DAVID CROWDER BAND Final Album Give Us Rest Debuts With Enormous First Week Sales

 

The final album from the David Crowder Band, Give Us Rest (A Requiem Mass in C [The Happiest of All Keys]), sold over 50,000 copies in its first week making it the No. 2 record in the country behind Adele’s 21, and the No. 1 new album on the charts. With a nearly constant No. 1 hold on the iTunes ® Overall Albums chart, Give Us Rest offers David Crowder*Band the highest chart and sales debut of their over decade long career.

“We have been really happy to hear and read the responses to the album,” remarks Crowder. “You make a thing and you hope it will mean something and be useful to someone else and to see such a positive reaction so early, well, we thought we couldn’t be happier about it. But then, when I got a phone call letting me know that we were debuting at number two on Billboard, I think, as far as memory serves, I pointed to the sky, yelled something, then un-ironically, with the purest of heart, totally Tebowed right in the middle of the street I had unknowingly wandered into.”

In what has been hailed an “epic,” “captivating” and “most artistic” final effort from the GRAMMY ® nominees, reviews have applauded the 34 track, double-disc album and full career of David Crowder*Band.

“One of Christian music’s least predictable bands closes out a decade-long career. The group’s final album, patterned after a Requiem Mass, contains nearly two hours of music. Give Us Rest’s 34 tracks encompass raw recordings and elaborately constructed arrangements ranging from U2-like worship songs to pseudo-choral music to bluegrass-y gospel hymns.” – USA Today

“Their most artistic project… Complexity, and simplicity. Deliberately arranging sound, emotion, intellect and vision. Doing more than pulling out a set of songs and putting them on a CD. DC*B’s contribution was also their journey. Give Us Rest is their coup de grace. Well done, David Crowder*Band, it’s time to take your rest.” – Worship Leader

“It’s an honest plea from a man who almost single-handedly redefined modern worship for the 21st century, which certainly was no easy task. But before stepping away from the microphone for good, Crowder showed exactly why he and his bandmates are in need of a rest, by creating an exhaustingly epic, double-disc album…. Give Us Rest sounds exactly as a ‘final album’ should. It is a Mount Everest of worship rock albums, never to be topped. For over a decade, David Crowder created some of the most creatively inspired worship music in the world, and now he deserves his rest.” – ChristianityToday.com

“A captivating offering… the band’s crowning achievement in a career of exuberant, cerebral accomplishments… In the end, joy becomes the lasting note of this album, and perhaps the legacy of the career of this gone-too-soon band.” – Crosswalk.com

“From track one to thirty-four it is nothing short of an amazing experience. 5 Stars” – JesusFreakHideout.com

“an epic blaze of musical glory… a memento of its career” – watchgmctv.com

Give Us Rest contains nearly two hours of music constructed in the outline of a Requiem Mass. The track listing even reads like a liturgy. It begins with The Entrance (or, the introit), a segment of three songs, then segues into The Plea (or, the kyrie), a section of three more songs, and then The Plight (or, the gradual and the tract), a sequence of six songs, and so on, all the way through The Absolution (or, the libere me and the paridisum), a string of six tracks to close out the album—and their 12-year run.

David Crowder*Band gave their final performance at Passion 2012 in front of over 42,000 college students, live at the Georgia Dome in downtown Atlanta. Just months earlier, the band completed a nearly 100% sold out headlining tour. Announced initially to their fans, David Crowder*Band revealed their final plans in early 2011. To read the original statement, click http://www.davidcrowderband.com/letter.html.

 

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About David Crowder*Band:
Named among the “most thoughtful, progressive and exciting acts in contemporary Christian music” by The New York Times, the popular yet unconventional David Crowder*Band unveiled their final collection of new music on January 10 with the release of Give Us Rest or (a requiem mass in c [the happiest of all keys]). Give Us Rest follows their last GRAMMY ® nominated studio project Church Music which debuted at No. 1 on the Christian retail chart scanning over 35,000 units. This gave David Crowder*Band their largest street week to date ranking in at No. 11 on the Billboard Top 200. David Crowder*Band’s latest music video for “SMS (Shine)” nabbed coverage on NBC’s The Today Show, Fox & Friends, USA Today, Billboard and Paste Magazine online as well as a GMA Dove Award win for “Short Form Video of the Year.” The video was also recognized at the LA Film Festival in 2011. Along with the group’s 9 GMA Dove Awards and 22 nominations, the band was the first Christian artist to be named MSN.com’s Artist of the Year in 2006. The band is part of the Passion Movement, participating in university student gatherings in the US and around the world. The group’s leader David Crowder is further an acclaimed author, having penned two books, including his acclaimed, highly personal, Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven, But Nobody Wants to Die: Or (The Eschatology of Bluegrass). David Crowder*Band debuted their first Christmas album, Oh For Joy, in October of 2011.

