The artists and songwriters who drive the music range from country stars - Raybon, Charlie Daniels, Paul Overstreet, Ricky Skaggs - to virtual unknowns. Although it encompasses many musical and lyrical styles - including "positive country" - Higgins prefers to keep the definition simple: "Christian country is country music with Christian lyrics."
Gene Higgins, a minister and performer, founded the CCMA three years ago to "give a home" to a lyrical style that fell between traditional Southern gospel (think quartets) and mainstream country. In recent months, however, the idea has taken hold, as major Christian record companies have added country divisions and hundreds of radio stations have begun playing the music - some of them exclusively. But until three years ago, Christian performers with a preference for country music had not tried successfully to establish a separate artistic and commercial identity. The occasion was the third awards ceremony of the Christian Country Music Association (CCMA), the centerpiece of a four-day convention of seminars and performance sessions last week to promote a rapidly developing music genre called "Christian country." About 1,200 songwriters, performers, fans and promoters attended the event at Trinity Music City, home of the worldwide Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN).Ĭountry music always has had Christian performers. Get up, get up, get up in Jesus's name. Don't go down defeated while victory's here to claim. The Lord is calling daily to those who would be saved. Marty Raybon, lead singer for the popular country group Shenandoah, brought the crowd to its feet with a song from his new solo release: It was a cold, damp Thursday night, but inside the auditorium was warm and rocking.
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