Performing never gets old for NewSong

October 15, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

Strapped in and going for a ride pretty much describes the last 30-some years for contemporary Christian band New-Song.

With a career that includes 19 albums and 20 No. 1 Christian radio singles, the Grammy Award-nominated band recently released its latest effort, “Faithful,” which naturally debuted atop the Nielsen SoundScan’s Praise & Worship chart.

“We did a worship DVD years ago called ‘Rescue,’” said NewSong guitarist-singer Billy Goodwin, calling from Charlotte, N.C. “We had so many people comment and request, we thought we should do another live worship CD/DVD.

“This time, we decided to do it in an intimate setting. So we set up a round stage in the center of the church and had about 500 people come in. We basically sang the concert to them. It’s a worship concert more than a concert. We tried to catch as much of that as we could on the DVD part.”

The “Faithful” DVD was recently nominated for a Dove Award for Long Form Video of the Year. Goodwin said the project already boasts a few of his favorites, including the simple yet poignant “Yours,” which is a piano-cello song. He described the tune as being a quiet, introspective and personal one-on-one worship song to God.

Another standout song is the upbeat and banjo-driven “The Beating Heart,” which he said is fun to play live. In fact, fans will get a chance to hear those songs, as well catalog material – such as “Arise, My Love,” “Rescue” and “The Same God” – when NewSong brings its “Beating Hearts Tour” into the area for a Friday show at Lowellville’s Victory Christian Center.

There’s no denying that NewSong, now in its fourth decade, has become elder statesmen of the CCM world, which was quite different early on.

“I’m just very pleased because essentially Christian music has opened up to accept just about any musical genre or style that you would listen to anywhere,” Goodwin said. “It’s the same music you’d listen to somewhere else, or even in my opinion, is better than what you hear from nonbelievers but it has a message and it’s more than just a positive message. It’s a potential life-changing message we’re talking and sharing about. That’s a very powerful thing.”

So when will NewSong dabble in the world of, say, Christian hip-hop?

“Well, I don’t know,” he said, laughing. “We do this Winter Jam tour, and on that tour is when we have other artists come and join us. We’ll have hip-hop artists like Lecrae and TobyMac.”

If you’re looking for proof of NewSong’s bellwether presence in Christian music, look no further than the incredibly popular Winter Jam Tour, which this year celebrates its 20th year.

“I don’t know if I’m surprised Winter Jam has lasted this long, but I think when we first saw God was doing something unusual, we didn’t understand it,” Goodwin said. “Our desire was not to miss what God was giving us and showing us. It was amazing to watch how it grew over the years. Really, it was beyond us.

“It’s something that we can’t explain other than saying God did this, and we’re strapped in and going along for the ride.”