Worship artists I keep an eye on

January 31st, 2008 by Matt Heerema | Posted in Song Selection

Without a doubt, it is better if a band writes original music for its own church. However, that is simply not a reality for most churches out there, either because of lack of skill, time and availability, or myriad other factors. So, it is usually necessary that a church band is inherently a “cover band”. The second best thing to do in my opinion then is for each band to make each song its own. That is, that the band play its own arrangement of these songs.

Here are some worship artists that I keep a pretty consistent eye on for new music.

  • Passion (Matt Redman, David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, others)
  • Brian Doerksen
  • Delirious
  • Hillsong’s United
  • Jared Anderson (Desperation Band)
  • Matthew Smith / Indelible Grace
  • Tim Hughes
  • Red Mountain Church
  • Sovereign Grace Ministries

We have songs from a large variety of other sources and artists as well, but these seem to produce consistently excellent music. There are many other bands that produce consistently good music as well, but for whatever reason, I usually stick to the above, with a few exceptions.

Who do you go to for music? Do you write you own?

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5 Responses to “Worship artists I keep an eye on”

  1. On January 31st, 2008 at 2:44 pm; Steve said:

    I posted this on the previous thread — meant to post it here (sorry).

    I’m a fan of UK and Canadian worship. I find in general that American worship is more ‘performance’ oriented, while UK artists focus on simplicity, melody and singability. I gravitate toward Paul Oakley, Stuart Townend, Matt Redman, Brian Doerksen, David Ruis etc. The American exception is Vineyard music, which I find surprisingly unpopular in the U.S.

  2. On January 31st, 2008 at 6:31 pm; Terry said:

    I still remember when they did an Indelible Grace song here at Grace at NCSU a few years ago. (O Love that will Not Let Me Go!)

    Ever since that Sunday, God has used their music to strengthen and encourage our family in our faith.

    Found out about Red Mountain through Indelible Grace’s forum…

    I could go on about how God has used them as well.

    It’s cool to hear other GCM churches be blessed by their music, too!

  3. On February 5th, 2008 at 11:44 am; mandy said:

    helpful list. i definitely follow about half of those. recently gotten into Sovereign Grace… will check out the rest on your list!

    thanks!

  4. On February 5th, 2008 at 10:22 pm; Jeff M. Miller said:

    I’ve not heard of Red Mountain music. Some others I keep up with are Shane and Shane and Shawn McDonald.

    It’s more a regional thing, but I also use quite a bit of stuff from a guy named David Crain. http://www.davidcrain.com

  5. On June 17th, 2008 at 8:24 am; wes said:

    Great list. I just discovered Red Mountain and SGM a few months ago, they have some amazing songs. You probably hear some of the Getty’s stuff through those two outlets, but they are another great resource. - http://www.gettymusic.com/hymns.asp

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