Stephen McWhirter shares his cover of “Old Rugged Cross.”
I have always loved the hymn, Old Rugged Cross. I grew up hearing this song but It didn’t really mean anything to me then. Today, I understand and have this great awe and gratefulness for what Jesus has done for me on the cross. He died to take my place and pay for all my sins. So now when I sing this old hymn it means everything to me. –McWhirter
Grace Graber is leaning into the triumph of her testimony on “Grace of God,” the latest single from her upcoming album Breakthrough.
The song was birthed through a writing session at Apple Music. Grace was writing with Joseph O’Brien, and their session happened to fall on her birthday.
“I didn’t think I’d live to see 28,” Grace recalls telling her cowriter. “If I had gone through with my plan of taking my own life as a teenager, I would not have seen my life today. By the grace of God, I’m still alive. And when I think of grace of God, I think of favor and goodness and it not needing to make sense.”
That feeling of a supernaturally nonsensical life has pursued Grace Graber through recent years. She won a national songwriting competition that led her to Nashville. She won the We Love Award for Next Big Thing.
She’s had an independent music career blow up, including collaborating with original Hawk Nelson singer Jason Dunn, whose songs originally helped save her life. She’s impacted fans through her candid Conversations EP and a series of singles that fearlessly navigate the intersection of faith and mental health. And all of that almost didn’t happen.
“The beauty of the grace of God is that God saw me in my pain and said, ‘I am going to make better things happen.’ And I think about how much I sin, how much I worry, how much I fall short. Sometimes, I don’t really deserve to be able to speak into other people’s lives. And it’s not me who gets to decide that or qualify myself. This is the grace of God: it’s because of God that I’m even able to do this,” Grace confesses freely.
“Grace of God” deepens the thematic course that Grace Graber’s past songs have charted, standing as proof that if God could do this in her life, He can do it for her listeners too. Grace offers the song to anyone feeling stuck in a struggle that they see no way out from. She wants them to know that grace means there is more than this moment of pain, and redemption has nothing to do with deserving.
“I have to fight for the girl who is feeling like the world is better off if she’s not in it,” Grace says earnestly. “I have to fight for her. I’m really not doing this for anyone in the industry. I’m doing this for that girl.”
Grace Graber Leans Into Her Testimony With “Grace Of God”
The emotional swell of the lyrics is backed by tender instrumentation and carried by Grace’s soaring voice, offering a gentler side of her punk rock sound. Joseph O’Brien also produced the piece after writing was completed.
“Grace comes in with a very clear idea of what she wants to communicate. A lot of times, having a clear song direction makes it really easy if you’re producing or if you’re a co-writer,” O’Brien shares. “The song is just a beacon of hope, showing what the work of God can do in your life. It leaves you different, it leaves you changed. Once you experience the grace of God, it is a reason to keep pushing forward and to keep living with purpose and identity.”
That has certainly proved true for Grace, who has been changed by grace and now seeks to be a channel of that same grace for others.
“I feel like this is my life anthem,” the singer reflects. “By the grace of God, I get to do all of this. And so I really am excited to point people to Jesus in this moment. I hope people feel like it’s an anthem for themselves as well.”
The award-winning band The Afters releases “What God Is Gonna Do.”
We wrote this song for our kids, and it’s for any of you who have kids, grandkids, kids you mentor or believe in, or have ever been a kid! We hope you love it! -The Afters
Renowned worship leader Kim Walker-Smith releases “Trample.” Not having released a new project in several years, she is thrilled to share this song along with announcing an upcoming album, Under The Big Sky, which is set to debut this summer.
RIAA Certified Gold-selling Centricity Music band Unspoken releases its first radio single of 2024, “What He Says About You,” which will be featured on the group’s fourth, full-length studio album set to release later this year.
Written by Unspoken’s Chad Mattson and Jon Lowry along with Ethan Hulse, Tyrus Morgan, Tedd T, Tony Wood and Chris Stevens, “What He Says About You” was produced by Stevens (TobyMac, Carrie Underwood) along with Thomas Toner (Jelly Roll, Upchurch).
“There are one million voices vying for our attention. Social media, news, culture, peers, not to mention the voices in our heads. It’s a struggle to hear the truth among the lies. We wrote this song with our daughters in mind, wanting to remind them that there’s only one voice that really matters: the Voice of Jesus,” says Mattson referencing John 10:27-28.
