LITTLE ROCK — Spring is coming, which brings us to the annual visit by Winter Jam, Christian music’s largest tour.
And when they put the word “jam” in the name, expect the stage to be jammed with performers. The show will feature six acts, plus a speaker, plus two more performers at the “pre-show.”
But for fans of music or concerts or arenas or contemporary Christian music, there’s another selling point: the price of admission is $10 at the door only.
For performers, it’s like a rite of passage to take part in the jam, which hit the road Jan. 7 and continues through April 3 for 47 shows. Attendance is expected to total more than 280,000, according to the tour’s Web site, www.jamtour.com.
The lineup changes each year, with newcomers added and some veterans returning.
David Crowder, leader of The David Crowder Band, is one of the newcomers, although his band was formed in 1996.
“I was nervous about going out with so many acts at first,” Crowder says, “but it’s been great, even if we only get about 30 minutes for each act. It doesn’t feel that short. The crowds respond well and it’s a good mix of approaches.”
Crowder has had a big year so far, having gotten his first Grammy Award nomination, for the band’s fifth studio album, Church Music, a 2009 release inspired by the alternative rock bands Portishead and Sigur Ros. Crowder is already at work on his next album, which he says may veer in a new direction.
“We’re listening to a lot of Waylon [Jennings], Willie [Nelson] and George Jones,” Crowder explains. “And our roots are there.After all, we’re from Texas. And being out on the road, playing all these huge arenas, we spend a lot of time sitting around in these huge dressing rooms with nice acoustics.”
Crowder is a native of Texarkana, the Texas side, and went to college at Baylor University, where he and a friend started a church before they began writing songs for worship services there. He notes that he has family members on the Arkansas side, mentioning Russellville, Conway and Little Rock, where he or his wife have relatives.
Another of the acts on the lineup, Francesca Battistelli, is on the tour for the second time, having gone out in 2009. Her second album, Hundred More Years, was released two days ago and Battistelli, 25, had even bigger news on Sept. 22, when she gave birth to her first child. She is married to Matthew Goodwin, who plays drums for his wife. He’s the son of Billy Goodwin, lead singer of NewSong, the band which founded Winter Jam.
“We’re traveling with the baby and a nanny,” Battistelli says. “He’s so amazing, and I’m glad to get the chance to go out as a family. And this year we’re going to, I think, 47 cities, and in ’09 it was 30. We have short sets, but everybody has such a good time getting to know one another and our various musical influences and stuff.”
Battistelli says her new CD takes its name from her thoughts “about those moments in life when you know you’ll remember them for that long, like having a song, or writing a sweet song.”
Her new album contains songs she co-wrote with others, but none with her husband, or at least not yet.
Winter Jam, featuring Newsboys, The David Crowder Band, Kutless, Francesca Battistelli, RED, KJ-52 and speaker Tony Nolan; also pre-jam party with Sidewalk Prophets and Chris August 6 p.m. Saturday, Verizon Arena, East Broadway and Interstate 30, North Little Rock Admission: $10 door only;
seating general admission (501) 975-9000, www.jamtour.
com
Weekend, Pages 36 on 03/03/2011