New Songs

It has been over a year since our last blog post. LAAAAAAZYYY! But anyway, I have been writing some new songs and for our next, next album. We just about have our new project finished up (two more songs) but summertime is hard to get together to record. Hopefully, we can get it finished up in the next month and have it ready by September. I've spent quite a bit of time in the last year studying modern history (WWII to now). And it is affecting my writing. I have been working on a new song that I have probably wrestle with more than any I have ever written. It's called "All Things". I believe that the death, burial, and ressurection of Jesus Christ is the single most important event in all of history. And if that is true, then all of history must come to bear on it....hence the name, "All Things". Everything from WWII to Korea to Kennedy, Nixon, Vietnam, and 9/11 are influencing this song. And it is topped off by a Charles Spurgeon quote......"When we cannot see the hand of God we must trust his heart!" It may not make this album, or any album for that matter, but it is causing some good reflection for myself. More updates soon....

Musical Influences Part 3:James Taylor

I remember the first time that I heard James Taylor (or at least knew that it was him). When I traveled with 180 Degree Ministries several people would come up and say, “you sound a lot like James Taylor”. Of course, it seemed like everybody would tell you that you sounded like somebody so at first I just chalked it up to…..whatever you would call that. But after about the third time I had determined to find out who this guy was. I had actually heard several of his songs but didn’t realize that it was him. I caught a commercial on CMT about a blended concert of James Taylor and The Dixie Chicks. I made arrangements to watch it. I didn’t get to see much of it for some reason. But the first song I heard was “Carolina in my Mind”. All I could think was, “I have got to have a copy of that song.” I had a tendency towards folk, storyteller type music to begin with and when I heard this song, I became a James Taylor fan for life. Contrary to what I had been told, I don’t think I sound like James Taylor. In fact, his voice has a pure quality to it that I don’t think I have heard in anybody in any genre. Needless to say, as an acoustic player I have learned several of his songs. It’s just good music. If I were stranded on an island with a cd player and could take only 3 cds one of them would be James Taylor’s greates hits. Since these posts are about musical influences I guess I should talk about how he has influenced me. I think the influence is found in songs that we do as a band that are just my guitar and the vocalists. Songs like “What I couldn’t do” and “Mexico Breeze”. I’ve got a new one called “Sweetest Taste” that is definately being shaped by the doctor of acousticology. Here’s a clip. I hope you enjoy.

Musical Influences Part 2: Steven Curtis Chapman

If you have had any conversations with me about who I think the top songwriters of our day are, then you have heard me talk about Steven Curtis Chapman. When I was in my teens, Steven Curtis Chapman was the first contemporary Christian singer that I had listened to. All of the youth kept referring to this new song that they called, “Saddle up your Horses”. Come to find out, the title was “The Great Adventure”. This was a watershed moment for me musically. I had only been familiar with southern gospel music as far as christian music goes and this was something I was attracted to immediately. Contemporary music was still considered “heathen” in the rural areas in which I lived but this heathen was going to have more impact on me than I realized. Obviously I am not alone when I say that he writes music that relates to people. I am not the only person who thinks so. Steven Curtis Chapman has won so many Dove Awards that they have been jokingly called “The Stevies”. I have patterned much of my songwriting after this guy. The way that he takes thoughts and phrases them. Some of them are elaborate and others very plain and powerful. I think our words, whether common or colorful, need not get in the way of the message. This guy excels at both. I have never talked to Steven Curtis Chapman but if I had the opportunity, I would thank him for the hours of thoughtful phrasing that have made the gospel clear and made the glory of God central. Steven Curtis Chapman is one of the most overlooked guitarists in the music industry. His playing has been overshadowed by his writing and singing. But he is a fine musician. If you arent’ convinced, try playing his stuff like it is suppose to be played. It’s not your common 1’s, 4’s, 5’s, and 6 minors. You have to know your instrument well. Here's a clip I like.

