Jars of Clay

Jars of Clay is a four-member Christian rock band formed at Greenville College in Greenville, IL. They are sometimes known as the "fab four" of Christian music.

Jars of Clay is: Dan Haseltine - vocals, percussion; Charlie Lowell - piano, organ, accordian, keys, background vocals; Stephen Mason - guitar, vocals, lap & pedal steel, national, mandolin, background vocals; Matthew Odmark - acoustic guitar, banjo, background vocals. The band has no permanent drummer or bass player, though these roles are currently filled by Joe Porter and Aaron Sands in their live concerts.

The band's name is derived from the Bible verse II Corinthians 4:7, which states, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this allsurpassing power is from God and not from us." This verse is the namesake for their song "Four Seven", which paraphrases the verse.

Contents

1 Discography 1.1 Jars of Clay (1995) 1.2 Much Afraid (1997) 1.3 If I Left the Zoo (1999) 1.4 The Eleventh Hour (2002) 1.5 Furthermore: From the Studio, From the Stage (2003) 1.6 Who We Are Instead (2003) 1.7 Redemption Songs (2005) 2 External links

Discography

They have six main albums released to date:

Jars of Clay (1995)

• "Liquid"
• "Sinking"
• "Love Song for a Savior"
• "Like a Child"
• "Art In Me"
• "He"
• "Boy on a String"
• "Flood"
• "Worlds Apart"
• "Blind"
• "Four Seven" (hidden track)

The band's first full-length album is characterized by a combination of drum loops and acoustic guitar strumming that would become an early trademark of the band. Strings are also used prominently in several songs. The album was mostly self-produced, with the exception of "Liquid" and "Flood" which were produced by former King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew. Several tracks from this album were hits on Christian radio, and as a result they have been staples of the band's live concerts ever since. The song "Flood" became an unexpected hit on mainstream radio as well, resulting in a brief period of mainstream rock popularity for the band during which they toured with artists such as Sting, The Samples and Matchbox 20, and were included in several movie soundtracks.

Most of this album consists of reworked versions of songs from the band's demo, Frail, which was recorded as a class project during their senior year of college. The song "He" appears to be almost identical to the original recording. The songs "Sinking", "Flood", "Worlds Apart", and "Blind" were not included on Frail, and two songs from the demo did not make it to this album - "Fade to Grey" and the instrumental track "Frail".

Ironically, Jars of Clay is considered to be a landmark album in Christian rock, even though very few electric guitars are used, leading some to categorize Jars of Clay as folk-rock, alternative folk, or even pop instead.

Much Afraid (1997)

• "Overjoyed"
• "Fade to Grey"
• "Tea and Sympathy"
• "Crazy Times"
• "Frail"
• "Five Candles (You Were There)"
• "Weighed Down"
• "Portrait of an Apology"
• "Truce"
• "Much Afraid"
• "Hymn"

Much Afraid was highly anticipated after the success of the band's first album, but due to a noticeable stylistic shift, the album was not as well received. The lead single, "Crazy Times" did not do well on mainstream radio, though it was accepted at Christian radio. Since the sound had more of an electric-guitar driven sound, many fans expected Much Afraid to be more of a rock album than its predecessor. Instead, the album seemed to go the other way, taking a more lush and melancholy approach, scaling down the strings and drum loops that the band was known for. The lyrics were also more interpretive and less explicitly Christian than before, focusing more on relationships and emotional issues, though the album's title track and "Hymn" both mentioned "Sweet Jesus" in their lyrics. Some have compared the sound of this album to that of Toad the Wet Sprocket.

"Fade to Grey" and "Frail", the leftover tracks from the band's demo, were re-recorded for this album, and both were changed significantly. "Frail" in particular was notable because it now had lyrics.

The song "Five Candles (You Were There)" was originally written for the soundtrack to the Jim Carrey film Liar Liar, but it was cut from the credits in favor of a blooper reel. The song was subsequently featured on a few other movie soundtracks.

If I Left the Zoo (1999)

• "Goodbye, Goodnight"
• "Unforgetful You"
• "Collide"
• "No One Loves Me Like You"
• "Famous Last Words"
• "Sad Clown"
• "Hand"
• "I'm Alright"
• "Grace"
• "Can't Erase It"
• "River Constantine"

The band's third album brought about another stylistic shift, away from the lush sound of Much Afraid and into more of a raw and quirky pop/rock sound with occasional folk overtones. Keyboard player Charlie Lowell was featured much more prominently on this album. Due to the influence of producer Dennis Herring and drummer Ben Mize, this album had more of a Counting Crows influence.

This album produced several Christian radio singles, most notably "Unforgetful You", which also appeared in the soundtrack to the 1999 film Drive Me Crazy. However, it appears to be one of the least popular albums with the band's fans, which is reflected in the fact that few, if any at all, of these songs appeared in Jars of Clay's setlists once their next album was released.

