums, sales exceeding six million units, more than 20 No.1 radio hits, and a mantle of Dove Awards as well as Grammy nominations, newsboys has achieved phenomenal success in its two decades together. Known for its amazing live performances and groundbreaking tours, the band continues to sellout festivals and concerts worldwide, satisfying diehard fans and winning new ones in the process.
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Grits new album Reiterate coming July 29
Hip-hop emcees GRITS will release their eighth full-length album, Reiterate, July 29th, a debut of sorts on their own newly launched Revolution Art label. Major distribution to retail for this album and the ensuing label releases will go through the Provident–Integrity Distribution arm, a division of Sony-BMG.
In support of their Reiterate release GRITS will go out on the road for the 30 Day Tour, which will take them nationwide mid-July through mid-August. They also will be hitting the summer festival circuit including Agape Fest, Ichthus Festival, Crossover Festival, Rock The Desert, Spirit West Coast, and the NewSong Festival. Plans for the Art Attack tour are also underway for September where GRITS will be joined by other Revolution Art music acts.
Toby “TobyMac” McKeehan, one of their biggest champions says, “GRITS has changed the face of positive and spiritual hip-hop. They are relevant and have a knack for discovering talent that stretches our industry to places I love seeing it go.”
5-time Dove Award winners and 2-time GRAMMY nominated act GRITS has cracked MTV2’s Top 10 Most Requested and Top 5 Handpicked and received favorable media coverage in the pages of XXL, Spin, Vibe, Billboard, The Source, URB and other major publications and media. Over the course of their ten-year plus career, GRITS has sold over 500,000 albums and shared the stage with the likes of OutKast, Jay-Z, Ice Cube, Skillet, A Tribe Called Quest, and Monica.
The GRITS song “Ooh Ahh” remains a hot commodity as a digital single and has sold over 160,000 downloads to date. The song, from their 2006 release simply titled 7, was also used on the big screen in both “The Fast And The Furious: Toyko Drift,” and “Big Momma’s House 2” featuring comedian actor Martin Lawrence. Rappers Coffee and Bonafide have seen their music grace the movies before with the single “Here We Go” featured in “Something’s Gotta Give” starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, as well as music used in independent films including “Devious Beings”, “Lockdown”, and “Road Dogz”. GRITS’ songs have also been used extensively on television including shows like “MTV CRIBS”, “The Real World”, “Pimp My Ride”, “Tough Enough”, and “Boston Public”.
Revolution Art has a solid roster already in place including Stefan Moss a.k.a The SYNTYST (Scientist), and 18-year old powerhouse JADE.
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Rdio is Opening Social Music Service to Public
The major variation between Rdio and most modern subscription services, such as Napster, Rhapsody and Zune Pass, is Rdio’s use of subscribers’ online social networks to recommend songs.
Where other services uses algorithms that base recommendations on the music a person listens to, Rdio base its suggestions on music a subscriber’s friends like. The service does this by giving users the option to follow up the musical tastes of friends and people on Facebook and Twitter in order to discern new songs.
Rdio also offers mobile subscribers offline access to their music collection by downloading songs to their devices’ hard drives. While the option is not yet regular in the industry, others, such as MOG and Europe’s Spotify, offer similar services.
Industry observers look forward to Apple to eventually launch a music subscription service based on its achievement of LaLa last December. However, the company has yet to announce its plans.
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Compassionart songwriters record in Nashville
Compassionart songwriters, Paul Baloche, Steven Curtis Chapman, Andy Park, Martin Smith and Michael W. Smith continued to record songs last week that were written during a retreat in January. Meeting at Pentavarit Studio in Nashville, the studio hummed with activity as the songwriters were joined by guest vocalists tobyMac and Leeland Mooring (of the band Leeland), each putting down their signature vocals on tracks that were started at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London. Friends like Charlie Peacock and Eddie DeGarmo dropped by to spend time with the songwriters, as well as listen to the progression of the Compassionart songs. Guiding the tracks at the production helm for this recording session was Matt Bronleewe (Natalie Imbruglia, “Evan Almighty” [Soundtrack], dc Talk, “Heroes” star Hayden Panettiere) and Paul Moak (Mat Kearney, Shane & Shane, Derek Webb), and engineering was Andy Hunt (Jars of Clay, Good Charlotte, Buddy Guy).
Nashville’s top daily paper, The Tennessean, broke the news Wednesday about the recording session and a meeting that Compassionart founder and Delirious? frontman Martin Smith was to have with record labels about jointly releasing the upcoming Compassionart album. Martin was quoted as saying, “This is a challenge for the industry, as I am talking to the labels now about how to put this album out together.” Following the meeting that included EMI CMG President and CEO Bill Hearn, Provident Music Group President and CEO Terry Hemmings and Integrity Media Chief Marketing Officer Daniel McGuffey, Martin was encouraged, saying, “There was a real spirit of wanting to work together.” The resulting Compassionart studio album is being planned for a late fall release.
Compassionart, a charity based in Littlehampton, England and dedicated to seeing works of art generate income for the poorest of the poor, hosted a songwriter’s retreat in Scotland, UK. Working together toward a common goal involving no personal gain, the songwriters set out to write 10-12 songs and, by the end of the retreat, had completed 22 new songs. In addition to those recording this week, Compassionart songwriters include Stu Garrard (Delirious?), Israel Houghton, Tim Hughes, Graham Kendrick, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, and Darlene Zschech. Together the songwriters account for at least 42 million albums sold, 82 No. 1 songs, 10 GRAMMY Awards, 110 Dove Awards, two Stellar Awards, two American Music Awards, and 98 current CCLI Top 500 songs sung by millions in churches around the world.
The first Compassionart song that will be released is “So Great,” recorded by Michael W. Smith, Christy Nockels and Israel Houghton and to be featured on the WOW Hits 1 release in April.
In addition to the songwriters, the publishers, managers, copyright institutes and agents involved have all waived their rights and are donating their efforts on this project to Compassionart. The songs are to be given through Compassionart to the world not just to sing, but also to raise money for the relief of suffering around the planet. One half of the monies received over the songs’ lifetimes will go to the songwriters’ charity of choice, and the other 50% will go to a charitable project agreed upon by all the songwriters involved.
For more information on Compassionart, go to http://compassionart.co.uk/.
PHOTO CAPTION: Compassionart founder/Delirious? frontman Martin Smith greets tobyMac at Pentavarit Studio in Nashville.
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