In my family, the Christmas season does not start after Halloween. It doesn't even start after Thanksgiving.  We usually put the Christmas tree up 3-5 days before Christmas.  In our family and at my church, the period after Thanksgiving until Christmas is called "Advent."  This time is a period of planning and preparing for the birth of Christ Jesus.  It's a time to remember the great wonder that God the Father sent his son, Jesus, to earth.

mewithoutYouNever before have I seen such a peculiar band. Not in a bad way; rather, in an innovative and just plain different kind of way. With brilliantly-formed lyrics, experimental music, and singing/shouting vocals, they definitely set themselves apart. The first time I saw mewithoutYou perform was when they headlined Purple Door Festival in 2007. They brought a feeling of uneasiness, yet extreme confidence to the crowd of a few thousand. During our recent interview, Mike Weiss, mewithoutYou's guitarist, shared that their sound is "Just a little weird. I don't know; it's very hard to handle sometimes, but you get it after a while." For some reason, I believe that band members would depict the music and their ambitions quite differently. The only way you can really describe this band is to listen to their record or attend a show yourself.

Having spent over a decade touring and recording with their respective bands — Switchfoot and Nickel Creek — both Jon Foreman and Sean Watkins have strayed from their well-known sing-along choruses and strong guitar accompaniment to a more stripped down, darker release. While it takes a few listens to fully understand the depth of this disc, Fiction Family proves the versatility and staying power of both musicians in a time when not many bands are leaving their comfort zones.??

Calling themselves Fiction Family (despite Foreman's wish for the Real SeanJon) the Watkins and Foreman project formed after a few chance encounters at a local coffee shop in their San Diego hometown. After the urging from friends to collaborate over the years, they decided to give it a shot — never expecting a completed release. Taking turns singing lead vocals and alternating between multiple instruments including guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion, baritone, ukulele, piano, organ, mandolin, steel guitar and 12-string guitar, the 12-song self-titled debut will be released January 20 on ATO Records.

From the opening track on Fall to the very last chord played on Summer, Jon Foreman grabs the listener's attention. Whether it's the instrumental accompaniment on each track or how his storytelling takes you on a journey, these 24 songs leave a vast impact on the listener. While most may recognize Jon as being the frontman of San Diego-based band Switchfoot, of his recent solo project Jon has said, "A lot of these songs are the more personal songs that don't really belong on a band record." The listener can agree as the EP's seem to encompass one man's sadness, loneliness, and heartache as well as his hopefulness and determination at finding peace within his world, his God and himself.

Acoustic performance in New York CityI first heard the term “after-show” back in the fall of 2006 when I was looking for the members of Switchfoot and found out there was some sort of acoustic show at a coffee shop several blocks away.  I arrived at the after-venue to find Jon Foreman, lead singer, sharing some of his writings with Drew Shirley backing him up on guitar. A year later, when available coffeehouses were scarce, I attended two after-shows where the platform was the sidewalk outside the venue of the Appetite for Construction tour, including New York City.  Just months later, I had the privilege of attending a “real” Jon Foreman acoustic show near Greenwich Village where Bob Dylan began hitting the music scene decades earlier.

Dave Barnes is fascinated by my phone. It’s tiny and red and looks very much like someDave Barnes type of voice recorder, and when I tell him it’s really a phone, he exclaims that it’s the coolest thing he’s ever seen. He’s also impressed with my new Canon L-series lens…not necessarily because he knows what it is in terms of luxury lenses, but because it’s big and weighty and in his estimation could probably spot Jen (Anniston) and John (Mayer) in LA from where we sit on the other side of the country. We are sitting at an outdoor picnic table underneath the main deck of the Windjammer in Isle of Palms, SC. Barnes is sharing the stage with Matt Wertz at the Windjammer later in the evening.

The two have an eight-year history together that dates to a performance McCracken made at a Nashville coffee shop, according to Webb's e-mail newsletter. Webb was on a coffee run that day and became enamored of McCracken's voice and songwriting, the newsletter states. McCracken was eventually asked to join Webb's then-bandmates in Caedmon's Call on tour, and the seeds for a deeper relationship were sown.

Larry Norman, whom some call the Father of Christian music, died early this morning with family at his side at the age of 60. This does not come as a surprise as health problems related to his heart have plagued Larry for many years.

He began pushing boundaries in the late 1960's when he merged rock music with gospel lyrics. This was the dawn of what folks now call the Christian Contemporary music. Back then, there was not a distinction between Christian and mainstream rock music at the local record store.

Larry lived long enough to see the opposite occur as musicians of faith made waves into the general market in recent years. In the end, I wonder if he would have wanted it that way when he first made heads turn with songs like "Why Should the Devil (Have All the Good Music?)"

Yesterday, Caedmon's Call divulged months and months of secret information to the fans and the Christian music world alike.  It has been little known for a year or so that Caedmon's Call's last album, In The Company of Angels II: The World Will Sing was their final album under their contract with Essential Records/Provident Music Group.  It was rumored that Caedmon's would stay independent, but yesterday's announcement told of signing with INO Records, one of the few labels in the industry that has a more independently-minded model.

Singer/songwriter Derek Webb is trying to broaden his audience and is trying many new ways to gain an audience.  Last year he gave away music at FreeDerekWebb.com (if you gave him your e-mail address and those of five friends).  This time, he wants to do it again, but on a much bigger scale.