Jars of Clay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jars of Clay
Left to right: Matt Odmark, Dan Haseltine, Steve Mason, Charlie Lowell
Background information
Origin	Greenville, Illinois
Genre(s)	Christian rock Alternative rock Pop rock
Years active	c1993–present
Label(s)	Independent
Members
Dan Haseltine, Stephen Mason, Matthew Odmark, Charlie Lowell
Former members
Matt Bronlewee, Scott Savage, Aaron Sands, Joe Porter

Jars of Clay is a four-member Christian rock band formed at Greenville College in Greenville, Illinois. Jars of Clay's members are Dan Haseltine, Charlie Lowell, Stephen Mason and Matthew Odmark. While the band has no permanent drummer or bass player, for live concerts, these roles have been filled previously by Joe Porter and Aaron Sands, and as of 2006, are filled by Jeremy Lutito and Gabe Ruschival.

The band's name is derived from the New International Version's translation of 2 Corinthians 4:7,

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."

This verse is the namesake for their song "Four Seven" (a hidden track on the CD release of their first album), which paraphrases the verse.

Contents 1 Band history 1.1 Formation 1.2 Early albums 1.3 2000s 2 Blood: Water Mission 3 Beliefs 4 Band members 4.1 Current members 4.2 Touring members 5 Trivia 6 Discography 6.1 Studio Albums 6.2 Virtual Albums 6.3 Other recordings 6.4 Single charts 6.5 11ive concert 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Band history

[edit] Formation

Jars of Clay was formed at Greenville College, in Greenville, Illinois in the early 90s, by Dan Haseltine, Steve Mason and Charlie Lowell. They had been playing and writing without thinking about an actual career in music, but more for fun ("like a dormitory acoustic group"). Second guitarist Matt Bronlewee joined some time later, and drummer Scott Savage also accompanied them in some live shows at this time.

In 1994, the band submitted a demo to a talent competition run by the Gospel Music Association and were selected as finalists. They traveled to Nashville to perform and won the contest. Back in Greenville, they released a self-released demo called Frail. The title song was originally written by Steve Mason as an audition track for a scholarship to Greenville (his submission was successful). Their performance in Nashville and their demo managed to catch the attention of record labels, so the band decided to drop school and move to Nashville. At this time, Bronlewee left the band to finish school and settle down with his fiancée. He was replaced with Matt Odmark, Lowell's childhood friend.

[edit] Early albums

Jars of Clay signed with Essential Records and started recording their first full-length album. Former prog-rocker from King Crimson and recent Christian convert Adrian Belew heard the band and offered to produce the album. This debut album was released in 1995 and one of the songs, "Flood", became a hit in Christian radio stations. When the song began to climb the charts on mainstream radio stations, Silvertone (Essential's parent company) heavily promoted the song, turning it into one of the biggest mainstream hits ever by a Christian band. The album has since passed the triple platinum mark.^[1]

The band toured in support of other Christian acts, such as PFR, and also with main-stream acts like Matchbox Twenty and Sting. This resulted in a small backlash from conservative Christian groups. They also released a Christmas EP titled Little Drummer Boy at the end of 1995. The Christmas EP was re-released in 1997. 1997 also saw the release of their second album, Much Afraid, produced by Stephen Lipson. The album sold well and won them a Grammy. However, it didn't reach the same level of success as its predecessor. Fans suspect that this is because Christian groups who backed their first album were hesitant to back a less overtly religious (although still strongly Christian) release.^{[citation needed]}

In 1999, they released their third album, If I Left The Zoo, produced by Dennis Herring, and it reached gold status. It also earned them their second Grammy. By this time, touring drummer Savage left the band's live performance to play for Jaci Velasquez and was replaced by Joe Porter. A song from If I Left The Zoo, "Unforgetful You", was featured on the soundtrack to the film Drive Me Crazy.

[edit] 2000s

In 2001 the four members of the band received Honorary Degrees at Greenville College, where three of them had studied before dropping out in 1994 to move to Nashville.