“I don’t know what voices you’re hearing today, but the word of God always brings us back to reality in truth. You are loved, chosen and treasured. That is the truth. Don’t give power to lies you may tell yourself or that are spoken over you, because truly, the only thing that matters is what He says about you.”
“The world will tell us it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about us, it only matters what we think about ourselves. But Paul shows us we can’t even trust our own feelings,” adds Lowry referencing 1 Corinthians 4: 3, 4.
“Only through trusting what God says about us can we have true freedom from the lies others tell us and the lies we tell ourselves. And what does God tell us? As we place our faith in the finished work of Christ, the Father sees us and says, ‘you are my beloved child in whom I am well pleased.’”
Unspoken Releases First Radio Single Of 2024 “What He Says About You”
The new music follows Unspoken’s God Help Me 2023 EP featuring the “God Help Me” music video that has that has been viewed more than 2.8M times on YouTube alone and 2019’s Reason, whose title track became the band’s biggest multi-format chart-topper to date. The album also produced a pair of Top 15 radio singles: “You’ve Always Been” and “Just Give Me Jesus.”
Today, Alex Henry Foster shares much anticipated LP Kimiyo. To celebrate it’s release, they share the lyric video for track “Under a Luxuriant Sky“.
“Some songs are written long before you’re even emotionally disposed to welcome their liberating nature, to abandon yourself in their enfranchising essence,” remarks Foster. “‘Under a Luxuriant Sky’ is one of them.
It slowly surfaces throughout what feels like an endless journey of turbulence, delicately enlightening a path of self-acceptance, gently lying its hopeful benevolence at your sorrowful feet to shine your way home… Wherever home may be.”
Says Foster about the LP, “I have always been looking for a pretext or an excuse to work with Momoka. She’s got a very unique spirit, and she’s a very inspiring and insightful person.We have a common view about life in general and spirituality in particular, but most of all, she is a fantastic artist for whom I have the utmost admiration.
When it became obvious to me that I would be in no way capable of singing or speaking on the songs we had sketched, Momoka was in my opinion the only person able to transcend the project’s spirit.
The poetry of Voyage à la Mer was to be the core holding the whole project together, but I wanted Momoka to make her own interpretation of the lyrical undercurrent and to express herself in her native tongue, so she wouldn’t have to be my voice or try to emulate what my words might convey. We set the canvas, laid down the color palettes, but it was for her to express herself and be the painting.”
Alex Henry Foster’s new project Voyage à la Mer is an artistic multidisciplinary endeavor based on the asymmetry of human emotions. While the project refers to the title of a self-searching poetry and meditative notebook he started writing during a trip to Japan back in 2010, it also symbolizes the fundamental connection that individuals and communities nurture with water, the beginning of time, ritualistic pilgrimages, redemptive processions, purification, the incarnation related to the flow of life, birth and death, the passage to afterlife, transition, and rebirth.
The 2010 trip to Japan forms the basis of the project, in particular a conversation with the parents of a young Japanese fan who, prior to taking his own life, had been corresponding with Foster via letters the two sent back and forth.
As time passed, Foster underwent a life-altering cardiac surgery. He spent months recovering, unable to talk, and unsure he would have the ability to sing in the future. Foster writes: “I was in no other position than to either feel sorry for myself or have a prolonged look with myself to figure out who I was beyond the distressing sensation of losing my identity.
The introspective clarity brought me right back to Japan, in what had been for me a transformative experience almost 15 years ago, highlighted by the long-forgotten fragments of film, photographs, and people’s testimonies I had the privilege of witnessing.”
Slowly starting to regain energy, Foster contacted his friend and longtime creative accomplice Ben Lemelin to assist him in writing and creating. With Foster still regaining his voice, the duo invited fellow artist Momoka to be the voice of the first incarnation of the project, titled Kimiyo.
Alex Henry Foster has crafted four different creative entities; the albums Kimiyo and A Measure of Space and Sounds, the film Voyage à la Mer, and the in-public conversations & live musical improvisation affair Of Flashes and Other Currents, all due to be released over the span of 2024.
GRAMMY Award winning singer and songwriter, Joe L. Barnes unlocks a new track “Hide & Seek” lifted from Barnes’ forthcoming LP, The Good Shepherd, available Friday, June 14th.
