Tiffany Arbuckle Lee is the voice and face of the Christian band Plumb. Off and on, Plumb has been making amazing music that is never quite what the standard of the day happens to be. Call it being "before their time" or retro or inventive - Plumb pulls heartstrings with deep, passionate lyrics and sonically takes listeners to a place they can't get to through any other artist.
Tiffany Lee grew up in Fayetteville, GA and started her career as a backup singer. Her career is in its second decade and her music has been featured on six feature films (including Bruce Almighty) and many other television shows (mostly on the CW). As a busy mom, Plumb doesn't have many concerts, and without pressure from record labels, we never know when new Plumb might pop up. But we wait with bated breath.
Fun Fact: Tiffany Lee also writes for other singers - including Michelle Branch, Kimberly Locke and Mandy Moore.
After 30 years and 20 #1 radio hits - Newsong is still pushing the limits to reach a new generation for Christ. Members have come and gone - and some fresh young musicians have joined the core group to produce a sound that is both fresh and classicly Newsong.
When Eddie Carswell and Billy Goodwin, who continue to lead the evolving group, started out in 1981 at Morningside Baptist Church in Valdosta, Georgia, neither of them imagined NewSong would repeatedly outdo itself for so many years. Now the guys are headed into their fourth decade of music and just keeps getting better!
After nearly a decade away, award winning front-man Russ Lee returned to the group. Give Yourself Away was the result - an album that sounds like Newsong AND the 21st century. Give Yourself Away was once again produced by Charlie Peacock (the guy behind every awesome DC Talk album) and features the vocal harmonies you expect from Newsong, but a punch of fresh musical perspective.
Legit: Newsong founded WinterJam - an American tour that has featured everyone from Newsong and TobyMac to MercyMe and Mandisa. It's a roving music festival that refuses to charge more than $10 a person - bringing the music you love to the masses!
Studio: Newsong is back in the studio working on a new project this summer!
Joy comes in the morning (and the afternoons on 102.5 FM).
ARTIST OF THE DAY Hyland
Hyland is an American Christian pop/rock band originating from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The band released two EPs independently before signing to Tooth & Nail Records in 2010. The band put in the time, touring regionally and playing every church, Christian music festival and club they could book. They won a music tournament in 2010, which got them some national recognition and led to T&N Records signing the band.
Musically: Hyland sounds like a mixture of Christian bands Bleach and Anberlin.
October 7th, Hyland is opening up the night for the Believer Tour - featuring Kutless, Fireflight and the Rhett Walker Band! CLICK HERE for ticket information!
Current Line-up
Jon Lewis - lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Mitch Hansen - lead guitar
Ben Early - keys, backing vocals, additional guitar
Josiah Erickson - bass
Steve Weigel - drums
Dove award winning, GRAMMY nominated Matthew West is the songwriting darling of Nashville. A pastor’s son, West grew up in Downers Grove, Illinois and released three independent projects before signing to a major label and issuing his first studio album, Happy. The project yielded the hit “More,” which topped the chart for nine weeks and became the most played song on Christian radio in 2004. The following year, he released History, an acclaimed collection that included the hit title track and the instant classic “Only Grace.”
Then life happened. West underwent a career-threatening vocal surgery in 2007. He didn't know if he'd ever sing again. But God brought healing and fresh perspective. Less than a year after his surgery, West released Something To Say and garnered more listener and critical acclaim than ever before.
Today marks the release of a brand new album: Into The Light. Just like his previous project, The Story of Your Life, many of the songs on the new record are taken from the stories shared by his fans. Matthew says about the new album, "When we're kids we are afraid of the dark. But when we become adults, we fear the light, because we have so much to hide."
Good afternoon! That's a statement of fact. It is good.
