The Drive To Five: 2011 Comebacks and Goodbyes

Welcome back to the Drive to Five. This year of 2015 will mark the fifth edition of the Platinum Vinyl Awards. It has been a fun ride, and it gets bigger and better every year. Look for some giveaways to begin soon as well.

We get back into our time machine and return to the year 2011. I know, kind of a short trip. We are going over a bit of the same ground as in a past post, but we will add to it. Every year new groups enter the arena and hope to make their mark on the world. At the same time, due to either age, discouragement or various other reasons, a number of groups and artists drop out. We have already addressed the Class of 2011, as we call the new class. These will be the drop-outs of sorts. Of course there is a third class, that of the comeback. There is always that point time when artists say "Where shall I go? I can not dig, to beg I am ashamed..." There were two of those as well.

Like I said, these two were mentioned in a previous post. The first of those two Angie Turner, aka Miss Angie, has come back a long road from Triumphantine back in 2000. Time and Space came out in 2011 and garnered a dance song win, but fell short of the comeback. That award went to Burlap to Cashmere. All I can say is that it's good to force yourself to look back once in a while, somtimes you miss things. Miss Angie dropped off the radar after releasing the single Restore in 2012. However she released an EP in 2013 and is busy being a mom. Hope to hear from her again soon. 

One sort of semi-retirement goes to Eowyn Riggins, known simply as Eowyn. She has transplanted herself to Virginia with her husband and has put music on the back burner for now, but is still interested in starting a new band. We shall wait.

There was one official retirement in 2011. Underoath took the nomination and ran. They are missed, though the Hard Rock field has not suffered in their absence. Perhaps it was a good thing.

That clears out 2011 for us as well. Next time we shall take up the Third Awards, when we finally added a video awards section. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

PVA 2011 Nominees: General Field

We move on from Album of The Year to The General Field (Male Vocalist, Group, etc), mainly because I am not done with going through the song of the year candidates. Go with what's done.

I'm going to leave my exclusive General Field nominations (Comeback Artist, Lifetime Achievement, TNB DJ's Choice and CROSS/over) and go with the big ones. Once again I encourage you to check out the full list of nominees on my blog

Male Vocalist of The Year

• Dominic Balli
• Canton Jones
• Lecrae
• Andrew Peterson
• Tedashii
• Chris Tomlin
• Matthew West

I know, not a Chris August or Brandon Heath in the mix. August's Deluxe edition wasn't all that better and Heath never impressed at all, CJ had an outstanding album (5 Emeralds) and all the others were solid.

Female Vocalist of The Year

• Jackie Evancho
• JJ Heller
• Dara Maclean
• Mandisa
• Ginny Owens
• Beckah Shae
• Heather Williams

Four of the seven on this list (Evancho, Mandisa, Shae, Williams) had 5 Emerald releases. Dara Maclean leads the newcomers. The biggest surprise still continues to be Evancho. To be so good at so young an age. This is a loaded field.

Artist of The Year

• Burlap to Cashmere
• The City Harmonic
• The Civil Wars
• Canton Jones
• Lecrae
• Mandisa
• Beckah Shae

Folk-Rock Burlap to Cashmere returns after many years without missing a beat, and newcomers The City Harmonic have grabbed the spotlight with a refreshing sound. Not to be outdone is Folk Duo The Civil Wars. Another loaded field that is very close to call.

That concludes my partial look at the General Field Nominees. For the full list of General Field Nominees, including Group of The Year and Best New Artist, plus all the rest, please click on the link. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Music Video Monday: Folk Rock Edition

Welcome to the Debut of Music Video Monday. It also happens to be Monday the 13th, which would be Garfield's most unlucky day. The Concept is pretty simple. Every Monday I will share a few music videos with you. I am going to start with some of the bands that have made it into the Platinum Vinyl Awards, and I am also going to try to find a few Classics as well.

