Yancy, Not Nancy
It’s time again to welcome another member of the SkörInc family. Worship leader and singer-songwriter Yancy is scheduled release a Christmas record (October 6th) and it’s time to start spreading the word.
Mac Powell said this about Yancy:
“I first heard Yancy’s music several years ago and was impressed not only with her voice, but with her songwriting also. It’s great to see the ministry that she has built up without having to be signed to a record label. She is without a doubt one of the best kept secrets in Christian music today. I feel that it will not be long until many more people discover the heart, faith and passion for music and ministry that Yancy possesses.”
So there you go right? I mean who can argue with Mac? So here’s what we need to do. We need to start spreading the word about Yancy. Also make sure to follow her on Twitter, subscribe to her blog, and obviously check out her music. There will be plenty more to come from her, I assure you. And for you parents, make sure to check out Yancy’s kid songs.
So lets all give Yancy a big, warm ‘Welcome to BlogNation and the SkörInc family. Head over to her blog and tell her hey for me. And as always, click around and let us know if you see anything that needs to be fixed.
Ready? Go.
Too Busy
I’m not normally one to preach on here. Mostly because there’s plenty of other people out there that will say things far more thought provoking than I would, and on the flip side of that, I don’t think so highly of myself that I need to make this blog any sort of authority in your life. That being said, there is one thing I have wanted to mention for a while now, and ironically haven’t had the time to sit down and hash it out.
Growing up I never really noticed it, but the older I get the more I realize that people are quite honestly too busy to care. To care about people, to care about community, to care about anything but what they are doing causing them to be busy. Whether it’s a job, a charity, a project, or something as simple as living day to day. And to be honest with you, I fall in to that too. I get too busy to care about other people. Sometimes I even notice myself getting too busy to even really take the time to focus on my family. And that’s crappy.
Dad’s, are you too busy working or advancing your career that you forget to spend time with your kids? Church’s, are you too busy making sure your Sunday runs smooth that you forget to connect with the people walking in the door? Mom’s, too busy checking off your ‘to-do’ list to make sure that you’re spending time enjoying your family? Friends, are you only interested in hanging out if there’s some project to accomplish?
This is something that Kristin and I have talked about a lot over the past few months, and I’ve sort of just been chewing on it for a long time. When Kristin and I first got married we would have people over all the time to just hang out. Nothing else. There was no purpose, no objective, no projects that needed to be done. We just enjoyed hanging out. A community. Now the older we’ve gotten, the busier we’ve gotten and quite honestly, since we have moved from California, we’ve noticed that people just don’t seem to want to hang out if there isn’t something to accomplish. It seems like if there isn’t a reason to ‘hang out’, no objective, no one is interested. Is it like this with everyone? Is this how adults operate? Something we’ve just got to get used to? A southern thing? Or it’s possible I’m just crazy.
What do you think?
Introducing Brenton Brown
Want to hear something funny? The other day I get this email from Brenton Brown and the subject is simply, “Whoops”. Here’s what the email said.
I made a mistake!! The new record went out today!!
-b
What makes this funny is that this seems like this is how Brenton operates. Very relaxed, very unassuming, but at the same time very professional. You might not know it but I guarantee that you have been singing his songs for years.
So here’s the deal. Brenton has a new record out called “Introducing Brenton Brown”. It came out the other day and we need to spread the word about it. Now this isn’t some, ‘yeah okay Brody, we’ll spread the word’ and then don’t do it type of thing. Let’s actually spread the word about this.
And while you’re at it, make sure to check out Brenton’s blog. He’s got all sorts of stuff going on over there.
The Quotable
There’s a million songs out there. A million thoughts thrown together with music and we all can sing along to a number of them. Today I started thinking about songs that are truly “quotable”. You know, the songs where someone starts the sentence and everyone in the group knows that the next line is. The ones that hit you in the stomach and really resonate with you at some point in life. Now since most songs are just little quotes in themselves put to music what makes these quotes really stand out?
Here’s a fun game. Now these are ‘Christian’ songs, so if you don’t know anything about ‘Christian’ music you might have a hard time with some but I will start out easy.
“Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a…..” – Hymn
“Who am I, that I should company with something….” – Jars Of Clay
“Surrounded by your glory, what will my heart feel? Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you….” – MercyMe
See what I mean? Did you finish all those sentences? Now, the reason I bring this up is because today I was listening to the new David Crowder record and I think they’ve got a line in there that will join the list of quoted song lines. Okay, it’s not actually a “Crowder quote” as much as it is John Mark McMillan quote. You ready? It’s from the song “How He Loves Us” – “If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.” I love it. Brilliant.
What are some other song quotes that resonate with you?
Pre-Order Phil’s ‘Heaven & Earth’
Starting today you can pre-order and download Phil Wickham’s ‘Heaven & Earth’. The record isn’t scheduled to release until November 17th, but if you order the record for $25 you can get an immediate download, an acoustic version of the same record, a t-shirt and a hard copy mailed to you when it comes out. Not a bad deal right?
Now, I know this is a pretty anticipated record and I’m excited to see what happens with it. Phil is truly has of the best voices I’ve heard, and he’s got a pretty unique songwriting style. But you already knew that.
So here’s what we are going to do. Head over to Phil’s site and download the record and come back here and let me know what you think. Oh yeah, and I heard there’s some other new things coming from Phil concerning his website soon. Be on the lookout for that too.
So, did you get it?
My American Idol Theory / Justification
Here’s the deal. I take a lot of crap for liking some of these American Idol pop songs. You know the ones. The Kelly Clarkson hits, the Jordin Sparks songs, all those. The polished pop songs that get stuck in your head and your friends make fun of you for accidentally humming one of them. They are the anthems that get you tapping your feet even though they aren’t “real musicians” singing them. And here it is, I think I’ve figured out why I’m okay with liking them. Or at least I’ve justified it somehow in my mind.
First off let me start by saying I have literally seen maybe three actual episodes of American Idol. I just don’t watch that much TV and when I do, American Idol isn’t even close to my radar of things I want to watch, but, I have seen enough and heard enough to know how it works. America votes, blah blah, brilliant marketing, blah, blah. We all know that even if America decides to try to stick it to American Idol it won’t work because the whole voting thing is easily fixed to have a “winner” planned months ahead of time. So really the show is weeding out all the sub-par talent and going for those folks with crazy good voices right?
So now we’ve got these crazy good, hand selected voices and now we just need to get them something to do with those voices. How about calling in some of the best pop song writers in the world to throw together something that is guaranteed to make millions because (remember the brilliant marketing?) it’s going to sell tons so it’s worth it. Then we can even have songs submitted to a panel and really weed it out to a final polished pop song. You know, the kind that get stuck in your head and have you tapping your foot.
So now, we’ve got the crazy good, hand selected voice, the polished, hand selected pop song that can get anyone humming in front of their friends and the cash to make it work. It’s a perfect combo. It’s no surprise that anyone could randomly be asking the question, ‘Why does love always feel like a battlefield?’. Right?
So there it is. My explanation/justification for accidentally liking some of these American Idol songs. Let’s hear it. Favorite American Idol contestant song?
Ready? Go.
Fee’s New Look
It’s that time again folks. The Fee boys site got a facelift and it’s time to spread the word. SkörInc is proud to announce the brand new FeeBand.com. I’m really excited about how this one turned out. It’s been a great process and fun to try out some new things. Randy really took some things to a new level on this one and I’m excited to watch it grow and see the guys use the site more and more.
We’ve had a busy week with these guys from the broadcast, to the pre-sale, to now the new site. And I heard there’s even rumor of an iPhone app for these guys too. Lots going on, and lots to check out, so head over to FeeBand.com, check it out and as always, let me know if you see anything weird or that needs to be changed. Then it’s time to spread the word. Let’s blow up Twitter about it, blog about it, and go comment to the guys.
Ready? Go.
David Crowder’s Church Music Leak
So yesterday I stumbled on to this little gem on the internet. Yep, 85 megabytes of free David Crowder. And a record that doesn’t come out until next week no less. Kinda weird don’t you think? I mean, who would think that it was a good idea to put someone else’s record up without the permission of the band for all to “search” and find, and download for free?
Maybe it’s a publicity thing from David and the guys? Maybe they want people to find it. Maybe not.
To me it’s kind of sad that someone would “leak” an album like this and genuinely screw the artist out of a release. I mean, I’m all for giving stuff away when it’s possible, but I’m also all for artists getting compensated for their work. And great work it is. This record is really good and absolutely worth the $15 to get it.
What are thoughts. Cool leak or Jacked up?