About sixstepsrecords:
Founded in 2000 by Louie Giglio, sixstepsrecords is a worship label and a division of Passion Conferences. sixstepsrecords’ artists include Chris Tomlin (How Great Is Our God: The Essential Collection) David Crowder*Band (Give Us Rest), Charlie Hall (The Rising), Matt Redman (10,000 Reasons), Christy Nockels (Life Light Up), Kristian Stanfill (Mountains Move) and Passion (Passion: White Flag). The label partners with Sparrow Records/EMI CMG Label Group for A&R, marketing, sales and distribution operations.

About EMI CMG Label Group:
Brentwood, Tennessee-based EMI CMG Label Group is comprised of Sparrow Records, Forefront Records, and Credential Recordings, in addition to providing A&R and marketing support for sixstepsrecords via a joint venture and licensing partnership. Balancing freedom, discipline, creativity, profitability and ministry, EMI CMG Label Group strives for excellence in artist development. The Label Group is a division of EMI Christian Music Group. For further information, please visit http://www.emicmg.com.

Meet Jamie Grace The New Christian Artist Heating Up The Charts Whose Also A Full-time College Student

Jamie Grace records hit singles when she isn’t completing a full course load in college.

The 20-year-old singer songwriter, who goes by the stage name of Jamie Grace – short for her full real name Jamie Grace Harper – starts her final semester at East Point, Georgia’s Point University this week. It will be hard concentrating, she said, as there’s a possible Grammy award to worry about besides senioritis. The child and youth development major is competing next month in the category of 2011′s “best contemporary Christian music song,” for “Hold Me,” a single she recorded with tobyMac of DC Talk and solo artist fame.

“I have always wanted to share God’s joy and love with young kids in the hopes it will inspire them,” said Jamie Grace. “I feel blessed to do something like this at my age. It’s rare.”

Performing comes naturally for Jamie Grace, who said she started expressing herself artistically at an early age. Born in Atlanta, she grew up the daughter of a pastor and associate pastor at the same church. At age 12, she said she asked for a video camera for Christmas. Unwrapping it that holiday, she said singing and acting have taken center stage in her life ever since.

“I’ve always been very dramatic,” Jamie Grace said. “I’m a lot more comfortable singing my feelings, for example, or even just typing them, rather than saying them out loud. I think I’m more comfortable with music, but every now and then I still like to do a monologue. Music is very therapeutic to me.”

Music soon became not just a performance for Jamie Grace, she said, but a coping mechanism. Born with Tourette syndrome, the young singer said songwriting soothed her during battles with her condition. Tourette’s is a nervous system disorder that manifests itself in uncontrollable physical or vocals tics in victims.

“A lot of times they say that if you’re focused on something you love, Tourette’s won’t bother you as much,” Jamie Grace said. “When I’m playing music or acting, my syndrome isn’t visible. It was definitely something that was harder for me earlier in life. I know that I’m not going to be stressed out or upset about it as I know God’s going to bring me out of my pain in it.”

Jamie Grace said her parent’s faith forced her to nurture her musical talents. Diving deep into Korean pop, Southern gospel, jazz and Christian rock music, she soon developed an eclectic style that she perfected in a series of YouTube videos. They caught the attention of tobyMac, who signed the young musician to his record label and helped her release her first album One Song at a Time last September.

“For me, tobyMac isn’t just someone on the radio,” Jamie Grace said. “He’s someone I really looked up to growing up. He’s so humble. It’s all about God and his music.”

Realizing their daughter’s talent, Jamie Grace’s parents gave her their blessing to play professionally so long as she stayed in school. It was a tough decision, Jamie Grace said, but the college student eventually decided to complete her studies in children’s ministry. Once she finishes this year, she said she intends on making her parents proud regardless of her career path.

“My parents are the best parents I could have ever asked for,” Jamie Grace said. “They’re my rock and everything to me. I feel very blessed God would surround me with them.”

Her success, she concluded, couldn’t have come without God’s blessing. Whether she’s tackling Tourette’s or a college exam, she said she trusts in the Lord to lead her on the path to success.

“I always encourage kids when they’re going through rough spots to surround themselves with people who love God and love them,” Jamie Grace said. “It’s important to stay in the Word and relationships with those in the Word. I just want to continue staying focused on whatever God has for me. I’m ready to go for it.”