Avalon
Avalon Bio
There’s an undeniable chemistry that occurs when great
voices meet timeless songs. This music commands you to listen,
touching your very core. Avalon has always been associated with
creating such memorable music, but never has the award-winning
foursome sounded more compelling than on Faith.
Avalon’s eighth studio album was literally a lifetime
in the making. The record’s performances are buoyed by
countless hours belting these songs in church pews during
their youth as well as by maturity and a deep appreciation
that comes from experiencing God’s powerful grace. Jody
McBrayer, Melissa Greene and Janna and Greg Long deliver such
classics as “Holy Holy Holy,” “It Is Well,”
“Amazing Grace” and “I’ll Fly Away”
with an exuberance that make them sound brand new.
“Three of us grew up in preachers’ homes,”
says Greg of himself, Janna and Jody. “We’ve been
singing hymns since we were kids. It’s been a part of
our upbringing. We feel like these songs are a part of history.
Like ‘Holy, Holy, Holy,’ how many churches in countries
all over the world have sung that song?”
Though these hymns have been sung for years, there’s
something special about hearing them with the “Avalon”
treatment. After all, the Sparrow Records group is synonymous
with vocal excellence and integrity. They’ve sold more
than three million albums, garnered the Group of the Year
accolade three consecutive years from CCM Magazine readers
and won numerous Dove Awards, including New Artist of the
Year in 1998, as well as an American Music Award. Additionally,
Avalon has scored 20 number one singles and performed before
thousands on coast-to-coast tours.
However, it has all been leading to this moment in the group’s
career. Jody says they all felt compelled to share these hymns
with their audience. “You have to learn about your foundation,”
he says. “You have to learn about your past and what
your faith is built on before you can go out to a world that’s
different and teach the gospel. Hymns carry with them not
only solid theology but they were also the first songs about
grace, faith, and hope. You learn those songs and recognize
that people for centuries have been struggling with the same
questions.”
Melissa grew up in church, but the music that dominated her
services was contemporary worship. So recording Faith was
her opportunity to connect with the hymns in a personal way.
“I did not know a lot of the hymns,” says Melissa.
“So learning the words and knowing what these songs were
really saying made me fall in love with them. I am eager to
bring these songs to others who, like me, were unfamiliar
with them.”
Sometimes it’s in the most familiar of settings that
an artist finds confidence to stretch creatively and try new
things. Thus in recording the classic hymns they’d grown
up singing, Avalon felt free to experiment with some different
sounds.
“This is an eclectic record,” states Greg. “The
styles on it are not all the same. ‘Amazing Grace’
turned out to have an R&B feel. With ‘I’ll Fly
Away,’ we all just got on microphones and sang it down.
We’ve never actually been in-studio while the band is
recording tracks. On ‘I’ll Fly Away,’ we had
the whole band playing, and we arranged as we went. So it
was more of a creative thing than we’ve ever done.”
On Faith, Avalon once again worked with famed producer Brown
Bannister. “You know the project is going to be amazing
because he’s so gifted,” says Janna. “And we
feel so comfortable with him. He has an ability to pull out
the best in each of us vocally and convey the messages of
the songs.”
God’s amazing grace, the gift of peace and promise of
heaven are just a few recurring themes celebrated in such
timeless treasures as “Blessed Assurance,” “It
is Well,” “Great is Thy Faithfulness” and “How
Great Thou Art.”
Janna cites “Great is Thy Faithfulness” as one
of her favorite cuts on Faith. “Melissa and I sang it
together. It turned into a nice duet which we‘ve never
really done in 11 years of making music,” she says. “I’ve
said several times that this song sums up the way God has
been in my life. ‘Faithful’ is one adjective I love
to use in describing God because he is so big even when we’re
not.”
Jody says he’s always had a fondness for “It Is
Well.” “I didn’t know the story behind it until
about 10 years ago,” he says. “A man lost his two
daughters in a shipwreck and sailed to the site where the
ship went down. He wrote this song basically saying: ‘God
is in control. I do not understand why this happened, it’s
heart breaking, but it is well with my soul.’ I not only
look up to the person who wrote it and the giant of faith
he was, but I also love the fact that God comforts us in our
loss.”
In recording “How Great Thou Art,” Avalon says
the goal was to give it a U2-type flavor. “I wanted it
to sound like the story,” Greg says. “I wrote the
story out in the liner notes. When you listen to it, I want
you to be able to read the story and listen to the song.”
Another highlight is “Total Praise,” which has
become a favorite at Avalon’s live shows. “Melissa
brought it to the Avalon table,” says Greg. “We’ve
been doing that since the tour with Mark Schultz.”
“It’s sort of like the new ‘Doxology,’”
Janna says of the song they often use to close shows.
Faith also includes an amazing bonus track titled “Freedom.”
“It’s really a tribute,” says Greg. “It’s
a thank you to men and women in the military who risk everything
for freedom. Not only does it pay tribute to them, but it
also gives thanks to their families, parents, husbands, wives,
and children.”
These are good times for the members of Avalon. In the past
few years, they’ve all become parents and have learned
how to balance commitment to their growing families with their
commitment to music ministry.
“Our personal lives are meshing with our professional
lives,” says Jody. “We’ve bought a bus, and
we bring the kids on the road. We want to keep doing this
for as long as God will give us the grace. We felt that maybe
it was just time for us to fold up and quit several years
ago when we’d gone through some different circumstances,
but God said ‘No, I’m not done yet.’”
Courtesy avalonlive.com
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