So it's been floating around for a short period of time that Peter Furler is stepping down as the lead vocalist of Newsboys and is to be superseded by Michael Tait of dcTalk.


This has come about as Peter Furler with all of the work that is done with the band and he has done for so many years was fearing a burnout. The end result is that he will still be involved in the songwriting and production of the Newsboys music, but he will no longer front the band.

Michael Tait of dcTalk is to be the replacement. At the time this came about he was working on his first pop album and got a phone call from them. He felt that this was a great fit and decided to delve right into it with the Newsboys.

Since the claimed transition Peter has joined with them on select dates on tour. Perhaps he may continue to do this and periodically guest appearances may be an option and is being done throughout the transition.

The Newsboys have a new album out May 5, 2009. It is obvious their first single "In the Hands of God is performed by Peter on vocals. What is to become of the rest of the album will be interesting to see.

If you would like to buy the single "In the Hands of God" you can pick it up from Amazon MP3 here.

The Newsboys Official homepage is found here.

There are two videos linked below that are very informative about the situation if you wish to hear more:

Michael Tait Joins Newsboys - BattleCry Dallas on YouTube here.

Michael Tait Performs With Newsboys - Exclusive Interview With Tait & Duncan Phillips on YouTube here.

So I wanted to throw out this Finish band I found called Scandinavian Metal Praise. This is Metal instrumentation combined with a female vocalist performing in Praise. It is an interesting combination, and it actually blends quite well.

You can Listen to three Metal Praise songs on their Myspace here.

exMusix First Quarter 2009 Top 10 Christian Singles:

10) "Flush" by Brian "Head" Welch
Give it a listen on Head's Myspace here.

9) "Don't Waste Your Life" by Lecrae
Give it a listen on Lecrae's Myspace here.

8) "Lose My Soul" by tobyMac
Give it a listen on tobyMac's Myspace here.

7) "Finally Home" by MercyMe
Give it a listen on MercyMe's Myspace here.

6) "Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman
Give it a listen on Chapman's Myspace here.

5) "All That Matters" by Addison Road
Give it a listen on Addison Road's Myspace here.

4) "Unbreakable" by Fireflight
Give it a listen on Fireflight's Myspace here.

3) "Chorus of the Saints" by Revive
Give it a listen on Revive's Myspace here.

2) "Whispers in the Dark" by Skillet
Give it a listen on Skillet's Myspace here.

1) "There Will Be a Day" by Jeremy Camp
Give it a listen on Jeremy's Myspace here.

The 40th Annual GMA Dove Awards are almost upon us. These awards are unique because for the first time they are allowing the public to have a voice in voting for the Artist of the Year and New Artist of the Year categories! This year plan to watch the awards Live! on the Gospel Music Channel April 23, at 8pm EST.


So let's look at 2009's Nominees for these two categories:

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Casting Crowns
Steven Curtis Chapman
Fireflight
Marvin Sapp
Third Day
tobyMac
Chris Tomlin

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Addison Road
Francesca Battistelli
Fee
Jonathan Nelson
Remedy Drive
Chris Sligh
Tenth Avenue North

So do you want to participate?

Voting Rules:
1. You may cast only one online and one SMS vote in each category.
2. You may visit the voting page as often as you like. For instance, you can vote for one category now and return to vote for another category later.
3. All votes must be submitted between February 26th and April 23rd 2009, inclusive.
4. All votes are final once cast unless disqualified for some reason.

If this interests you each of the artists you can for are presented below with the voting link, sms information, and links to listen to their music on Myspace if you need to check some of them out before voting:

Doves Online Voting here.

Artist of the Year:
Vote For / Text To / Check Me Out:
Casting Crowns / DOVE CCROWNS to 72648 / Click here.
Steven Curtis Chapman / DOVE SCCHAPMAN to 72648 / Click here.
Fireflight / DOVE FFLIGHT to 72648 / Click here.
Marvin Sapp / DOVE MSAPP to 72648 / Click here.
Third Day / DOVE THIRDDAY to 72648 / Click here.
tobyMac / DOVE TOBYMAC to 72648 / Click here.
Chris Tomlin / DOVE CTOMLIN to 72648 / Click here.

New Artist of the Year:
Vote For / Text To / Check Me Out:
Addison Road / DOVE ADDISON to 72648 / Click here.
Francesca Battistelli / DOVE FRANCESCA to 72648 / Click here.
Fee / DOVE FEE to 72648 / Click here.
Jonathan Nelson / DOVE JNELSON to 72648 / Click here.
Remedy Drive / DOVE REMEDY to 72648 / Click here.
Chris Sligh / DOVE CSLIGH to 72648 / Click here.
Tenth Avenue North / DOVE AVENUE to 72648 / Click here.

