Some artists enter the studio determined to make a radical departure from who and what they are, or indulge some musical flavor of the month in a bid to expand the fan base. In either event, those strategies often backfire — though in staying true to his calling, GRAMMY® winner Chris Tomlin thinks not of popularity, but rather the populace his music can touch and encourage.

“I’m not trying to make a different kind of record,” says Tomlin of his latest effort, Love Ran Red “It’s still the same path I started down: writing songs for the church, songs people can sing, songs that connect with people in their heart and move them in a way only songs can. That’s not changed — and yet this collection I feel is the strongest I’ve ever done.”

That’s setting the bar quite high for his tenth studio recording, given that his last effort “Burning Lights” kicked off 2013 as a No. 1 album. It also led to sold-out tour dates, Billboard Music Awards, being named a BMI Songwriter of the Year and receiving the K-LOVE Fan Award for Male Vocalist of the Year and Dove Award for Songwriter of the Year.

Yet Love Ran Red picks up where its predecessor left off. True to its title, it expresses beating-heart faith and channels love’s ceaseless flow into a dozen songs to get the blood pumping and spirits soaring.

To that end, Love Ran Red shows Tomlin reaching and stretching forward, even as he leans back on what’s always worked best. Produced by longtime friend and collaborator Ed Cash (Kari Jobe, Vince Gill, David Crowder* Band, Dave Barnes, Steven Curtis Chapman), the album strikes stirring tones of hope, praise and the peace found only in God’s presence. 

Led by a stirring in the heart of Atlanta-based pastor, Louie Giglio, Passion was birthed in 1997 to see the 20+ million college students across the globe awaken to the reality of an omnipotent and glorious Creator. Since then, millions of students from across the globe have joined the Passion movement, united across ministry and denominational lines, to seek the face of God in worship and prayer at ten conferences, four world tours and multiple one-day and regional events. Passion’s core scripture, Isaiah 26:8 states: “Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.” The small Passion Team is led by Louie Giglio and operates under the direction of a Board that is committed to spreading the fame of Jesus Christ to college students around the globe.

Great songwriters spend their lives baring their souls onto the page, hoping some sliver of truth reaches and resonates with the masses.

But for Matthew West, multiple ASCAP Christian Music Songwriter/Artist of the Year winner, American Music Award and Billboard Music Award winner and four-time GRAMMY® nominee, the masses have come to him, baring their souls and sharing their stories.

And forever changing the way he approaches the music he makes.

Produced by Pete Kipley (MercyMe, Crowder, Phil Wickam, Robert Randolph) Live Forever finds Matthew West digging deeper into the well of stories —over 40,000 true stories shared with him by people

all over the world—stories that six years and three albums later have had a profound ripple effect.

“If I’ve learned one thing, it’s that storytelling is contagious,” West says. “So many people have been made to feel that their story is insignificant, that they don’t matter, or that their story is somehow disqualified because they’ve got too many messed up parts to it, and ‘Why would it matter?’”

But West has answered that question before in Story of Your Life (2010), Into the Light (2012) and now in Live Forever. “Each story told, awakens something in people who have yet to find the courage to tell their own,” he shares. “They begin thinking, ‘If God can use that person’s story, maybe He could use mine,’ and a chain reaction begins. One story goes out and more stories come back. One by one, these songs encourage people to be the storytellers in their own lives, wherever they are, because your story can help someone else and their story can help someone else. Telling our stories reminds us that we are not alone.”

He continues, “With my last two records, I was inspired by chapters in our stories that have already been written: life in a broken home, the loss of a loved one, forgiving someone who has hurt you, the guilt of past mistakes. Many people share with me the chapters that are behind them, the ones that still haunt them, ones that haven’t found redemption yet. With Live Forever, I felt it was time to acknowledge that none of us have a perfect story. Every story has its share of broken chapters. But then ask the questions, ‘Is this it? Are we just supposed to walk wounded through the rest of our stories?’ We could spend the rest of our lives focusing on the past, or we could dare to look ahead, and choose to believe that with God we’ve been given a chance to start new, and the best of our stories have yet to be written.”

This is the direction West had in mind as he returned to that cabin in the woods of Tennessee, a songwriter’s retreat where his previous two albums were envisioned. To make a record bursting with color and life – not just the life we have here, but the life that is to come. “With so much defeat all around us, people need to know there is victory. Maybe my job in reading a lot of these desperate stories is to extract the hope. I wanted to write songs that encourage people to remember that this life is not the destination. It’s a journey to the place of our ultimate hope, Heaven. This was a very decisive record in that way.”

My new single 'Made To Fly' is out now! https://ColtonDixon.lnk.to/MadeToFlySO

Since winning over millions of hearts on season 8 of American Idol in 2009, Grammy nominated Christian singer singer/songwriter Danny Gokey has been soaking up the essence of the human condition and pouring it into various musical expressions across five studio albums, starting with his 2010 debut album, My Best Days. 

Known for the “grit” in his expressive vocals that fuse “soulful, hopeful, pop,” the one-time truck driver from Milwaukee has amassed Billboard chart success, toured the country with big band acts like Sugarland, and earned numerous awards and accolades that confirm his mainstream appeal.

For the follow-up to his 2017 acclaimed album Rise, the Capitol recording artist released Haven’t Seen It Yet, on April 12th, 2019. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Christian & Gospel Chart.

Inspired by his father’s collection of Motown records at a young age, Gokey found his voice “when I was making my ‘Hope in Front of Me’ record in 2014.” Today, the accomplished musician stands stronger and wiser than he was when he recorded his debut album, and the heartbreak and rejection that tend to colorize the life of an artist also helps shape the experiences that “play into knowing what people like and what they don’t like” and how to translate that into songs and storytelling. 

“When you have a lot more experience, you have the ability to talk about more things from an experiential place. I think that’s what makes songs good, experience and telling stories, and I applied that to this record. Music that makes the most impact is when you are thinking about the listener, and you are thinking about how can they relate to the subject I am talking about; and all that growth has gone to the album.”

The married father of three with another baby due in August 2019 bounced back from tragedy in 2008 when his first wife died four weeks after his American Idol audition, and life after the music competition series proved quite challenging. Gokey achieved yet another milestone with his first number one single for the resonating song “Hope in Front of Me” - and it came 5 1/2 years after hitting the American Idol stage. 

“I can only credit God for making me get this far today.”

Gokey used his unwavering devotion to Christ to explore a different direction for his latest effort, which arrives in April; choosing to convey a wider array of emotions to “keep people motivated who feel like they are in a situation that’s tough.”

“Haven’t Seen It Yet is saying, hey, you are closer to the change than you think you are, so don’t give up yet. Don’t go bitter. Don’t get discouraged. There’s things happening that you can’t even see, and you are going to come out on top.”

“Fighter” is another track on the album which encourages those “going through a tough time” to keep the faith and never give up. 

This new project also explores for the first time “my love for my children, my family and my wife” which Gokey had not done on a previous album. 

“The sentiment of the record was to entertain and to bring hope.”

Gokey lends his free time to bringing “hope” to homeless families through his Better Than I Found It foundation. The organization is a “massive part of my career,” as is his eyewear line, Danny Gokey Eyewear. 

“My biggest inspiration has been life itself. Walking through circumstances and being around people who have just kept positive attitude to evolve through tough times.”

Gokey is currently on tour previewing his new material for fans while “starting to look at life from a different place because I want my children to have a good life. I want to be a good voice for people to follow when it seems pretty dark.”

Sidewalk Prophet's new album 'Something Different' out now! Get it here: smarturl.it/swpsd

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