Musical Influences Part 1: The Roots

No, “The Roots” is not referring to a new age “earth” band. I simply mean where my love for music began. I grew up in a home where Southern Gospel Music was heard almost nightly. My parents sang in a gospel group known as “The Franklins” for about 20 years and then my father went on to sing with a group called “The Noblemen”. He now sings with a group called “The Garry Polston Family”. My home church in those days would have southern gospel concerts every couple of months and I got to meet a lot of up-and-coming singers and musicians. Several of them sing on those Gaither videos now. If I wasn’t hearing it live, I was hearing it on tapes, 8 tracks, or records. That’s right, records! But to be honest with you, I hated it for much of my childhood. That is no surpise to me now. Before I became a Christian, my heart was at odds with the Creator and his Gospel. It would have been strange to like hearing such messages in song. But as the Lord began to convict me of sin and change my heart I learned to love some of the things that I would hear in those songs. I came to love a song called “First Day in Heaven”. Not the fast one, but the slow one. Some of it went like this: “And God’s own hand shall wipe Away the tears from every eye And death itself shall lay down and die” I went through a spell where I thought that Southern Gospel music only sang about heaven and it bothered me that the songs were so consumed with it. I thought that they should be about more than that. There are a lot of SG songs about heaven. But when I compare them to what I hear on contemporary christian radio these days, I think that theologically, SG has the edge. I never thought I would say that but it’s true. Specifically talking about the radio and specifically in the last 4 or 5 years. The good, the bad, and the ugly exist in any genre of music. But while thinking about my muscial influences, I have noticed I like people from a little bit of everywhere. At age 16 I began to play bass guitar with a southern gospel duo (later trio) called “Willing Heart”. I have also sang in a gospel quartet known as “The Captial City Boys”. So my love for those rich harmonies has influenced what I write greatly. Many songs in the Josh Martin Band lend themselves to SG harmony. It makes for a unique sound. Rock guitars and SG harmony–can they work together? I think so. We’re doing it either way! One group in particular that I have grown to love and have influenced my music is the SG group “Gold City”. You need to go hear "It's Still the Cross". Best SG song in 10 years!

Musical Influences: Prelude

I have been thinking a lot lately about who I listen to and how it affects my own writing. It has gotten me listening to some old CD's that I haven't heard in a long time. Some of these CD's are the first CD's ever made by an artist in the early 90's. Yes, that's right, I'm getting old! But not as old as Doug and Danny. Anyway, I will be posting a little about some of my musical influences here in the next few weeks so stay tuned (no pun intended).

Together For The Gospel

This week I was fortunate to attend the Together for the Gospel conference in Louisville, KY. This conference is the best conference I have ever been to. They have only had 2 of them and I have been able to attend both. This last one was especially cool from a JMB standpoint because I was able to give one of our DVDs to John Piper. I have been a long time fan of his writings and have written several songs after having read his books. Songs like "Get up to a high Mountain", "Not so easily pleased", and "Wrap me in your cross". I don't know if he will ever listen to it. He may be thinking, "What kind of freak is this guy!" But either way, if someone had written a song after something that I had written, I would at minimum be curious. I don't really expect to hear from him or anything because he is a very, very busy guy. But I felt like he should at least be aware of it. If not here, he will be aware of his impact on folks like me in eternity. God has really used Dr. Piper to show me that I have way to small of an image of God. By His grace that is changing.

The DVD Is Finished

The DVD is finished and it's good. It also comes with a copy of the audio cd, a plus. So, for $15 you can get a DVD of the live concert and a cd to play in your car (or home stereo). I thought I'd post on here since there has been very little activity in months- life is busy for everybody. Speaking of busy lives... Kelly and Erricia had their baby, Haylee Niccole, on November 14! Pretty exciting for the whole Josh Martin Band family. You can check out Kelly's blog for some picture and a video. Other than that, not a lot has been going on. If anyone else ever posts anything on here, they may have more news, but I'm out.

DVD is ready.....almost!

We should have our new DVD ready for our Ninevah trip next weekend. It will be the first time we will have had it out for people to get and we are excited about it. We will have it in the store shortly. Just thought you might want to know.

