Casting Crowns defies Christian-music rules

By Deborah Evans Price

NASHVILLE (Billboard) – Every once in a while there’s a
success story that defies the odds, overcomes obstacles, slays
skeptics and rises from obscurity to top the charts. In today’s
Christian music community, it is Casting Crowns.

The septet from Georgia burst onto the scene in fall 2003
with its self-titled Beach Street/Reunion Records debut. The
album sold more than 1 million copies, according to Nielsen
SoundScan, and spawned three hits: “If We Are the Body,” “Who
Am I” (a Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart-topper for six
weeks) and “Voice of Truth,” which camped out at No. 1 for 14
weeks. “Live From Atlanta,” a 2004 CD/DVD release, scanned
103,000 copies.

With the August 30 arrival of Casting Crowns’ sophomore
studio set, “Lifesong,” the industry is asking, “Can they do it
again?”

Early indications are good. The title track zoomed up the
charts as the lead single, and is currently No. 2 on Hot
Christian Songs and Hot Christian Adult Contemporary Singles.

Casting Crowns frontman and principal songwriter Mark Hall
admits that high expectations from the industry and fans made
him “a little worried” about the new project. But he got a
great boost from artist friends Steven Curtis Chapman and Third
Day’s Mac Powell, who advised, “Say what God wants you to say.
Don’t worry about if this is going to do OK or if people are
going to like it.”

NOT PREACHING TO MAINSTREAM

To say that people liked the first album is an
understatement. Casting Crowns — the Gospel Music Assn.’s
reigning group of the year — is the most successful debut act
in the Christian industry. Several factors have set them apart
from their peers. Unlike many Christian bands, Casting Crowns
have no desire to score a mainstream radio hit. Their music
squarely targets the church audience, and the support of that
flock has been enough to propel the group’s debut to platinum.

In fact, unlike most big-selling Christian acts, Casting
Crowns have not had any exposure on mainstream radio. Their
success appears to demonstrate the buying power of Christian
music fans.

Casting Crowns began in 1999 as a worship band in Daytona
Beach, Fla. After two years, Hall, Juan DeVevo (guitar/vocals),
Melodee DeVevo (Juan’s wife, who contributes violin/vocals) and
Hector Cervantes (guitar/vocals) relocated to Eagle’s Landing
First Baptist Church in McDonough, Ga. There they were joined
by Chris Huffman (bass), Andy Williams (drums) and Megan
Garrett (keyboards/accordion/vocals).

Hall has served as a youth pastor for 15 years and
regularly has 400 young people at his Wednesday night service.
Casting Crowns’ schedule is arranged to accommodate its
members’ church commitments.

The band was discovered by Mark Miller, frontman for
veteran country outfit Sawyer Brown. He signed them to his
Beach Street Records and brought them to the attention of Terry
Hemmings, who was about to take as president/CEO of Provident
Music Group, the Christian arm of Sony BMG that includes the
Essential and Reunion labels.

The band became one of Hemmings’ priorities, and he was
outspoken in predicting its success. Some thought Hemmings, who
had stepped away from the industry for a few years, had been
out of it too long to be realistic about the chances of a
seven-member band that had never toured.

“While I was a huge fan of what I was hearing, I wasn’t
thinking a million copies,” says Dean Diehl, senior VP of
marketing for Provident Label Group. “Terry kept pushing,
(saying), ‘We need it now. We need it now.’ … We broke all
the rules of how we typically set up artists.”

CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS

The first single, “If We Are the Body,” was polarizing. In
a community where most artists target the church with songs of
encouragement, Hall’s lyric basically threw down the gauntlet.
In Christian circles, the church is known as the body of
Christ. In the chorus of the single, Hall asks: “If we are the
body, why aren’t his arms reaching? / Why aren’t his hands
healing? / Why aren’t his words teaching? / And if we are the
body, why aren’t his feet going? / Why is his love not showing
them there is a way?”

Another song, “Here I Go Again,” spoke of a believer making
mindless conversation with a friend instead of sharing the
gospel of Jesus Christ. “American Dream” challenged the
cultural preoccupation with material wealth at the expense of
family and relationships.

“They don’t just sing love songs and lullabies to the
church,” Diehl says. “They are singing songs that prod the
church.”

Hall — whom the Gospel Music Assn. named songwriter of the
year in 2004 and 2005 — continues to challenge believers on
“Lifesong,” for which he wrote or co-wrote every song.

“I don’t think it bothers the world if people in church
sin. I think it bothers the world that people in church act
like they don’t,” Hall says. “For some reason we (as
Christians) feel that we have to act like we have it all
together. We’re scared to show people that we struggle and that
we are weak, so I guess I’m just trying to be the first in line
to say, ‘Hey, I’m weak. I do dumb things every day, and it
would be awesome to know that I wasn’t alone in this.”‘

Hall absorbed the feedback people gave him after the debut
album, and it served as inspiration for much of the music on
the new one. “This isn’t just the making of a second record,
this is the second record telling the story of the impact of
the first record,” he says.

Casting Crowns will be on the road this fall with Building
429 and Beach Street newcomer Josh Bates. But, as usual, the
band members plan to be at Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church
for nearly every service, keeping themselves plugged into the
source of their life song.

Reuters/Billboard