This week we’ve got a great free track coming to you from Jonny Diaz! His song “Cross The Line” is all about stepping out in faith. Whether you’re taking that first step of faith to follow Christ, or learning to walk it out each day.
See what Jonny had to say about the song in this behind the scenes video interview, and scroll down to get it for free!
This could be your moment
This could be your time
This could be the first day of the rest of your life
You know love wants to find you
So why do you want to hide?
A better life is waiting out there on the other side
So come on cross the line
Get ready for another great tune to add to your New Year’s workout playlist! Although the month of January is almost over, I know from personal experience that it’s good to be continually reminded of our goals and the prize that we’re striving for at the end of our race. I’m super excited about today’s free song because it is one of my personal favorites from The Afters. It’s called “Start Over,” and I hope that it will be a good reminder to you about how every day is a new opportunity to start fresh! We’ve also got a special behind the scenes interview with front-man, Josh Havens, about the band’s new single. So, scroll down to see what he had to say about “I Am Yours,” and get your free track!
The Afters’ Josh Havens Tells The Story Behind The New Single, “I Am Yours”
God is the only answer that you will ever find that is fulfilling, and that covers everything. No matter how much you look in life, no matter how confused we get, to know that we belong to the God who created everything is such a comforting thought. Because of that we can face anything. -Josh Havens, The Afters
We’ve got another great tune to add to your New Year’s workout playlist from Building 429. The song is called “Overcome,” and it has a great message for all of us about trusting God with each day that he gives us, no matter what comes our way.
I know you’re holding tomorrow, so I will trust you today
You may not keep us from sorrow, but I know that you will never ever change
You’ve overcome the world, and rescued my soul
I don’t have to worry, cause whatever comes you’re in control
Forever I will worship you, I’m amazed by the things you have done
I am overcome –Building 429, “Overcome”
Jason from Building 429 talks about the meaning behind the song
Skillet is helping us kick off the year strong with a great free download to add to our New Years’ workout playlist. For many of us, this season brings lots of new goals and dreams along with it, and there’s nothing like a good rock song to get you pumped up and moving closer towards those aspirations each day.
We’re going old school this week with a classic Skillet track called “Gasoline.” Get your download below, and check out more of their best songs from “The Early Years” on this special best of album below. Skillet has been making music since 1996, so there’s tons of great stuff from these guys!
Derek Webb’s new instrumental worship album, “Feedback,” is available everywhere this week, and he sat down to give us some insight about the first track. As you may have heard, the album is based around “The Lord’s Prayer” and features a track for each line. Scroll down to see what he had to say about line 1, “Our Father In Heaven,” and download the song for free. You can also go here to learn more about the concept behind the album, and how it came about.
The Lord’s Prayer is misunderstood. It’s mystical. But – it’s also foundational and informative. Ultimately – it’s our “feedback” to God. If you include “Amen”, there are nine lines of The Lord’s Prayer. The first line – “Our Father In Heaven” – starts the prayer out with a real bang. You imagine people in the first century hearing this instruction to approach God as “Father.” None of the prophets EVER had talked about addressing God as “Father.” Remember, this is the God who – if you gave the wrong offering or sacrifice – could strike you dead. To address God as “Father” was a revolution in and of itself.
OUR.
Every word in this first line of the prayer is important. First, we now see God as OUR Father. It’s not personal – meaning, it’s not just me in my closet by myself where it’s private and just a thing between God and me. It’s OUR Father – actually, it’s ALWAYS our Father – so, it’s something that we all do TOGETHER.
FATHER.
Again, for the first century Jews, to address God as “Father” – to address Him so personally – was a mind-blowing concept. The fact that He’s our Father implies an intimate relationship.
IN HEAVEN.
Yet, our Father is in Heaven – which is this other world that we don’t know much about – we don’t even know where this world is. So, this line is the imminent and transcendent. It’s corporate, personal, and it’s other worldly – ALL in this paradoxical opening line. This line serves to immediately orient us in terms of to whom we are Speaking – our Father.
Well, ladies and gentleman. I’m excited to announce that our countdown to some super-amazingly awesome new music is nearing an end. The Afters’ album “Light Up The Sky” is only 7 days away from being available to the world, BUT the band is giving us a special treat this week- a Free Track From The Record!! As I’ve mentioned before, I love this album and don’t want you to miss out, so go get your free song now
The song is called “Life Is Sweeter” and Josh told us a little bit about the meaning behind it below-
“Life is Sweeter” was the first song that Matt and I wrote with our new bandmates, Dan and Jordan. We lost some people really close to us last year. Our manager and friend David Lipscomb passed away after a 2 year battle with pancreatic cancer and our drummer Jordan’s lifelong best friend Ron McClelland passed away unexpectedly of unknown reasons. Losing the people that we love is one of the harder things in life. Writing this song and looking at the other side of life and death was a sort of closure for us. It’s comforting to know that death is not the end, but rather the beginning. -josh
Also, in case you missed it- here’s a little glimpse behind the scenes with The Afters
Next week we’ll be celebrating the release of “Light Up The Sky” with a full album stream, so be sure to check back on Tuesday to hear the rest of the record!
Laura
P.S. We sent out some copies of “Light Up The Sky” to our lucky “Win It Before You Can Buy It” contest winners last week, but we’re also drawing a couple more today so be sure to check your email to see if it’s you!