Music: The Handmaiden of Theology

Back during the middle ages there where a couple of sayings that have really struck a chord (musical pun intended) with me. The first is this one: "Theology is the queen of the sciences and music is her handmaiden". The second is "Theology is the queen of the sciences and philosophy is her handmaiden". Music I believe can be a shared handmaiden. Music is a means of expression, not the end of expression. Music expresses how we feel or think. It is nothing apart from the passion that drives it. You may say, "what about jazz music? Some of it doesn't even have words!" Though it may lack words, it does not lack passion. And it is driven by something...some passion. So what drives the music that I write? Who does this "handmaiden" serve? I try to write music that is theologically informed. It is my desire for music to be the handmaiden of theology. I want the words I put together and the music that we play to serve as an avenue for biblical and systematic theologies. The term "theology" comes from two greek words. "Theos" means "God". And "logos" means "word" or "study". Hence, "Theology". So theology means a "word of God" or "studying God". It really bothers me when I hear people, pastors in particular, say that we don't need theology. Do you really believe that we do not need to know more about God? That is what I want my music to do, give you words of God. I want it to give you things to worship him about. Things praise him about. I want my music to stir you to love him. You can't love what you do not know. Philosophy has gotten my attention as of late. It is really interesting to me to see why people think the way they do. Where have the cliches and thoughts that fill our society come from? You may not know it, but most of them have come from philosophers. There are big name philosophers like Kant, Hume, Aristotle, Marx and so forth. But there are other philosophers that have taken music as a handmaiden. Bob Dylan and John Denver are two good examples. Their philosophies about life and how we live it permeated their music. I want this to be true of mine. I don't necessarily agree with all of their assessments but they realized one of the greatest avenues for thought-provoking discussion--Music. With all of this said, my style of writing is changing slightly. The content will be the same, The Gospel. But it will be more finely tuned. I am trying to write about how the Gospel affects how we live, think, and act. From the reality of our sins to how we view education and social issues. The gospel is offensive and beautiful at the same time. It won't let us stay the way we are and it will constantly be reminding us that we don't have everything figured out. So here is the first line of a new song and it speaks my fears and hopes for each concert "I've come to talk about your heart, I've come to talk about our sin, Knowing that if I do, You may not invite me again" God bless you, Josh

Back in the Habit

It has been a long time since we guys have gotten together to practice and play because we have taken most of the summer off. But our fall schedule is beginning to thicken and I have gotten two calls for bookings this week. We will be getting together to practice some new stuff and old stuff (if we can remember how they go). Just a little update. Things are picking back up again for the fall. Later.

Hoodwinked!

Bert has threatened to take away my summer job if I don't give up this battle. Since Bert is the camp director at Cedarmore, where I'll be working this summer, I'd be wise to listen to his friendly warnings before things get too serious. So, here it is Bert: I surrender. I had a pretty good run for a few weeks with just a few minor problems. I'm quite proud of myself! Thanks for keeping up with my escapades for this long and I hope this means that the rest of the band will start to blog again. See ya around.

I've Escaped

I've escaped from Josh's clutches! It wasn't very easy, in fact is was quite difficult. I had to wait until he was asleep, pick a few locks, call in a few favors, learn a second language over the past two days, and change my middle name, but it worked. I'm free! I'm back at the home base now waiting for the rest of JMB to attack- I'm ready for them. If anyone still wants to offer their assistance, I'd be more than happy to take it. We could use man-power, money, ammunition, and a few good cooks. If you're interested just give me a call at 1-800- HELPDPH... Oh yeah, I changed my middle name to Patrick.

Captured!

I've been captured by the enemy! Josh Martin has got me locked up in his Spurgeon room at his house- I've been here for the past few days. I still have some troops back at the base so JMB can't just waltz in... yet. I got away just a few moments to write this post but it's got to be short or else Josh will realize I'm gone. If I can stick around just long enough to gain some key information on their attack, this kidnapping will be worth it. I'll just play the waiting game and soon... Oh man! He's back and coming downstairs- don't forget me!

Day 9

Today has been an invigorating day- I feel like I could take on the world right now. I don't even think I'm going to need those extra troops that I previously blogged about, which is a pretty good thing. You see, my auxiliary troops have umm, how should I say this... left my side. It seems that while the situation was nice and safe, they were willing to lay down their lives but as soon as the real threat of war set in, they ran. Perhaps I should have listened to my good friend Mr. Machiavelli and used only native soldiers. Oh well.

