CCM Links

Free CCM is back!

To be honest, I hadn’t noticed that they were gone. I appreciate being notified via email, and it does appear that I’d signed up with them before they disappeared. Anyway, thanks to the (almost certainly) nice folks at Free CCM, I now have access to the following free contemporary Christian mp3 music songs:

33 Miles: I Can’t Deny
Derek Webb: A King and a Kingdom
Echoing Angels: You Alone
Phil Wickham: Mystery
Disciple: Love Hate (On & On)
MercyMe: Coming Up to Breathe
Sara Groves: How Can I Tell

If you want to download any of these songs, you’ll need to go to their website and register. They’ll want an email address (naturally) and a password, your location, and your age. If you’re sensitive about giving out any of that info, I suppose you could be anonymous…or simply decide not to download the music. I appreciate getting free music to download (and blog about), so I’m happy to provide them with my info.

Go get ‘em!

Many of you don’t know who Dan Macaulay is. Now’s your chance to catch up:

Dan Macaulay is a passionate modern worship leader & composer with an infectious pop sound. His original honest & singable worship songs are making their way around the globe & people are taking note. Listen & you’ll know why!

That’s from the bio on his ShoutLife page. Unlike many artists, however, his bio isn’t hype (except, perhaps, for all the ampersands). Dan recently won two SHAI awards for 2007 Worship Album of the Year and 2007 Male Soloist of the Year. Other winners include folks like Carolyn Arends and Thousand Foot Crutch, so you know he’s been up against some strong competition.

Anyway, Dan’s offering two free mp3’s for your listening pleasure:

You Make Me
Amazing

Something else that sets Dan apart from many other artists is that he offers chord charts with his songs. If you like to play, they’re also free (and in PDF format).

Go get ‘em!

This video may or may not work for you. If not, I’d appreciate hearing from you so that I can figure out which part of Dan’s code I’m missing. Thanks!

Project 86 fans will be happy to learn that their new album, Rival Factions, will hit the shelves on June 19th. Don’t be discouraged, though…they’ve put one of the new songs online for your listening enjoyment!

Evil (A Chorus of Resistance) is available on their MySpace page…but not for download, of course. I like it, so I’ve listened to it several times.

Are you still here? What are you waiting for? Get over there…and don’t forget to watch the conclusion of the Spy Hunter video on their website.

Today’s free mp3s from My Free Music Friday:

Geoff Moore: Every Single One from Speak to Me
Chris Rice: Lemonade from Amusing
Nate Huss: You Still Know My Name from Here With Me
Josh Wilson: Breakthrough from Shake the Shadow

Geoff Moore is one of my all-time old favorites.
Chris Rice is one of my all-time new favorites.
Nate Huss sounds like a very promising newcomer.
Josh Wilson is now on my radar, considering the words Tara Leigh Cobble wrote on his bio after they toured together.

Go get ‘em!

I thought you might enjoy Switchfoot’s latest video, Awakening.

After a [supposed] 10-year absence from the Christian music scene, Sandi Patty is back. Winner of 39 Dove Awards and 5 Grammies, Sandi’ career is a tour de force in Christian music. While she’s probably best known for singing the National Anthem, she’s also had three platinum and five gold records…and is a favorite of thousands around the world.

Sandi is also a favorite speaker on the Women of Faith circuit, and isn’t afraid to speak candidly about the affair and subsequent divorce that put her career on hold. Her new album, Falling Forward, sounds like some of her best work. Check it out!

Incidentally, I’m not thinking very highly of INO Records at the moment. The e-card link above takes you to a web page with a bio, media player, etc…and they titled the web page “sandipatti”. All of the graphics on the page say “Sandi Patty”. Her official website is sandipatty.com. The bio says “Sandi Patty”. Come on, guys…that’s certainly not your best work, and I hope you get it fixed right away.

Despite the fact that CCM Links is devoted to the online presence of Christian musicians, it’s not often I get to combine my love for web design and my love for great Christian music. Today is a little different.

Derek Webb has a new album coming out, titled The Ringing Bell. Derek’s press release includes the following:

Derek’s new project, ‘THE RINGING BELL’ comes out MAY 1ST everywhere. But you can hear it TODAY if you pre-order the deluxe edition of his provocative new record. Along with a copy of ‘THE RINGING BELL’, the pre-order includes a graphic novel which includes the complete lyrics and 96-pages of original artwork inspired by the new record.

You can listen to ‘THE RINGING BELL’ streaming in it’s entirety and sample images from the 96-page graphic novel at WWW.THERINGINGBELL.COM.

Portland Studios is doing the artwork, and has released the cover art. Portland Studios does a lot of stuff, and all of it’s high-quality. I wish I were as artistically talented. Nice job, guys!

Infuze Magazine is a great source for movie and album reviews, news about upcoming pop culture stuff, and more. Matt Conner recently interviewed Andrew Peterson, one of my favorite artists of all time.

Read the interview!

I’m not the type of person who has a “favorite artist”…there are simply too many brilliant folks out there producing brilliant works to settle on one. Why then am I willing to go out on a limb and put Andrew on a tall pedestal? Read the article and find out, and then listen to some of his music. To be honest, I didn’t like much of it on the first listen. That probably means I’m dense and shallow…because the longer I listen, the better his music gets. Really.

You might also gain some insight from Billy Cerveny’s words on the Square Pegs Alliance website. You’ll need to go here and click on Andrew’s picture to read them…but you’ll get to hear some of Andrew’s work as well, so it’s worth a click.

Andrew’s own words might strike a chord with you as they did with me in The Tick of the Clock.

I realize that this post may seem awfully close to hero-worship, and that’s not my intention. Andrew’s music gives me some insight into his character, and he appears to be an honest and genuine and loving person. What more could one ask of an artist?

You may have noticed a recent blank spot in posting here. I’m just back from a three-week vacation to the great Pacific Northwest. We (my wife, son, and I) had a great time and are happy to be back home. That blank spot represents visits to my parents, brother and sister, aunts and uncles and cousins, and close friends.

My recent post on Switchfoot’s Bootleg website has gotten a fair amount of attention…as it should. A top-shelf band like Switchfoot that releases free tracks should get plenty of attention as a crowd-pleaser (not to mention as smart marketers).

What do the two paragraphs above have to do with each other? RSS, that’s what.

If you don’t know what RSS is, read a little here. If you do know what RSS is, think about this: while on my three-week vacation, Switchfoot posted new bootlegs from 10 new concerts…and they patiently waited for me the whole time. If you’d like to be notified of new SF bootlegs, go to their site and subscribe…or simply use this link:

http://switchfootbootlegs.com/feed/

For the record, I should add own feed’s link…I just noticed that there’s no direct link in my template for it. For those of you who don’t use a browser that auto-detects feeds, here it is:

http://ccmlinks.com/feed/

Music legend Dick Dale gives an on-the-street interview in answer to the question “any good words of advice you can give to up-and-coming musicians?”.

I’m sure that each record label is a little different, and that many Christian labels aren’t at all as Dale’s characterization suggests. I’m also sure that his advice is based on a lot of history. Decide for yourself:

What do you think? Should most artists avoid signing with a label?