ARTIST OF THE DAY Joel Engle
Joel was born and grew up in San Francisco, CA. He never knew his father. His mother worked multiple jobs to make ends meet, caring for Joel and her two aging parents. When Joel was only 11, he found his mother lying on the kitchen floor, having suffered a stroke. She died a few days later. Just a few years later, his grandfather died and his grandmother went to live in a nursing home. Joel was a young teenager and suddenly without any family. At the age of 14 he was taken to a Baptist Children's Home, practically an orphan.
It was through the care of the Baptist Children's Home that Joel met Dale and Nadine Engle - who became his adoptive parents. A new life, a new name and a young faith in Jesus set Joel on a course through life that he never shied away from. His new family had a piano and Joel committed himself to learning how to play, praying to God saying, "I will never sing a song or write a song that doesn't glorify your name!"
Joel went on to study music and theology on scholarship at Oklahoma Baptist University. While there, he met and eventually married his wife Valerie. After college, he toured with Dawson McAllister student conferences for three years, playing in front of crowds upward of 500,000 per year. Then in 1997, Joel and wife Val, who shared his heart for ministry, started Spin360, a modern worship resource that provides worship leaders with songs, chord charts, sheet music, and other tools. Joel's piano and vocal talents were also simultaneously being put to good use with many camp dates, conferences, and outreach opportunities with the Billy Graham Association, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Student Life.
In, 2007, Joel indicated that he would be retiring from Christian music. His purpose in this was to "transition into church planting." Joel planted the church in Keller, Texas which is called "The Exchange."
Today is the last day of Summer! It's official. Tomorrow Fall begins (though I've been celebrating pre-Fall with a lot of pumpkin spiced EVERYTHING! Are you sad to see the Summer go - or excited to be closer to sweater/hoodie weather? Maybe a bit of both... Either way - change is here and that means a new opportunity to shed the past and embrace the gift of NOW.
ARTIST OF THE DAY Heather Williams
Heather Williams grew up in extreme poverty with her mom and stepfather. Throughout her early childhood, she suffered intense abuse and was even chained to a tree for punishment in one instance. Her mother gave her away at age 11, and Williams went to live with her grandfather in Michigan. Living with little guidance and the pain of past abuse and rejection, Williams turned to drugs and alcohol as a way to numb the realities of life. As things began to spiral out of control, the young teenager began to have thoughts of suicide and was even homeless at one point.
At age 18, however, the dangerous road Williams was on took a U-turn when she briefly reconnected with her birth father. Her father, a Christian, invited Williams to church.
“I came to this place where it was either, OK, I’m going to give my life to God, or I just don’t know if I’m going to live. So, I walked up that aisle at that church, and I gave my life to God.”
Having grown up with a love of music, after becoming a Christian, Williams says she began to write songs from a perspective of radical change. But then another wave of tragedy struck the budding singer/songwriter when her first child passed away shortly after he was born. But this incredible tragedy only drew Heather closer to God.
For Williams, she describes her songs as “conversations,” sometimes joyful, sometimes angry, sometimes a mix of both. Today, Williams is grateful for how far grace has brought her. She and her husband, a full-time youth pastor, live in Florida with their two young children.
Krystal Meyers is from the OC. Not Ocean City, MD - Orange County, CA! But before Krystal entered high school, her family had relocated to Eugene, OR and then on to Nashville - the epicenter of Christian music in the 1990s.
She's three albums into a Christian music career (and at only 25). Krystal Meyers started singing at home at the age of two; sang her first solo in church at the age of five; started writing songs by age ten and was playing the acoustic guitar by thirteen. Her debut album hit shelves when she was only 16!
Krystal's break-out hit was a Christian rock anthem called Anticonformity. She wrote it with a friend in the 8th grade. The girls, both strong in their faith, were heart-broken at their peers delving into drugs, sex and wandering away from God.
Prophecy: When Krystal was a child, an elderly lady in her church told her parents that "Krystal is going to be a missionary around the world." And that's how Krystal sees her music career. She gets to take her walk with Jesus to the entire world through music.