We are going to start with the Folk/Folk Music Genre (which, due to some fudging, will also include stuff like reggae). First Up is Dominic Balli with American Dream the title cut from his new album

Moving to a more traditional folk rock, here is the great Burlap to Cashmere with Love Reclaims the Atmosphere from their self titled album.


I never thought a folk act would get 5 Stars, but then The Civil Wars came along. This is Poison and Wine from Barton Hollow



Brooke Fraser is next with Betty, which is from her nominated album Flags.



And We close out our Video show this week with Control by JJ Heller.

That concludes our first ever Music Video Monday. I'll see you Next Week (No Holiday for us at The Night Beat). Until Next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Heating It Up: Platinum Vinyl Awards 4th Quarter Nominees

We have finally come to the end of the Second Nominating Year for the Platinum Vinyl Awards. Wow. Who would have thought I would have been able to make this work once much less as a regular occurrence. In the course of the second year a few changes have come about which may make the blogging of the second year slightly more challenging. One of those things is that I am now part of a group called Triberr, which agrees to tweet each others posts. Inherit in that agreement is an agreement not to overload the system with posts, and therein lies the rub. Last Year's awards were held as a series of blog posts spaced 15 minutes apart. There were 16 posts in all over a space of 4 hours. I tried to replicate an awards ceremony. So, to my Tribe mates in Blog Boldly, any suggestions. How should I handle this. I really don't want to spread it out over multiple weeks. It's not like you have to answer right now. The Awards wont be handed out until next year. The First was in April. Now to the nominees.

The 2011 Platinum Vinyl Awards 4th Quarter Nominees

Children's Music

• Denver and The Mile High Orchestra - Groovy (5)
• Veggie Tales (feat Moriah Peters) - Songs for a Princess
• Worship Together Kids - From The Inside Out

Traditional Folk/Folk Rock

• All Sons and Daughters - Brokenness Aside
• Dominic Balli - American Dreams
• Burlap to Cashmere - Burlap to Cashmere
• Andrew Peterson - Above These City Lights (Live)

Inspirational

• Matt Hammitt - Every Falling Tear
• Geoff Moore - Saying Grace
• Fernando Ortega B - Come Down O Love Divine
• Matt Papa - This Changes Everything
• Selah - Hope for the Broken World

Just a few additional notes before closing things out. First of all, if you see a (5) next to an entry, that is a 5 Emerald Rating Entry. It will definitely be among the final group of entries that may win an award. The others have to go past judging to get in.

The Inspirational Music Genre had to be created this year in order to find a place for Jackie Evancho, then I had to find some more entries to justify the category. I still can't bear to call it Adult Contemporary or Contemporary Gospel. Such is the case.

That starts the final group of genre-based nominees. Once we get through this the fun part starts. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Night Beat Rewind: July 2011

We have completed the first third of the final quarter of entries for the 2011 Platinum Vinyl Award. Boy things have gone by quickly this summer. August looks to be a little quiet. I guess when you're out on the festival circuit you can't have a CD coming out.

Not Exactly Precious Metal

The following handful of entries just missed making the Platinum Vinyl Awards initial cut. We had a very good July. It should make up for having a pretty sparse August.

• Opposition, Altars, 3.5 Emeralds
• Volition, As Hell Retreats, 3 Emeralds
• Out for Blood, Farewell Flight, 3.75 Emeralds
• Turn up the Music: The Hits of Point of Grace, Point of Grace, 3.5 Emeralds
• Kingdom Days in an Evil Age, Sleeping Giant, 3.75 Emeralds

As I have said, four emeralds is my bar. While I think Sleeping Giant and Farewell Flight have some potential, there was just something lacking with their releases. Maybe next time.

July 2011 Platinum Vinyl Nominees

This month was pretty good. We had almost two dozen possible nominees. Now remember, this is the initial list, and things will get whittled down before the finals. This is the first step.

