XianReviews update 4-24-2009

Tenth Avenue North, made up of members Mike Donehey (lead vocalist/acoustic guitar), Jason Jamison (drummer), Jeff Owen (electric guitar/background vocals) and Scott Sanders (bass guitar), became the best selling new Christian artist of 2008, recently crossing the 100,000 sales mark, with its May 20, 2008 Reunion Records debut, Over and Underneath.

In addition, the band is the only new artist to have claimed No. 1 radio singles on multiple charts with, “Love is Here” and “By Your Side” both topping charts in 2008. The band kicked off 2009 with another No. 1 as “By Your Side” claimed the top spot on the R&R CHR chart (1/29/09). This marked the band’s third No. 1 and made them the only new artist in the last year to have a multi-format No. 1.


The Christian music industry crowned a new Male Vocalist of the Year last night at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, naming singer-songwriter and radio hitmaker Brandon Heath its honored recipient. Heath’s GRAMMY-nominated hit single “Give Me Your Eyes,” off his sophomore album What If We, was also named Song of the Year, for which Heath received a Dove trophy for co-writing the No. 1 song with Jason Ingram. The live broadcast of the 40th Annual GMA Dove Awards show aired nationwide on the Gospel Music Channel.

XianReviews update 4-16-2009

Owyoung and Maybury, both formerly of Something Like Silas, started Future of Forestry in 2005 with Floeter and Kim. Since then, the band has been a constant on the West Coast scene, securing fans from their hometown to Seattle and everywhere in between as they recorded and prepared for the release of their debut LP.

Paul Ramey has not only been leading worship for more than thirteen years, but due to a snowboarding accident as a teenager that left his back broken, Paul has spent those years leading worship through constant pain. This first hand knowledge of God’s goodness in the midst of pain has fueled Paul’s passion to compel the church to worship Jesus with a healthy view of suffering.

XianReviews update 4-15-2009

In the two years since Salvation In Lights, Farris' live performances across the country, including Bonnaroo, SXSW, Austin City Limits Festival, and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, have left music novices, fans and seasoned artists with the same awe-struck response. His live shows, in no small part, led to this music veteran taking home the Americana Music Award in 2008 "New/Emerging Artist of the Year." Peter Frampton, Buddy Miller, Patty Griffin, Ricky Skaggs, Bruce Hornsby, Jackson Browne, Marty Stuart and many other artists have taken note of Farris' incomparable vocal performance.



They also serve who only stand and wait. That old saying may sound like an oxymoron, but for artist John Waller it is the simple, Gospel truth - a truth he has been walking out in his own life. "Who among us hasn't become discouraged when you believe you have a promise from God and it doesn't seem to be coming to fruition," John ponders. "We are an action-oriented people and our tendency is to try to help God out by doing something ...anything. Abraham tried to run ahead of God and the result was Ishmael. That didn't work out too well."

XianReviews update 4-14-2009

Sarah Reeves has been called all these things, and with good reason – the 19 year-old Alabama native is a complex composite of each of these traits and so much more. She is fashionable, she's commonplace, she's demure, she's shy, she's outspoken, she's sensitive, she's bubbly, she's pensive, she's completely engaging – and that's before her first cup of coffee.



From the opening salvo of Stellar Kart’s third album Expect the Impossible, it’s evident that the Dove Award-winning band is revolutionizing its sound with this adventurous, spirited, and totally unexpected pop ‘n’ roll project.

I really can not believe I have not already posted Stellar Kart...They are great!