The Eleventh Hour (2002)

• "Disappear"
• "Something Beautiful"
• "Revolution"
• "Fly"
• "I Need You"
• "Silence"
• "Scarlet"
• "Whatever She Wants"
• "The Eleventh Hour"
• "These Ordinary Days"
• "The Edge of Water"

The Eleventh Hour was hailed as a return to Jars of Clay's original sound, though in truth it bore stylistic similarities to all three of the albums preceding it, and continued the trend of favoring poetic lyrics over straightforwardly "Christian" lyrics (with lead single "I Need You" being a notable exception, reflecting a trend toward more direct and simplistic "worship songs" that had become popular in Christian music at around the turn of the century). The electric guitar was a more notable presence here than on past albums as well.

The song "Fly" had limited success at mainstream radio, but by this point, Jars of Clay was much less visible in mainstream music than they had been in the mid-nineties.

The album was recorded in the band's own Sputnik Studio, and they self-produced it in addition to doing much of the photography and artwork on their own. This was the first time that they had produced their own material since the self-titled album.

Furthermore: From the Studio, From the Stage (2003)

Disc One (From the Studio):

• "Overjoyed"
• "Something Beautiful"
• "The Valley Song (Sing of Your Mercy)"
• "Liquid"
• "The Eleventh Hour"
• "Dig" (Adam Again cover)
• "Redemption"
• "Love Song for a Savior"
• "Frail"
• "Needful Hands"

Disc Two (From the Stage):

• "Disappear"
• "Like a Child"
• "Crazy Times"
• "I Need You"
• "The Eleventh Hour"
• "This Road"
• "Fly"
• "I'm Alright"
• "Revolution"
• "Flood"
• "Worlds Apart"

Furthermore was conceived as an alternative means of putting out a greatest hits project. The band chose to re-release a number of their most popular songs in acoustic versions (Disc One) and live versions (Disc Two).

The first disc also featured three new songs - "The Valley Song (Sing of Your Mercy)", a cover of "Dig" (originally by pioneering Christian alternative band Adam Again), and "Redemption". "Needful Hands" was not from one of the group's albums; they recorded it in 1998 for the worship collection Exodus.

The second disc featured audio of most of the songs from the group's DVD, 11ive, which documented their tour for The Eleventh Hour. All of the songs on this disc originally appeared on the band's first four albums, except for "This Road", which comes from the first of a series of multi-artist worship albums called City on a Hill.

This collection can be seen as a merging of two eras for Jars of Clay. The live concert is, for the most part, the last of their "rock" material, and the acoustic disc looks forward to the more folk and country influenced turn that their next few albums would take.

Who We Are Instead (2003)

• "Sunny Days"
• "Amazing Grace" (featuring Ashley Cleveland)
• "Lonely People" (America cover)
• "Only Alive"
• "Trouble Is"
• "Faith Enough"
• "Show You Love"
• "Lesser Things"
• "I'm In The Way"
• "Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet" (Gavin Bryars cover)
• "Jealous Kind" (featuring Ashley Cleveland)
• "Sing"
• "My Heavenly"
• "Tonight" (special edition only)
• "Shipwrecked" (special edition only)

The band's fifth full-length album was their most acoustic-based since their first disc, and as a result, their most relaxed-sounding material to date. The stripped-down sound accompanied a more direct focus on their spirituality, with Gospel influences creeping into a few of the songs, and God and Jesus being more explicitly mentioned throughout the disc. Steve Mason proved to be rather versatile on this album, with several songs featuring either the lap steel or mandolin.

The songs "Show You Love" and "Sunny Days" were fairly successful singles from this project. Arguably, these were two of the happier and more upbeat songs on a project generally filled with more contemplative and reflective tunes.

The song "Amazing Grace" is not a cover of the popular hymn, but an original song written by the band.

Redemption Songs (2005)

• "God Be Merciful to Me (Psalm 51)"
• "I Need Thee Every Hour"
• "God Will Lift Up Your Head"
• "I'll Fly Away" (featuring Sarah Kelly)
• "Nothing But the Blood" (featuring the Blind Boys of Alabama)
• "Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder" (featuring Martin Smith of Delirious?)
• "O Come and Mourn with Me Awhile"
• "Hiding Place"
• "Jesus, I Lift My Eyes"
• "It Is Well with My Soul"
• "On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand" (featuring the Blind Boys of Alabama)
• "Thou Lovely Source of True Delight"
• "They'll Know We Are Christians by Our Love"

Redemption Songs is the band's newest album, a collection of old hymns and hymn texts, some of which have been set to music for the first time. Building off of the sound of Who We Are Instead, the album delved further into the country and Gospel roots that the band had begun to explore a few years prior. This is also the quickest record that the guys have pulled together.

External links

• Official site (http://www.jarsofclay.com)
• Jarchives.com (http://www.jarchives.com) (fan site)