Act Of Congress Releases The Hymns That Made Us; Triumphs to Tragedies, These 10 Hymns Are a Soundtrack for These Genre-Bending Band Members’ Lives

“One of the freshest sounding, exuberant bands

in all of the known acoustic universe” – NPR’s Bluegrass Breakdown 

Genre-bending acoustic quartet Act of Congress brings its unique blend of pop, folk, gospel and bluegrass to The Hymns That Made Us, a full-length album available at digital and streaming outlets everywhere via https://linktr.ee/actofcongress and through Centricity Music’s new distribution arm, Residence Music.

 This self-produced album, The Hymns That Made Us, was mixed by four-time GRAMMY Award winning Ryan Freeland (Bonnie Raitt, Ray LaMontagne) and reimagines timeless classics that invite listeners to worship with thanksgiving, confession, prayer, lament and praise.

“The Hymns That Made Us is our tribute to the timeless songs that have become the soundtrack of our lives; the triumphs and tragedies. We hope you love this album!” collectively exclaims the band consisting of Connie Skellie (violin, vocals), Adam Wright (mandolin, vocals), Chris Griffin (guitars) and Tim Carroll (bass).

Among the 10 hymns selected by the band members for this album is “Christ the Solid Rock,” which has proven especially poignant for Skellie as she teaches her kids that their identity is anchored in Jesus and not in their circumstances. Both of her sons were born with an incurable eye disease.

Carroll and his family lost their home in a catastrophic fire last year and have found comfort singing, “Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul.’” Carroll found a new depth in the beloved “It Is Well” after reading the story of hymn writer, Horatio Spafford, who lost everything in the Chicago fire of 1837.

“I became a believer during college while studying guitar. Hymns were unfamiliar to me, but I would use those timeless melodies as practice,” says Griffin, who leads worship at the nation’s second largest church, Church of the Highlands. “‘Come Thou Fount,’ in particular, was a song I would sit on my front porch swing and play, exploring alternate chord progressions and harmonies. Along the way, the lyrics, Teach my heart to sing Thy praise, really sunk in.”

“The songs we’re writing now and the album we just released have so much to say about who we are and what we believe,” sums up Wright, who shares lead vocals with Skellie. “I want people to see authenticity. I want them to feel served. I want them to find the joy we feel in this music.”

The full The Hymns That Made Us track listing follows:

01) Nothing But The Blood

02) Come Thou Fount

03) It Is Well

04) How Great Thou Art

05) Christ The Solid Rock

06) Wondrous Love

07) I’ll Fly Away

08) Dear Refuge

09) Turn Your Eyes

10) Amazing Grace

Dave Higgs of NPR’s Bluegrass Breakdown calls Act of Congress, “one of the freshest sounding, exuberant bands in all of the known acoustic universe.” Based in Birmingham, AL, the group has been touring as a band for over 15 years. Releasing five full length albums and two acclaimed Christmas EPs, their songs have received Showtime and Google placements, they are consistently voted a “Must See Live Act of Alabama” and have been the featured artist in the state’s “Keep Alabama Beautiful” campaign.

Performing at SXSW and the International Newgrass Festival where their full set is still in regular rotation on National Public Television, their global audience has also continued to grow after completing five tours as U.S. State Department Cultural Ambassadors in countries such as Thailand, Oman, Palau, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Philippines, Bali, Liberia and Jordan.

Playing on stages with Toby Keith, John Mayer, Sara Evans, Edwin McCain, Taylor Hicks and many others, Act of Congress are regularly invited to play with symphonies, having put together a must-see Christmas show and a “Bluejeans and Bluegrass” pops concert. They have also been featured guests on the nationally syndicated Rick & Bubba Show and Woodsongs Old Time Radio on SiriusXM.  

The Hymns That Made Us is the first in a cascade of fresh music to be released this year from Act of Congress. For all the latest Act of Congress tour, music, news and more information, go to https://actofcongressmusic.com/ and https://linktr.ee/actofcongress.

