GMA... The Good..The Bad...The Ugly

Hey again,

I was going to write something last night after I got back from the songwriter's showcase at GMA but since it was almost 5:00 in the morning I opted to get a few hours of sleep and hit you with a fresher mind. I also wanted a chance to process all that I saw. I wanted some time to really formulate my thoughts about some things that I wasn't quite sure about.

First off, let's just say that if are a Christian indie musician and you are looking to plug into the Christian music scene on a full time basis there is a lot of good that can be had by attending GMA. It is full of indie and signed artists just walking around and networking. It is full of every music business profession and it is a great chance to meet some people. I got the chance to finally meet some people that I have admired in the biz for awhile.

As a guitar player I, like everyone else, have always greatly admired Phil Keaggy. What a blast it was to finally meet him and chat with him. He put on a CLINIC during the showcase and got a standing ovation. Phil rocked out a Les Paul last night and captured everyone's attention.

I was especially excited to see one of my current favorites from this generation of guitar players when Jonny Lang took the stage. The most disappointing thing was that they never gave Jonny the time to actually play on any of his own material. Instead he joined everyone on stage for a grand finale jam session.

The best part was right as Jonny took the stage, Phil Keaggy walked out behind him and wanted to jam. It could have gone way longer and NOBODY would have minded. That audience was treated to one of the great GMA legendary moments as Phil Keaggy and Jonny Lang stood face to face trading riffs. Phil would do something amazing and then Jonny would whip out something amazing. Each time the audience went nuts.

That moment alone made things so worth it for me besides the fact of having the opportunity to meet with these men and also do some networking with them.


There was something about the night that bothered me though. Some may think that I may be trying to be to "spiritual" about it but I will let you be the judge. I have heard from other colleagues of mine in my old radio days and from other artists as well that GMA continues to become more secularized. Maybe I'm too old school for my age but I was disappointed in the song selection of the night as, and I am not exaggerating, about 90% of the music that was played by the performing artists were secular covers. The only artist that stuck to his own material was Tobymac who opened the night up. Last night I heard everything from Bruce Hornsby, to Eric Clapton, to Diana Ross, to Whitney Houston, to Gladis Knight, to Stevie Wonder, to George Harrison.

Now maybe you "experienced" GMA members can help me out here, but wouldn't one think that the big annual event that is supposed to celebrate GOSPEL music, and be a Christian music convention would focus more on faith based music? I understand that many Christian artists use secular covers during their concerts to draw in a secular audience so that they may bring the gospel message through their originals and their messages, but was this an evangelistic event? This was a convention for Christian artists to get together and celebrate what it is that we do. To network, build others up, and to learn from those who have come before us. Why are we playing George Harrison?

I could rant about this a lot more and I'm sure there are many out there that would accuse me of missing the boat or not getting the whole picture. Over half of the Christian rock scene is "crossover" music. So many people are afraid to be called Christian artists. Why? Remember a day when we used to sing, "I'm not ashamed to let you know. I want this light in me to show. I'm not afraid to speak the name of Jesus Christ"?

What are we afraid of? Are we not called to go forth and speak boldly to the world? This industry has changed so much, but God hasn't. His expectations of those whom He has given talents to has not changed. Are we going to be a generation of musicians who can come back to our Master saying that we invested the talents that He has given us and we have doubled them or are we going to come back with nothing because we were a generation of silent musicians who were to caught up in trying to double dip into two different markets so that we may fatten our own wallets.

Believe me, I'm not putting down everybody and I'm not saying that God isn't using certain artists to make an impact in the Kingdom. There are many Christian artists out there who are bringing the gospel to the lost and encouraging the believers and I am not saying that all crossover acts are lukewarm believers that God is going to spit out. Let's make that clear. I'm just saying that over the last few years I am seeing a rising generation of Christian bands and artists who are continually making it very difficult to see what side of the fence they are on.

In these days I challenge all of us to represent our faith in all aspects of our lives. In the jobs we have, the words we say, the thoughts we think, the activities we participate in, and the songs we write.

By the way, Lang and Keaggy were awesome. :)

In Christ,
SL