Tell & Show Indie Artist Showcase

Tell & Show Indie Artist Showcase
Gospel Music Week: Entry One (Sat 4/18 7-9:30pm)

Mike here. I've arrived safely in Nashville. Yesterday (Saturday) was warm and sunny; this morning (Sunday) a light rain is falling from the gray sky- a perfect balm for homesickness for the near-perpetual drear of upstate New York.
Last night, I was privileged to attend the Indie Artist Showcase in the Renaissance Ballroom. It's an event that I've enjoyed to varying degrees for a number of years. It's a nice low-key kick-off to a high-intensity week, and I've gotten introduced to a number of great indie artists. This year, the format was switched up a bit. While it's a first event for retailers like me, it's a culmination of a full-day seminar for artists who attend the Indie Impact track. Whereas previous years have featured one song each from 20-25 randomly drawn indies with audience members providing written feedback, this year took an American Idol-esque turn, with performance coach Tom Jackson (http://www.tomjacksonproductions.com/), associate Elliot Cunningham and artist Mary Kathryn serving as judges. Tom started the evening of with an informative pep talk on some of the overlooked keys to artist success, which incidently I found to have some great secondary applications to the retail world as well.
Next, Midas band Rush of Fools took the stage for a three-song set of "Can't Get Away", "There is Nothing" and their latest radio single, "Lose It All" First of all, these guys are amazing! I've seen them at previous GMA's, but they have grown so much musically and in terms of their stage presence. With two albums to their credit and having just completed their first headline tour earlier this month with Jimmy Needham, Sarah Reeves and Joy Lippard, I am most impressed with their humble hearts and God-centric lyrical content. Their tour, Freedom Begins Here, was a bold promotion, not merely of a song or an album, but of a dynamic mininstry that helps break the chains of pornography & sexual addiction. For more information, visit http://www.freedombeginshere.org/
The Rush of Fools fellas- Jacob, Jamie, J.D., Kevin & Wes- had the unenviable task of being Tom's guinea pigs in front of an audience of industry peers. Tom did a beautiful job wielding the scalpel, but its nevertheless akin to a frog voluntarily stretching out on the disection block in a high school Biology class. It was a act of boldness that would make Braveheart himself run for the hills, but Wes & company tackled it all with poise and unflinching vulnerablility. The result was an impressive variation on "There is Nothing" that connected powerfully with the audience.
Next came an abreviated session with five of the attending indie artists being given an opportunity to perform a single song and to receive feedback from Tom, Elliot and Mary Kathryn. I was profoundly impressed with how each struck the delicate balance of insight, edification and exhortation, affirming the artists legitimately and providing elements they could take away and work on. While the session provided fewer performance spots than previous years, it provided valuable feedback that every artist in attendance could gleen from. The artists ran the gambit from Australian evangelist Jim Peters to high-energy urban worshipper Terry Lysander to celtic-tinged mom of four Courtney Smith, all of whom were excellent. Personal highlights were two: first, Bernadette Cleare, whose clean, passionate vocals and inspo-gospel stylings breathed annointed life into her worshipful lyrics. Bernadette has a CD available on CDBaby.com- if you're a CeCe Winans fan, I'd recommend that you give her a listen.
The other artist was Shawn Starbuck (no relation to the java giant, folks!), whose song "Not Ashamed" was a captivating God-moment kind of song. Shawn is a self-affacing worship pastor who we all found ourselves rooting for and relating to. This was one of those hidden gem performances that are nearly impossible to wrap words around- God has big things in store for Shawn, and it's awesome to know that I was in the room when a defining moment occured.
That's enough for now. More later! -Mike