Day 8

I'm surrounded- I'm not sure how much longer I can hold these guys off. Andrew and Kelly have both already infiltrated my seemingly impenetrable barricade and now Josh and Bert are both threatening to strike. I thought I could handle their attack, but now I'm not quite sure. I guess I can rest in the fact that if I go down, I'll go down in a blaze of glory. I haven't given up, I'm just preparing myself for the worst- defeat by the rest of JMB. So, on that note, I'll leave you now with some words of wisdome from The Band: "All good things must end. Like three heroes in a story, let's go out like we came in- in a blaze of glory." Until tomorrow...

Days 6 and 7

Sorry about no update from yesterday's battles. It was a pretty busy day. Josh called to give me some pretty lengthy threats- I expect his initial attack any minute now. Am I worried? Not a bit. To quote the great Stonewall Jackson once said, "Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me. That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave." I've been pretty busy trying to balance this war with my finals; but, I just finished my one test for the day and I should be free to gaurd my blog. Keep checking for updates.

Day 5

I can't believe this! I was told that we would have a truce for Sunday's since everyone should be spending time at church and with their families. But, it seems that the drummer has decided to pop in his head and do some posting around here. Things are getting pretty serious- my fortress has already been penetrated by Andrew and Kelly so the only two left are Josh and Bert. I have a feeling that Josh will try to post any day now. I haven't seen or heard from Bert so far throughout the war... maybe he's planning an air attack...? I'm not sure how much longer I can hold 'em back guys. This war may be coming to an end and I may not be victorious. Remember me.

The Drummer Checks In

Well, well, well. I don't post here for a while, and it seems Derek's trying to take over the place. Not so fast! As he mentioned earlier - yes, I have my own blog, and I've been fairly busy with my full-time and part-time jobs lately. So, I'll give my best attempt to update our faithful fans with what I've been doing. For JMB, I've worked on the first mix of our live DVD (and CD?) recording. After gathering some input from the band, I'm now moving into the editing stage and mix #2. Since I operate a recording business on the side, I've yet to be able to do this due to other concerts and projects I've been working on (sorry guys!). I should be able to start mix #2 this week. My job as a graphic artist is keeping me busy, as well. It's our busy time of the year, and I've taken on more responsibility lately. The good thing is, it makes the day go by fast. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to meet the keyboard player from MercyMe, Jim Bryson. I do work for a lady that went to high school with him, and she was able to introduce him to me before their concert at Rupp Arena. Not only did I get to meet him, but he also took my roommate and me on stage to check out his setup. While on stage, I also checked out the drums (of course). Jim's a super nice guy. Hopefully, I'll get the meet the rest of the guys the next time they come close. So... there you go. That's what's been going on with the drummer. How 'bout the rest of the band (besides Kelly, who already posted). Down with the revolution! - Andrew

Day 4

I just got word of an ambush that is supposed to happen some time later tonight. If the rest of JMB thinks they can out-smart me, well... they're wrong. We just received another truckload of ammunition and rations that should last us a few more weeks. Did you hear that guys? Weeks! Do you feel like giving up yet? I'll tell ya, if you can't stand the heat... get out of my kitchen. I got a nice casserole in the oven- a casserole of extreme pain and humiliation. I also got some nice sides simmering on the stove- tasty defeat and some delicious, buttered anguish.

Day 3

Today has gone rather swimmingly. You may have noticed that ol' Josh got in to comment on a previous post but I'm not threatened at all. It's not like he broke my barrier, he merely threw in a comment, almost like making a phone call into the blog, or sending a letter. His comment is not his presence and I will not be defeated. I'm still keeping a close eye on this blog and no one has tried to get by me today... still scared I suppose. However, the moment they do try to enter, I have an entire army to help me. Some fellow bloggers out there have discovered my little situation over here and have promised their support in my time of need. These are some serious bloggers and I'm glad to have them on my side. Viva la revolucion!