You may remember Heather Williams from some of our previous posts, but if not, now is the time to get to know her and her music. Today is an exciting one because Heather’s brand new 4 song EP is out on iTunes, Amazon, etc, and to celebrate we’re streaming clips of the songs for you to preview PLUS we’ve got a free download of her song off the Catalyst Music Project. Heather also has an amazingly powerful story about overcoming life trials of abuse, homelessness, poverty and more, and she shared just a glimpse of that with us in the video below so don’t leave without watching it!
Preview Heather’s brand new EP here, and let us know what you think!
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Heather talks about the process for writing her single “Hallelujah”
Hallelujah is a really special song to me. About a year after my son Caedmen died, I was sitting on the floor, and I had my husband’s guitar and I was just kind of strumming. He had shown me 3 or 4 chords, and I was just sitting there, and I was at such a place where I was so broken. I wasn’t mad a God and I wasn’t questioning God, but I had really just made a decision to keep an open dialogue with God; not just inside, but coming out of my mouth; because I’m not fooling him. And I think that’s like when you read about David in the bible where he’s really giving his heart to God through his mouth- I think God likes that, he likes that relationship. So I said ‘okay’ and started strumming from G to C and back and I just started asking Jesus to show up just right where I was. I think the cry of it, saying ‘Hallelujah’ and saying ‘even in this place on a floor with a guitar crying out in a blubbering mess I’m still going to say Halleluiah, and I’m still going to say that I love you, and I’m’ still going to want to glorify you in anything and everything.’ And me just being able to say ‘through all that I can stand because of God’ and maybe somebody can look at that and say ‘So can I!’ you know? Maybe they haven’t been through the loss of a child, but everybody has something. I’m convinced that every person on this planet has something that’s happened to them, or they’re going through now, or they’re going to go through that God needs to reach in, and they need to be able to say ‘God, I give it up to you.’ So, if I can be just a little bit of somebody having hope because they see that I went through it, and through a song like “Hallelujah.” -Heather
We’ve got a special treat for you this week in the ‘free downloads’ section from a legendary band that’s been making music for almost 3 decades! The critically-acclaimed group, The Choir, continues to garner praise and accolades – including a Grammy nod — long after most other bands have burned out or faded away. They recently put out their 12th studio album, “Midnight Sun” and have allowed us to give away the title track for free this week! (It was my favorite on the album so I specifically asked for it)
There’s also a really cool story behind the album cover that complements this beautiful new music. New Orleans-based visual artist, R.R. Lyon, is known for using salvaged or reclaimed pieces of his own art that he re-contextualizes to give new purpose, and he created a special work of art for the band. Literally- I got to see the original piece of work before it was scanned into a computer to use for the CD cover and it was huge and awesome. Apparently the artist received bits and pieces of music and lyrics from The Choir as they were working on their album, and used that to come up with the piece.
You can pick up a copy of their album today on iTunes HERE, and learn more about the band and their music at TheChoir.net
I saw this video from The Choir floating around on YouTube after the Nashville flood happened, and it’s definitely worth checking out. It’s set to their song “Mercy Will Prevail” and has some pretty compelling images. Check it out below, and enjoy your free song this week!
We’ve got a treat for you guys this week- Carlos Whittaker and our friends over at Integrity Music have given us a free track from his latest album “Ragamuffin Soul,” and they’ve got a discounted price on the album plus free shipping for a limited time. You may have seen Carlos leading worship for Andy Stanley’s Buckhead Church, leading worship at Catalyst, speaking at Saddleback Worship Conference or on your computer as one of the top Christian bloggers of our generation. His goal is to “ignite a movement of authenticity among all generations of Christians that morphs the face of the evangelical church into a place of being real with yourself, others and God.” Carlos’ blog, “Ragamuffin Soul,” has become a dynamic, worldwide conversation where thousands of people daily exchange thoughts, ideas, and insights, so go check that out. You can catch a bigger glimpse into Carlos’ ministry and music in this behind the scenes video.
However, my favorite video from Carlos is this one of him and his family singing in the car. It’s a MUST WATCH, but I’ll let you see it for yourself…
“So my 3 year old. He apparently loves the song ‘Single Ladies’ by Beyonce. Little did I know how much he loves that song. I was simply making a point that he, in fact, is not a single lady. I thought he would laugh and keep singing. Well he thought I was telling him to not sing the song.Man was I wrong.” – Carlos
We have some exciting new music for you this week from Addison Road’s upcoming release “Stories.” Their new album is only a couple weeks away, but they’ve decided to let you get a taste of it now by giving away a free track! The song is called “Change In The Making” and it’s an amazing song that speaks from the hopeful perspective of a life under construction, and how God can use a series of hard life events to make His children better.
This is redemption’s story, with every step that I’m taking Every day, You’re chipping away what I don’t need This is me under construction; This is my pride being broken Every day, I’m closer to who I’m meant to be; I’m a change in the making
The members of Addison Road have been on a roller coaster ride of changes over the last year for sure. You can check out the video below to see what all they have been up to, and hear some more music from the new album, but Jenny summed it up well here: “We’ve had to grow up. Life happened. But I don’t want to level off and end up in a life of complacency. I want God to be doing new things and healing old wounds and making me into this beautiful work of art.”
Now is your chance to ask Addison Road any question in the world, and win a copy of their new album before it hits stores!
Addison Road will be making an appearance on our blog in a few weeks just to answer your questions, so we want to hear from you! Leave a comment on this post with yours, and we’ll randomly pick 5 for the band to answer, PLUS we’ll send the winners a special pre-release of the album before anyone else gets it!