If you would like to check out the rest of this year's Nominees and Categories click here.

Are you turned off by Hip Hop because of the main stream or popular culture that can be associated with it? The womanizing? The violence? The alcohol abuse? Well there are artists out there dedicated to the Christian message. One of those is Lecrae. Lecrae is Christian rap, but very much filled with the gospel and isn't afraid to rap about good messages.

The Lecrae Myspace page here.

The Lecrae Amazon store here.

According to Streaming Faith Lacrae has been doing very well including spending time at the #1 position of Billboard's Gospel charts towards the end of 2008. Here is some of what Streaming Faith had to say about it:

"Since debuting on Sept. 30, the album from Reach Records' recording artist Lecrae, maintains the No. 1 position on Billboard's Top Gospel Album chart for the second week.

Making history as the first Christian Rap album to sit in the top position, "Rebel" has ended the 18-week run of Marvin Sapp's "Thirsty," placing it in the No. 2 position while Voices' "The Ultimate Gospel Collection," CeCe Winans' "Thy Kingdom Come," and Shekinah Glory's "Jesus" complete the Top 5 positions, respectively.

"Rebel" also maintains top placement on Billboards' Top Christian/Gospel Album chart, and also closed out the week in the No. 5 position on iTunes' Top Rap/Hip Hop Album following T.I.'s "Paper Trail," Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III," and Young Jeezy's "The Recession.""

To check out the rest of the article go here.

Watch Lecrae's video for "Praying For You" below:

Click here.

Skillet is an awesome pop/rock/punk Christian band. If you haven't heard Skillet you have been missing out. Not too much to write about as far as current events go, but below will be their website link, their Reverb Nation widget and a fan hosted music video. So check them out below if you haven't already done so!



The Skillet official site here.

Check out Skillet's video for Whispers in the Dark on YouTube below:

Click here.

Check out Skillet's Reverb Nation TuneWidget below:

Click here.

Skillet is also up for the GMA Dove Awards Group of the Year which you can look at here.

Brian "Head" Welch was originally a founding member and guitarist of Korn. Reborn as a Christian he left Korn and now does his own Christian music. His story is a unique and interesting one and the music is good. If you are interested in buying his material you can get his cd from Family Christian here, and he also has a companion autobiography which you can get from Amazon here.


Below is the Bio from his official website here.

"Brian "Head" Welch is from Bakersfield, California. At the tender age of 11, Head picked up a guitar and found his original calling. Barely out of high school, he helped found the controversial rock band Korn. The band became a grammy award winning, multi-platinum selling band, and quickly soared to the top of the music world while selling some 30 Million records internationally. The band was credited with being the major influence in the rise of the Nu Metal Movement. While with Korn, Head won two grammy awards and several MTV music video awards.

In February 2005, Head shocked the music world when he resigned from Korn to re-dedicate his life to Christ and focus on raising his daughter, Jennea, as a single father. The event set off a media frenzy as observers around the world sought out to understand what led this rock star out of the darkness and into the light.

Significantly, and perhaps most importantly, upon his resignation from Korn, Head made clear to the music world that he had not retired from the music and entertainment industry. With his newfound calling, Head is committed to changing the youth of this nation through his music and other entertainment ventures. In this regard, Head penned an autobiography of his life, picked up and released by Harper Collins Publishers in July 2007, entitled, "Save Me From Myself." Head gained further acclaim as a successful author, when the book quickly hit the New York Times Best Seller List (non-fiction). In his memoir, Head talks for the first time about his shocking embrace of God, and the tumultuous decade of drug and alcohol addiction that led him to his faith, where he was completely and instantly healed of his addictions.

Heads debut album also entitled, "Save Me From Myself," is a testimony of his life as he battled with drug and alcohol addiction, leaving KoRn, and finding spirituality. His debut album is a heavy metal epic, with a positive message. It will leave no doubt in everyones mind that Head, as a founding member of KoRn, has not lost his passion for the metal sound that originally helped make his former band famous. The Debut Album is set for release September 09, and features renown musicians such as Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, Alice Cooper, David Bowie), Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle, Evanescence, Nine Inch Nails). The first single, Flush, will be available exclusively on I-Tunes on July 8th. The album was mixed by Bob Clearmountain, Ralph Patlan, and Head himself."


Below is an interesting video on YouTube about his awesome story:

Click here.

Below is the official music video for his song "Flush":

Click here.

And finally, below is The Making of "Flush":

Click here.

Welcome to exMusix! This blog is dedicated to contemporary Christian material. In this blog I will write a lot about music, but I will also cover lots of other topics here and there as well. Thank you for visiting, and please check back now and then for new posts and material. God Bless.