• Brokenness Aside, No. 1, All Sons & Daughters, 4 Emeralds
• Stop the Funeral, Ambassador, 4.5 Emeralds
• A Thousand Tongues, Jeff Anderson, 4.25 Emeralds
• American Dreams, Dominic Balli, 4 Emeralds
• Burlap to Cashmere, Burlap to Cashmere, 4.75 Emeralds
• Validation, Call to Preserve, 4.5 Emeralds
• The Best of, Ricky Dillard and New G, 4.25 Emeralds
• Heavy Worship, The Great Commission, 4.5 Emeralds
• Give Me Rest, Hands, 4.25 Emeralds
• God Is Able (Live), Hillsong Live, 4.25 Emeralds
• You Got My Attention, Dara Maclean, 4.5 Emeralds
• Time And Space, Miss Angie, 4.5 Emeralds
• Broken Voice, My Epic, 4.5 Emeralds
• Come Down O Love Divine, Fernando Ortega, 4.5 Emeralds
• To Those Perishing, A Past Unknown, 4.25 Emeralds
• The God Machine, Phinehas, 4.5 Emeralds
• I'm All In, Robert Pierre, 4.25 Emeralds
• Let it Rain: The Best of Pocket Full of Rocks, Pocket Full of Rocks, 4.25 Emeralds
• 10,000 Reasons, Matt Redman, 4.25 Emeralds
• These Simple Truths (Deluxe Edition), Sidewalk Prophets, 4.25 Emeralds
• Promises, Richard Smallwood, 4.25 Emeralds
• Beautiful Monster, This'l, 4 Emeralds
• Holy Hip Hop, Volume 11, Various Artists, 4.5 Emeralds

That's it for July. It's kind of hard to believe, but in just a few short months I will be beginning the process to pick the seven final nominees in each category for the 2nd Platinum Vinyl Awards. Wow. I hope you stay with me through it all, tell your friends, and as always, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

We are here, We are here

During the latter half of the 1990's Christian Music was about to come full circle. Though most of the "pop" music of the Jesus Music era would be classified as Folk (or even Folk Rock) by today's standards, beginning with the 80's, CCM focused on the emerging Rock genre, purging Folk from its repertoire. The biggest "folk star" of the early CCM era was Amy Grant. In the beginning it was One Girl and her guitar playing "My Father's Eyes". As the industry changed, Amy became the first bonafide Pop-Rock Star that CCM had. Except for the Messianic Music sub genre (Lamb), folk was dead.

Frail Jars from Kansas Revive Folk

The resurrection began in 1995 with the release of "frail", the debut release by Jars of Clay. (#22 on CCM Magazine's 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music) "Was it an acoustic based alternative band or a cleverly disguised folk act?" they asked. The answer was folk, but then it alternative, and now, with the release of The Shelter (2010), it's folk again.

1997 saw two radically different sounds take over folk music. First out of the gate was Christian music's original junkyard band, Caedmon's Call and their self-titled release. (I don't think they ever played old bottles or metal garbage cans, but I don't think they wouldn't have tried them). The year ended with the Amy Grant's "girl with a guitar" mantle being passed to a girl from Kansas named Jennifer Knapp. Kansas (1997) (#80 on the CCM list) was full ahead folk-rock. Though she would later be more rock than folk, and she would later be disowned by the CCM industry at large for personal issues, three of her four albums would make my greatest album list: Kansas, The Way I Am (2001) and Letting Go (2010) Which won the First Ever Platinum Vinyl Award Best Folk Rock Album, and also garnered Jennifer the Comeback Artist of the Year Award as well as the Night Beat Fallen Award. I Would encourage you all to visit my Platinum Vinyl Award Homepage for the complete list of winners and the description of the various awards. Though not marketed to the CCM industry as a "Christian Album", there is nothing objectionable in Letting Go. And, as in other Christian matters, count me as one of the "Once saved always saved" crowd, with one caveat. If you intentionally renounce Jesus, you are doomed. Unless you do that, you're still saved. I never read that Jen renounced Jesus, so she's still in the kingdom.

