10Tfte Daily Tar HeelThursday, March 26; 1987
Feature
Promoting the ministry and producing
By ANGELA HAMPTON
Staff Writer
Over the decades, the world has
witnessed the rise of new and differ
ent forms of music.
The categories of jazz, country and
rock V roll have evolved so that now
smaller subdivisions of these music
varieties exist. The list keeps growing.
Take rock 'n roll, for example. This
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A number of special intramural events
dot the calender in the coming weeks. One
of particular importance is April 1, when
Carolina will face N.C State Duke and
Wake Forest in the 41st Annual Big Four,
an extramural competition featuring 11
sports. This year, Carolina will travel to
Duke, trying to win for the first time since
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On the home front, a number of tour
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industry includes mild and hard rock,
new wave, pop and, within the past
decade, another addition.
More and more Americans are
listening to and liking Christian rock
or Christian contemporary music,
according to Jim McGuire, assistant
station manager of WRTP, a Chris
tian radio station in Durham (1530
AM).
Tuesday, March 31. features foil compe
tition. Held in Fetzer Gym, the meet will
begin in the early afternoon. Entries are
due tomorrow.
. It's spring and that means tennis. For all
racquet aficionados, the WEEKEND
TENNIS TOURNAMENT will begin Friday.
April 3. Entries are due March 31.
There's also action on the links: THE
TEAM GOLF TOURNAMENT. Entries are
due April 3 for this two-day tournament,
April 7 and 8.
And tonight at Bowman Gray Pool, you
are invited to watch the intramural SWIM
MEET '87, the annual swimming and
diving meet featuring your friends and
neighbors. The meet begins at 6 p.m.
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"In the past 10 years, the contem
porary Christian music scene has
exploded," says Mc Guire. The
output of Christian music is "prob
ably at an all time high," he adds.
And with this new addition comes
a new breed of musicians Christian
rockers with their successes and
their problems.
Take Eddy Crabtree, a musician
from Durham, for example.
Crabtree, who has written and
performed locally, began his interest
in Christian rock seven years ago. "1
found out about it (Christian rock)
in 1979 because 1 wanted to find
something more uplifting," Crabtree
says. IVe always liked to sing, and
a couple of friends encouraged me.
1 dove head-first into it."
What's it like to be an up-and-coming
Christian artist? For Crab
tree, a local musician hoping to make
it . to the top, the future offers the
trials of any would-be star, actor or
musician. "I'm still writing songs and
DJ-ing and waiting for the chance
to do something else," he said. "1
guess some people do it for a living;
but it doesnl seem like work at all
to me because it's so much fun."
Crabtree, a disc jockey at WRTP,
says he has received much support
for his music from the Fellowship of
Contemporary Christian Ministries
(FCCM), a grass roots group that
tries to promote ministry. "It's for
non-traditional forms of ministry
such as dance, visual art, etc."
Crabtree says. "The function is to be
a support group for people who
aren't supported on the local level
Our goal is to try to work together
rather than outsmart the other guy."
The FCCM has also helped Crab
tree get local concerts. Recently, he
opened for. a local Christian rock
band called Hizzon (pronounced "his
own") in Durham.
"Right now," Crabtree says, "I'm
chief critic and sometimes opening
act for Hizzon."
As far as describing his own music,
Crabtree says the term "pop" is too
vague. "I'm really influenced by new
wave, but I wouldn't categorize my
music as new wave." Crabtree says
his music is not really hard rock either
because, as a solo artist, it is difficult
to produce the hard rock sound
without several accompanying musi
cians and various instruments.
"My music sounds kind of like
Foreigner - the same synthesizer rock
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sound. It's light, but it's not bubble
gummy. A cross between Chris-;
topher Cross and Steve Windwood
is the style I go for," he says.
Crabtree is optimistic about his
future in the Christian rock industry.
"You've got a smaller market in
Christian music so it seems easier for
people to attain relative fame," he
said. "Because it is a Christian
audience, you don't have quite as
hard of a time; they're coming from
the same point (of view) you are."
Crabtree says Christian contem
porary music is on the rise. "It's much
more accepted now than even in
J 1979, when I first started," he said.
"We have Tap now and heavy metal."
Both Logos bookstore and The
Sign of the Fish Christian bookstore
in Chapel Hill have noticed an
increase in the demand for the tapes
by contemporary Christian musi
cians they carry.
And. according to a sales clerk at
the Sign of the Fish, more Christian
rock bands have sprung up, and with
them has evolved a larger interest
from younger crowds, v
What kind of audience listens to
Christian contemporary music?
McGuire says results of a recent
national survey show that women
over age 30 who are college graduates
support the industry the most.
Michelle Pruett is in public rela
tions for Reunion Records in Nash
ville, Tennessee, the agency that
manages Christian rocker Michael
W. Smith. She has noticed a large
respose to Christian contemporary
music from high school and college
age groups in general as well as from
women in their 30s. Pruett has been
especially excited that the" teenage
male audience has been receptive to
Smith's latest album, The Big Pic
ture. "The 16-and-under male age
' group is the hardest to reach," Pruett
says.
The rise in popularity of Christian
contemporary music has made the
field more competitive in the last few
years, according to Pruett. "It's a
saturated market," she says.
As more and more Christian
musicians appear, they will offer the
general public a broader choice of
music, Pruett says.
"For example, sonically, Michael
W. Smith sounds rock 'n roll; but
lyrically, his music is a message of
hope and he is playing the music for
a young audience "to give them
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Getting started in the Christian
rock industry, according to up-and-coming
rockers and their agents, is
just like beginning in any other
musical category. "The best thing to
do is get a song published first,"
Pruett says. "Get your music on a
demo. Then a publishing company
can send it to a record company. It
gives you some credibility."
McGuire says an artist can start
singing on a street corner if he or
she wants to it all depends on the
person's goal. "The same kind of rules
apply, (to Christian music) as apply
in the secular music industry," he
says. "You look for the chance to
expose the public to your music."
The response to WRTP, which
gives Christian artists airplay, has
been positive, McGuire says. WRTP,
which switched from country to
Christian music in April of 1986, is
the only contemporary Christian
music station in the Durham and
Chapel Hill area, he said. WRTP
conducted listener polls and received
a large response from what McGuire
says is a broad section of the
community. The station tries to
program music according to people's
needs and likes to pay some tribute
to minority tastes. "But we can't be
everything to everybody," he says.
"We tend to be in the middle
What is called M.O.R.-in this
industry middle of the road;
nothing too fast or too loud or too
sleepy. It seems to satisfy people the
most."
WRTP also tries to promote local
artists. The station is starting a daily
feature in which it spotlights the
music of one local musician for 10
to IS minutes. Artists drop a tape,
of their music by the WRTP studio
and, while the station does not
promise air coverage, it may offer the
. exposure many musicians seek.
According to Pruett, Mc Guire
and Crabtree, there is no particular
denomination from which Christian
rockers seem to come. "Actually,"
said Crabtree, "a lot of them seem
to be non-denominational."
"Our artists cover the gamut. Each
artist has their own audience," Pruett
says.
Amid the growing popularity of
Christian contemporary music, var
ious religious institutions have given
the music negative feedback. "Jimmy
Swaggert thinks all contemporary
music is wrong, and he thinks most
people in Christian contemporary
music are into it for the money,"
Crabtree says. "But we support them
whether they support us or not."
Pruett talks of some of the same
issues. "It's a difficult time for
Christian music. The Church is
taking a different approach and isn't
sure where to stand," she says. "We
get mixed reactions, but the letters
we get from kids are all positive."
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