In 2002, the band produced and released their fourth album called The Eleventh Hour which earned the band a Grammy for the third year in a row. Unlike earlier albums, The Eleventh Hour was conceived as a Christian rock album,^{[citation needed]} relying on studio musicians and the band's touring musicians to fill in for the band's lack of drums and bass.

2003 saw the band retreating back to their folksier sound. The double-disc Furthermore: From the Studio, From the Stage featured an acoustic disc and a live disc. The acoustic disc consisted of reworked The Eleventh Hour songs, rearranged fan favorites, two The Eleventh Hour b-sides, and a cover of Adam Again's "Dig" (intended as a tribute to Gene Eugene, who had died recently). The live disc featured a sampling of songs from the band's career.

The band continued the more acoustic and organic approach of Furthermore on their fifth studio album called Who We Are Instead, released on November 4, 2003. On Who We Are Instead, the band revisited various styles they'd used previously, as well as experimenting with new influences, such as gospel, hymns, and Nickel Creek's "newgrass" style.

In early 2005, the band released Redemption Songs, a collection of hymns and traditional songs. Although the band did not write any new songs for the project, they did write new melodies and rework several songs. "God Will Lift Up Your Head", reworked as an acoustic rocker, was a hit for the band on Christian radio. They also covered arrangements by other artists, including songs by Christopher Miner, and one from the Indelible Grace CD series (an offshoot project of the Reformed University Fellowship).^[2]

In late 2005, the band announced that the writing for a new album was nearing completion, and that they would be returning to the studio to record the album in the spring. This new project, entitled Good Monsters, was released on September 5, 2006. Backstage at the 2006 GMA Awards, Jars of Clay called it their first ever rock record. In the September 2006 edition of CCM Magazine, the band credited fellow artist Ashley Cleveland with inspiring the improvisational sound of the album. The magazine called it "the most profound album the Christian music community has released in years."

In March of 2007, the band announced at a concert in Des Moines, Iowa that they were no longer a member of Essential Records, and would be releasing music indepenently. They also announced that they were working on a Christmas album to be released in time for the 2007 holiday season.

[edit] Blood: Water Mission

Main article: Blood:Water Mission

Lead singer Dan Haseltine visited Africa in 2002, which in turn inspired the founding of Blood:Water Mission, a non-profit organization created to raise awareness and money for the poverty and AIDS stricken regions of the continent. The name is derived from, as Haseltine says, "The two things Africa needs most" - clean blood and clean water. The mission has begun the 1000 Wells project, an effort to have a thousand new wells built throughout Africa.

[edit] Beliefs

In a 2002 interview with NPR's Scott Simon on Weekend Edition Saturday, responding to a question about the relatively subtle religious content of their music, Haseltine said, "our songs ... [are] not really there to explain our faith," but are "written about our life that is affected by our faith." Haseltine explained the decision to "shy away from ... traditional religious language" as a conscious one, in part to make their music more accessible to those "put off by religion", and to "love people in a way that isn't exclusive to simply people that understand the language of Christianity."^[3]

[edit] Band members

[edit] Current members

• Dan Haseltine – vocals, percussion, melodica
• Charlie Lowell – piano, organ, accordion, keys, background vocals
• Stephen Mason – guitar, vocals, bass, lap & pedal steel, national, mandolin, background vocals
• Matthew Odmark – acoustic guitar, banjo, background vocals (replaced Matt Bronleewee in 1994)

[edit] Touring members

• Gabe Ruschival - bass (2006–present)
• Jeremy Lutito - drums (2005–present)
• Aaron Sands – bass (1995–2005)
• Joe Porter – drums (1999–2005)
• Scott Savage – drums (1993–1999)
• Matt Bronlewee – guitar (1993–1994)

[edit] Trivia

• Dan Haseltine is the brother of Matthew Haseltine, formerly of the band Marzuki.
• Dan Haseltine first met Steve Mason at college after noticing that he was wearing a Toad the Wet Sprocket shirt.
• Matthew Odmark has served as an engineer on many albums by up and coming musicians.^{[citation needed]}
• Jars of Clay's song "Flood", from their debut album, was used as the theme song to A&E's documentary God or the Girl, which tracked the lives of four young men deciding whether to become Catholic priests.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio Albums