Basic Instructions for Musical Domination

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth (that's BIBLE f.y.i) took over the airwaves the following year and the phenomenon known as Burlap to Cashmere took the throne. 1998's Anybody Out There? was a fusion of Greek-Mediterranean-Middle Eastern influences with Folk Rock. Founders Steven Delopoulos and John Philippidis influences are most evident on the opening track entitled Digee Dime, as well as Basic Instructions, Divorce, and the martial-sounding Scenes. Then, almost as quickly as they rose to the top, they vanished.

Fast forward thirteen years. Christian Music is experiencing a period of reunion. (I would say renewal but that sounds a bit too ecumenical). Bands (or artists) who either through an official disbandment or just a long period of inactivity have disappeared from the public consciousness have orchestrated their comebacks. It is no surprise that BTC are among the returnees. Their self titled release, which came out July 19, is like a cool drink of water to a thirsty soul. Though more standard folk rock, with even some Jars like influences, the Greek sound can still be heard in cuts like Build a Wall, Orchestrated Love Song, and Santorini.

After repeated listening, I have to say this is one of the best folk albums of 2011. Where I thought that The Civil Wars would be runaway winners this year, I am not so sure now. I am giving Burlap to Cashmere a just short of perfect 4.75 Emeralds. Welcome Back Burlap to Cashmere, and, until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Reunion Summer

This year is turning out to be quite interesting if, like me, you kind of miss some of the "old" bands or artists. I'm speaking figuratively guys, you're only as old as you think.

First Came The Legends. This Year the Cornerstone Festival had a Jesus Rally. Present were the Legends of Rock. I have usually never wished that I was in Illinois in the Summer. This year was different

Jesus Music Rally

Thursday June 30, 2011

3:00 PM - Servant

3:50 PM - Barry McGuire

4:55 PM - Daniel Amos

5:50 PM - Randy Stonehill

6:50 PM - E Band

8:00 PM - Resurrection Band (REZ)

9:15 PM - Phil Keaggy

10:15 PM - Classic Petra

To a lot of Christian Music enthusiasts, this was a dream matchup. I mean what was there to complain about. O.K. "Hey, How come REZ got the most time of all of them (technically it's their festival), but apart from that. Of course shortly before news of this rally we heard that Petra was reorganizing under it's classic lineup, and things have gotten better since then. Sweet Comfort Band is getting reconstituted and recording again. Grammatrain, a band which announced they were breaking up the first (and Only) time I saw them in concert, recorded a new album, which you can hear on their site. According to Jesusfreakhideout.com Time and Space the first release from Miss Angie in a dozen years. (Triumphantine dropped back in 1999) will release next Tuesday. I am psyched.

The track listing:

1. Time and Space (feat. The Identity Crisis)
2. Letting Go (to your love)
3. Great is Your Salvation
4. I Dare Myself
5. Intermission (make the connect)
6. Lovestealer
7. Oh Daddy
8. Wanting My Heart
9. Hear My Prayer
10. Not Enough
11. Not Enough (Remix by Paradoxx)

You can listen to Time and Space, as well as Great is Your Salvation, I Dare Myself, Lovestealer, and Wanting My Heart, in their entirety on her official site. That's half the album folks. I would love to be able to get my hands on a full copy so I can make a review, but based on the five songs available, Fans of the first two albums will not be disappointed. There is just enough "space-pop" to satisfy, and it is combined with a now much matured voice. This is her best work yet, and I will give it a preliminary 4.5 Emeralds. Welcome back Miss Angie.

Finally, we have Burlap to Cashmere, which released their last Album Anybody Out There? back in 1998. Their self-titled release which came out this past Tuesday, is available to listen to in its entirety though hearitfirst.com. After listening, I would hope you would return to the site and support the night beat by buying through this site. I hope to have a full review up on the site soon.

That will do it for now. As Always, I am Awaiting Your Reply.