Chris Tomlin Soars
by Robert Mineo
The annual doling out of Dove Awards came and went for the 38th time on April 25 and, as it did last year, the ceremony further solidified Chris Tomlin as the top artist in Christian music. Tomlin was not the only one to win big, but he left with the most awards—six—and scoring one more than last time around. His biggest nods were being named Artist of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year, both repeat performances from last year.
As always, the Dove Awards are the culmination of the annual Gospel Music Week in Nashville. Headed up by the Gospel Music Association (GMA), Gospel Music Week is the annual meet-and-greet seminar showcase fest for the Christian music industry.
It is still amazing how stylistically diverse the slate of Dove nominees is—everything from hip-hop to bluegrass is recognized. Yet through it all the thread of consistency in this genre is love and respect for good storytelling.
Without getting too theological, that dynamic actually makes sense since the Christian faith is all about sharing and passing on the story of God. Although trends in Christian music will always reflect the culture at large, there seems to be a home of some sort for pop music's storyteller, the singer/songwriter, especially those with a rock skew.
Recent changes at CCM magazine, the top Christian music publication, confirm this as the magazine responds to readership trends by erasing the wall between "Christian" and "secular" music and devoting a larger proportion of coverage to rock music and indie artists.
The bigger Dove winners also fall in line, with Tomlin at the head of the pack. He may not write "story songs" per se, and he may be on the side of "soft rock," but his straightforward, acoustic-oriented worship songs are stories of praise that clearly resonate with his audience and his peers. Not only has his music bled onto playlists at Christian radio, it provides the core contemporary songs used in thousands of Sunday services throughout the world.
Notable winner No. 2 was debut artist Aaron Shust. If the title of his first record, Anything Worth Saying, was meant as a question about himself, the answer was a resounding "yes." He is a bit more rocking than Tomlin and won only half as many Doves. But he scored in key categories: New Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Song of the Year with "My Savior My God."
Winners within the remaining top categories—Female Vocalist of the Year (Natalie Grant), Group of the Year (Casting Crowns) and Producer of the Year (Ed Cash)—reflect this tone as well. Grant progressively shed her beauty queen image and keeps delivering music that is more revealing and vulnerable. Casting Crowns lead vocalist and primary songwriter Mark Hall (the group also won for Pop recorded Song "Praise You In The Storm") speaks unashamedly realistically about the earthly walk of a Christian. And Cash, who has worked with Tomlin and others, has become the "go to" producer for this aesthetic.
But apart from any deeper analysis, the show itself was generally well received and featured a few memorable performances. Among the highlights were a stirring rendition of "Amazing Grace" led by Tomlin (his version of the classic hymn is found on the Music Inspired by the Motion Picture Amazing Grace soundtrack), a passionate performance by lauded New Artist nominee Leeland of its own "Tears of the Saints," and a joint effort by Hall, Mac Powell (Third Day), Brian Littrell (Backstreet Boy and solo act) and Steven Curtis Chapman on "By His Wounds" from the recent worship project Glory Revealed. Even former American Idol finalist Mandisa gained attention as she performed with tobyMac and Kirk Franklin.
The event was hosted by Grant, Littrell and Donnie McClurkin and was run in syndication throughout the month of May followed by cable airings on the Gospel Music Network. A deal with Yahoo Music placed the Dove Awards on the front page of its popular music section and featured world premieres of video streams of five performances along with exclusive edit content and photos.
For more information and a complete list of the winners in all 43 categories, visit www.doveawards.com. For more information about the GMA and its industry events, visit www.gospelmusic.org.