Jars of Clay October 24, 1995 Certified: US - 3x Platinum	Much Afraid September 16, 1997 Certified: US - Platinum	If I Left The Zoo November 9, 1999 Certified: US - Gold	The Eleventh Hour March 5, 2002
Furthermore: From the Studio, From the Stage February 4, 2003 Certified: US - Gold	Who We Are Instead November 4, 2003	Redemption Songs March 22, 2005	Good Monsters September 5, 2006

[edit] Virtual Albums

• iTunes Originals - Jars of Clay

[edit] Other recordings

• Frail (1994), a self-released demo that contained several tracks later re-recorded for their debut album
• Jars of Clay Interactive (1995), a CD-ROM release that featured behind the scenes photography, the Flood music video and audio from the independent release "Frail"
• Drummer Boy (1996), a Christmas EP that was re-released with different tracks a year later
• Crazy Times (1997 or later), a 4-track enhanced maxi-single
• Seatbelt Tuba (1997), a 3-track bonus disc accompanying early editions of Much Afraid, with live acoustic performances
• Stringtown (1998), a fan club exclusive live album
• "Everything in Between" (1998), a song for the soundtrack of the blockbuster The Prince of Egypt
• The White Elephant Sessions (1999), a B-Sides and outtakes disc from the If I Left The Zoo sessions
• Front Yard Luge (1999), a live EP that accompanied certain online orders of If I Left The Zoo
• "The Stone" and "This Road" (2000), 2 songs for the compilation City On A Hill: Songs of Worship and Praise
• Jar of Gems (2001), a best-of compilation released exclusively in Asia
• "The Comforter Has Come" (2002), a song for the compilation City On A Hill: Sing Alleluia
• "Bethlehem Town" (2002), a song for the compilation City on a Hill: It's Christmas Time
• "Widowing Field" (2002), a song for the soundtrack of the movie We Were Soldiers
• "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" (2003), a song for the compilation City On A Hill: The Gathering
• Roots & Wings (2005), digital-only EP preceding the release of Redemption Songs
• "Waiting for the World to Fall" (2005), a song for the soundtrack of the blockbuster The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• Mini Monsters (2006), digital-only EP preceding the release of Good Monsters
• Live Monsters (2007), live EP currently only available at Jars of Clay live shows.

[edit] Single charts

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Song	Chart	Position
1996	"Flood"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	16
		Modern Rock Tracks	12
		The Billboard Hot 100	37
1997	"Crazy Times"	Modern Rock Tracks	38

[edit] 11ive concert

An additional DVD of a live Jars of Clay concert (from which were recorded the tracks on Furthermore: From the Stage) during The Eleventh Hour tour was released in 2002. The concert includes eighteen songs and additional behind-the-scenes material with the band.

1. "Disappear"
2. "Like a Child"
3. "Unforgetful You"
4. "Crazy Times"
5. "Collide"
6. "Love Song for a Savior"
7. "I Need You"
8. "Fly"
9. "I'm Alright"
10. "Revolution"
11. "Flood"
12. Encore - "The Edge of Water" and "Worlds Apart"
13. "Boy on a String"
14. "Liquid"
15. "Needful Hands"
16. "Something Beautiful"
17. Bonus - "Frail"

[edit] References

1. ^ RIAA.com
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ NPR Weekend Edition Saturday interview

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Official site of Good Monsters Site of Jars of Clay's latest album "Good Monsters"
• NPR interview

Jars of Clay
Dan Haseltine - Stephen Mason - Matthew Odmark - Charlie Lowell
Former: Matt Bronlewee - Scott Savage - Aaron Sands - Joe Porter
Discography
Albums: Jars of Clay - Much Afraid - If I Left the Zoo - The Eleventh Hour - Furthermore: From the Studio, From the Stage - Who We Are Instead - Redemption Songs - Good Monsters
Singles: "Flood"