CCM Links

Joel Engle is both a singer and a songwriter and a facilitator. Not only is he a talented artist, he’s also the founder of Spin, a worship resource website for (currently) over 9,000 member churches worldwide.

Joel is offering sheet music for the following songs:

Wonder Of Your Love
Louder Than The Angels
Shadow Of Your Cross
I Bow Down
Magnify
Living Sacrifice
Be A Father To Her
So Beautiful
We Need You
I Will See You Again
The Father I Never Had

Instructions: click Music and then Guitar Chords.
These are available in PDF Format. I recommend Foxit Reader.

Wayne Watson used to be a relative newcomer…I guess I’m getting old. Now he’s sort of an elder statesman of Christian artists. He’s had some incredibly popular and long-lived songs, and there’s no doubt that he’ll produce some more. His new album is due out next month.

He’s made three of those songs available for download:

A Beautiful Place
Watercolor Ponies
Turning into Dad

What are you waiting for? Go get ‘em!

Chris at Level Records wants everyone to know about a free contemporary Christian mp3 available for download:

Luke Nielson’s song Beautiful Redeemer from the album Clean (direct download)

What are you waiting for? Go get it!

Bonus: while I was visiting, I noticed that there’s another free mp3. You can visit their music page to get it:

High and Exalted by Ken and Tracy Rahn

When Michael W. Smith dropped his daughter off at college, he went through what most parents go through: wistful and bittersweet happiness. His mixed emotions are our gain, as you can see in the video for How to Say Goodbye.

In the grand tradition of songs like Wayne Watson’s Watercolor Ponies and Class of ‘95 and Bob Carlisle’s Butterfly Kisses, this one will probably be around for a long, long time.

Carolyn sent me an email request…her husband is in the US military, and serving in Iraq. He’s into hip-hop and rap and R&B, but isn’t familiar with Christian artists making that kind of music.

I’m not a big hip-hop fan myself, but I know that a lot of folks are. I’ve tried to add a lot of urban artists to CCM Links…and I need some help. Below are the links I sent to Carolyn to help her husband find some great, God-honoring music with thump. If your favorite artist isn’t listed, please leave a comment with their link. I’ll make sure Carolyn gets them.

If they’re not listed on CCM Links, I will (of course) add them to the Artist Pages.
Thanks!

WEBSITE FOR RESEARCH:
http://musicmoz.org/Religious/Christian/Styles/Hip-Hop/Bands_and_Artists/

ARTISTS:
http://tobymac.com/
http://johnreuben.com/
http://myspace.com/kj52
http://www.manafest.ca/glory.htm
http://www.sintaxtheterrific.com/
http://godstylerecords.com/
http://www.crossmovementrecords.com/

and I didn’t want to leave out the holy hip hop database:
http://www.hhhdb.com/

It’s not Christian music per se, but it’s very, very cool…

Mute Math is on the Transformers Soundtrack!
Not only that: they’re doing the THEME SONG!

Come on. Tell me that’s not incredibly awesome. It is!

If you go to Mute Math’s MySpace page, you can hear their version of the Transformers Theme! As a reward for your loyalty to CCM Links, here’s the video for Mute Math’s Typical…

One more thing: look for Mute Math on Letterman on July 17th!

If you’re like me, you really like Casting Crowns. I thought their debut album deserved Album of the Year honors, and their popularity shows that they’ve struck a chord with their music. Their lyrics are generally world-class, and there’s no denying their musical chops. I’m really looking forward to their next album, The Altar and the Door.

This video is a preview of that upcoming album, mixed with an interview with lead singer Mark Hall. I love his description of their music: “discipleship set to music”. See and hear for yourself, and then get in line to fight me for your own copy of the CD on August 28, 2007.

I’m not a huge fan of the worship music movement. I think that’s because it’s a movement, and some artists get involved because that’s where the buzz is. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Drew Cline. According to music insiders like Phil Naish and Don Marsh and Michael Tait, he’s the real deal. He’s also, according to Lisa Bevill, a “loud-mouth” singer. That means that he really, really gets into the music.

I signed up for his newsletter, and he gave me a free mp3 in exchange. It’s called I Will (Lift My Eyes) from his upcoming album Way Of Life. This song brings to mind the quality lyrics of Casting Crowns, the full-bodied sound of Silers Bald, and a little Bebo Norman style. I recommend that you give up your email address so you can listen to it, too…it’s really good.

I promised to let you know if you could view the Rock the Boat concert from their archive. Well, you CAN! Until June 30, 2007 you can watch the full concert by clicking the link below.

In case you missed the earlier post, here’s the lineup:

Comedian Thor Ramsey

DecembeRadio opened

Reliant K followed

The evening was interspersed with clips from the movie
Evan Almighty. It looks pretty good.

Jeremy Camp followed Reliant K.

Switchfoot was obviously the biggest name of the night, and they didn’t disappoint.

Click here to watch the concert!

It’s that time again. My Free Music Friday is offering three new free contemporary Christian songs for download:

Delirious: Our God Reigns
Geoff Moore: So Long Farewell
Andrew Osenga: After the Garden

You’ll need to give up an email address to get these songs…but that’s not really a big deal, is it? I thought I’d mention that I’ve never received an email from them that wasn’t directly related to the free music they give away.

What are you waiting for? Go get ‘em!