Joel Barnes, known as Joe L, a Kentucky native, is a songwriter and worship leader at The Shepherd’s Tent in Covington, Georgia. He not only has a passion for song writing, but also burns to teach and equip others with the tools needed to create and release their sound of authenticity.
In April of 2020, Joe L, alongside Maverick City released the song, “Promises,” which has now been viewed over 140M times on YouTube. As a songwriter, Joe L has co-written “In Spite of Me” by Tasha Cobbs Leonard, “Not Holding Back” by JJ Hairston, and “Ruins” with Maverick City.
Angel Studios is honored to announce that Atlantic Recording Artist Colton Dixon has released the title track for the upcoming feature film SIGHT.
“When I first heard “Rest of My Life,” I instantly knew it was a fit for the film’s epilogue,” shares Ryan Svendsen, Angel Studios Head of Music. “It is extremely rare for the spirit and lyrics of a song to be an uncanny match for a scene but the stars aligned beautifully with Colton’s track for SIGHT.
We are honored to have Colton’s uplifting music bring out this important moment and we know that this song will be a reminder of not only the film but of the miracle that we are not confined by the things that we can physically see.”
“Sometimes when you write a song, it takes on a life of its own,” shares Dixon. “After I experienced the film and got to meet Dr. Wang in person, the lyrics and cadence of the song took on a whole new meaning. I can’t wait for this song and the film to impact the world in a powerful way.”
SIGHT comes to theaters Memorial Day weekend, 2024. Starring Greg Kinnear and Terry Chen, the film follows the true story of Dr. Ming Wang, a Chinese American who defies all odds to become a world-renowned eye surgeon in the United States. Drawing upon the grit and determination he gained from a turbulent uprising in his youth in China, Dr. Wang sets out to restore the sight of a blind orphan.
Colton Dixon Brings His Unmistakable Vocals To Feature Film ‘SIGHT’
Matthew West reminisces on raising his two daughters as his oldest, Lulu, readies to graduate high school and go off to college with latest release “18 Summers.” Penned by West with collaborators Jeff Pardo and AJ Pruis, the reflective tune walks through special memories with his family over the last 18 years of parenthood.
The piano-backed melody is an all too relatable track about how fast time flies and shares standout moments, from Disney trips to learning how to drive and everything in between. Listen to “18 Summers”
“I talk a lot about the power of story, but this song is literally written in real time in the exact chapter of the story that our family is in right now,” West tells Woman’s World. “It’s graduation time. My oldest daughter is getting ready to graduate from high school, and my wife and I are both just in our feelings about that.”
His current single “Don’t Stop Praying,” which is a call-to-action, a charge, for believers around the world, is currently number 11 on the AC monitored radio chart and number 13 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart.
West recently took the motivational tune to Fox & Friends to close out their Faith & FriendsConcert Series with a performance on Easter Sunday. To continue to serve as a powerful reminder to all, West also unveiled his “Don’t Stop Praying” mural at Nashville’s L&L Market – which he even helped paint.
Last month, West dropped his sixth book My Story, Your Glory (K-LOVE Books), a 30-day devotional to help guide readers to discover how God’s love can rewrite our stories and explore how God’s glory redeems every chapter of our lives.
With My Story, Your Glory, which was inspired by his hit song and No. 1 album of the same name, it is West’s goal to help readers reflect on the less-than-perfect parts of their lives and to point them to examples in Scripture and how God redeemed their stories while encouraging them to give God the glory in both the best days and worst days.
Matthew West Reminisces On Raising His Daughters In “18 Summers”
The 5x GRAMMY nominee will be announcing new dates for his DON’T STOP PRAYING TOUR soon. For ticket information visit matthewwest.com/tour.
Dubbed by Billboard as “one of Christian music’s most prolific singer-songwriters,” West is going into 2024 after a strong trajectory in 2023. Highlights include being honored with ASCAP’s prestigious Golden Note Award, presented to songwriters, composers, and artists who have achieved extraordinary career milestones and releasing his double album – MY STORY YOUR GLORY.
He also celebrated another landmark success – he notched his 30th number one song as an artist-songwriter combined. 2024 also marks the 20th anniversary of his first #1 song “More,” from his debut album HAPPY. The inaugural track held the number one spot for 9 weeks – an impressive start to his now 20 years of radio accomplishments.
