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Whether you call his songs "Christian rock" or "alternative worship music," David Crowder is certainly unique. All you have to do is look at his latest band photograph to know that.
Crowder, 37, and his wife, Toni, 35, live in a Waco, Texas, home built in 1886 by Wade Morrison, who invented
Dr Pepper. The Victorian home was in bad shape when the Crowders purchased it a few years ago. During their renovation, they bought a large painting of a woman from the 1880s, dubbed her "Elizabeth" and hung her in the guest bedroom, where the group photo was taken.
"We've been in this old house remodeling slowly," Crowder said in his down-home accent in an interview from his home. "At one point, we were staying in that guest room and that painting turned up. I said, 'I don't think I can stay here, sleeping with that.' My wife said, 'Sure you can.' Then little (antique) perfume bottles started turning up on the mantel. I asked my wife what those were about. She said, 'Elizabeth needs her things.' That was it; I was out of there."
Crowder joked that the painting has at least one redeeming quality: Elizabeth's stern countenance keeps guests from overstaying their welcome.
The David Crowder Band will be in Modesto next month for a concert at Calvary Temple Worship Center. The group will perform several selections from its newest CD, "Church Music," which was released Tuesday, as well as earlier hits, such as "Here is My King," "Something Glorious" and "O Praise Him."
"Church Music," like Crowder and his home, also is unique. There are no breaks between the 17 songs; one selection simply blends into another for 73 minutes. Making sure that the ending and beginning chords went together was "a lot of work, harder than I thought it would be," Crowder said. Some songs are harder rocking than the band's usual fare, heavier than most songs you'll hear in church, but they are also thought-provoking, such as "Eastern Hymn," which incorporates the translation of an ancient Chinese prayer book. It's an intentional mix and focus, Crowder said.
"The title makes me grin from ear to ear," he said. "We wanted to throw our arms around what's happening in culture as diligently as we could, so we definitely
approached this record differently than in the past."
He said he hopes the album will remind people that church music is continually evolving.
"The story of God can be inserted in a lot of places," he said. "We're trying to have it as compelling and grand as it is. We're constantly trying to retell and repackage the story in new ways, not only for us, but for people attached to our music."
An ear for music
Crowder started plinking on the family piano "when I was tall enough to reach those piano keys. I was making noise, and then my mom recognized some melodies and signed me up for lessons."
He didn't hear classical music, though, until he went to college.
"My dad had a constant rotation of Willie Nelson, Elvis, Olivia Newton John and Bill Gaither," Crowder said. "That probably explains a lot, psychologically and musically. We were East Texans. The plan was for me to graduate from college and move back home and take over for Daddy. He had an insurance agency in town.
"I don't know if you could imagine me on your front porch, asking if your child needed insurance. I would have to have had a haircut, that's for sure."
Instead of those plans, Crowder and another Baylor University student began talking about the need for a church that would attract and be relevant to college students. A study by the university at the time showed that most students on that Christian college campus never attended church.
The two began University Baptist Church in a building neighboring the campus, with Crowder leading music, often playing his own compositions. The David Crowder Band was born from that ministry about a decade ago, touring as an opening act with Michael W. Smith, Third Day and MercyMe and returning home to lead music on Sundays.
The band and church have both thrived.
Music 'leaked out,' spread
Crowder, who writes most of his own music with the other band members, reflected on how quickly their music spread across the country.
"The songs leaked out, so to speak, headed back to students' locales," he said. "We found we were following the music around. It's pretty wild. It's definitely humbling, but also exciting, and we're enjoying what we're doing. It's really encouraging."
The band won six Dove Awards and won in 2006 and 2008, including the rock/contemporary album of the year and rock/contemporary song of the year both times.
Crowder said the most important thing he's learned about God in the past 10 years is his grace.
"The grace part of our experience of faith is the hardest to grasp, but the most beautiful to put our arms around," he said. "I seem to find that redemptive moment over and over. There's a lot in us that seems like it's not quite right; look at nature and know, surely this is not what was intended. It looks quite chaotic and violent.
"The story of God is that what's broken will be put back together. That's what grace is; it's the thing that puts us back together."
He said he hopes the audience will grasp that during the Modesto concert.
"We're hoping that they leave with a sense that they've been in the presence of God," he said, that it "reshapes the awareness of that reality."
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