Joy Explosion

Petra is in the midst of a world tour that will stretch into the next year. In the coming weeks they’ll be performing in Nashville, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. They’re performing with the classic line-up of Bob Hartman, Louie Weaver, Mark Kelly, John Lawry, and Greg X. Volz.

The concert has been released on DVD.

There’s a blog keeping you up to date with added venues and other details.

You can also like their community page on Facebook.

Here’s a link to the video at youtube.

Here’s one of Janny’s best …

It’s sad to post consecutive obituaries, but it’s necessary this week. Janny Grein has recently passed away.

Janny was a singer-songwriter from the seventies, the composer of several well-known songs: Bread on the Water, Covenant Woman, By His Word, More Than Conquerors, Free Indeed, among others. Bread on the Water was recorded by the Imperials and became something of a theme for Kenneth Copeland; back in his singing days he performed it often. Oddly enough, Copeland also recorded Covenant Woman, awkwardly sung as Covenant Man, which didn’t exactly scan rhythmically.

Janny had been fighting cancer for more than a year. She lost the battle August 3, 2011 — though she didn’t really lose.  As her website reports:

Janny is now dancing on the streets of gold and we are rejoicing in her life and legacy. She ran her race and now has obtained the ultimate victory. God’s presence is embracing us and surrounding us as we celebrate her life and remember her love.

After recording four albums for Sparrow in the seventies, Janny continued to record for her own label and continued to tour and do missions work until her death. The best of her early work is available on an anthology double CD, which you can get at her website.

Dan Peek performing Lonely People.

I neglected to mention last month the passing of a great musician. Dan Peek, formerly of America, passed away on July 24, 2011. The cause of death hasn’t been specified, just that he “died in his sleep.” He was only 60 years old.

Dan was a founding member of America. His contributions (as a writer) included Don’t Cross the River and Lonely People.

Life on the road and life in a band didn’t agree much with Dan, and as America climbed their way to the top, he hit rock bottom, addicted to drugs and alcohol. He left the band in 1977 and returned to the Christian faith. The following year he recorded a solo album, All Things Are Possible, which reached number one on the CCM charts. This was followed by Doer of the Word. After that, Peek kept a pretty low profile, at least as far as Christian music goes. He didn’t really tour, didn’t really try to build a career in Christian music. He spent the last 30 years living in semi-retirement, dividing his time between his home in Farmington, Missouri, and a home in the Cayman Islands.

The music group Truth was started by Roger Breland in 1971. The group consisted of a dozen or so college students singing contemporary gospel and suitable secular songs — their first self-titled album featured a cover of the Rascals’ People Got to Be Free and Chicago’s Wake Up Sunshine. The group, which featured an octet of vocalists and a Chicago style horn section, started out singing at church revivals and youth camps, and before long they were crossing the states in a tour bus, and eventually the group toured the world.

Truth sang a lot of songs by Gaither, Lanny Wolfe, and Andre Crouch — the epitome of seventies contemporary church music. Their image was squeaky clean. Their music, though slightly jazz influenced, never ventured far beyond the boundaries of what was acceptable in a traditional church atmosphere. Hundreds of groups were modeled after them, but Truth was the best at it.

They were my favorite group back then. I still love those old records. Several of their songs can be heard on Joy Explosion Radio (crackles included). Their live album, You Don’t Know What You’re Missing is especially good.

After 31 years on the road, Breland retired Truth and became the dean of a performing arts center on the campus of the University of Mobile. This year, on the 40th anniversary of Truth’s first days, he has put together a new group and will be touring a number of churches and venues in the south throughout the fall of 2011. Here’s a link to the concert schedule.

You can watch a complete performance from the recent Daniel Amos tour here.