NFN Review Zone – HIGHLANDS WORSHIP : Prayers to the King. (Highlands Worship)

Produced and co-written by Highlands Worship’s Chris Griffin and mixed by Chris Greeley (Bethel Music), Prayers To The King has been meticulously crafted to create a peaceful and worshipful environment to encourage and inspire listeners to connect with God in prayer. Nine of the songs were also co-written by legendary Hosanna! Music songwriter Lynn DeShazo. They’re 2019 release ‘Jesus You Alone’ scored a 9/10 NFN rating, so I was expecting another quality album this time around. The opening ‘Ever Close’ has quite an ethereal feel to it. The theme being, that God is ever close to us. ‘You’re Coming’ begins with lyrics taken from the Lord’s Prayer.’ Vocally, I found the male lead to be rather tiresome, with its whispering tone. I much preferred the pretty song called ‘You Can Do All Things.’ A lovely acoustic backing and sweet vocals from a female lead. The album took me another listen before I really settled with its theme of prayer. Gentle sounds like ‘Control’ and ‘Echoes’ are really good if you’re needing some help in focussing on prayer. No, it’s not quite what I expected, but this album continues to grow on me.   7/10.

The Review Zone – HIGHLANDS WORSHIP :: Jesus You Alone. (Highlands Worship)

For those new to Highlands Worship let me set the scene of where this third album “Jesus You Alone” was birthed and originates from. Highlands Worship is made up of a team of “pastors, musicians, worship leaders, and songwriters who serve every week at Church of the Highlands”. You have heard about mega churches, Church of the Highlands is the second largest church in America based in Birmingham Alabama. The church was planted by Pastor Chris Hodges in 2001, with many locations throughout Alabama, this church has seen God move in a powerful way and from  humble beginning in 2001 with a 34 core group membership, it has now grown to 60,000 members with a regular weekly attendance of 43,600  people around the 17 locations, that is a staggering number.

Lead Worship Pastor John Larson has a worship team of 900+ people, with 70 full time and part time musicians on staff. Part of the Highland Worship team’s charter is to focus on “creating an experience where authentic, Holy Spirit-inspired worship connects people with the heart of God”. Their tagline is “Love God, love people, pursue excellence, and choose joy”. These are the four core values at the heart of the work of the musicians, singers and songwriters who are part of the Highland Worship Team.

So, the team have a passion to “encourage congregational worship, create resources for churches and draw listeners closer to God”.  This third album Jesus You Alone, consists of 15 tracks giving the listener over 70 minutes of music.  Six of the tracks are new, full band recordings from Highlands Worship’s acoustic EPS, Vol 1: Wonderful Things and Vol 2: Jesus You Alone, alongside nine other songs of worship.

It was no surprise to me that this album recorded at the Church of the Highlands was produced by Highlands Worship’s Chris Griffin, and mixed by Sam Gibson (Hillsong, Jesus Culture, Chris Tomlin) instantly reminded me of the great albums that have come from Hillsong plus their Young and Free albums, Jesus Culture, Planet Shakers type albums. Consisting of big praise and worship congregational tracks and sounds with lots of focus on the percussion and often bottom end instrumentation. “Jesus You Alone” begins with tracks bringing big sounds and up tempo tracks followed by a more slower gentle section of tracks. A stand out track for me is “How I Need You” written by Bethany Phillips, Chris Griffin, Nicole McLean & Micah Massey.  Nicole McLean says of the album  “In this me-centred world, these songs are very vertical, glorifying Jesus in a fresh way, yet with ancient themes gathered from Scripture,” reminding the listeners of the truth that “The Word of God is living and active”.

When these songs were written the team hoped that these songs would be refreshing and encouraging to those who would be listening to them. The songs focus on Jesus and who He is.  This album will take you to church as you listen or worship. The lyrics are definitely Jesus focused throughout the whole album so yes, refreshing and encouraging. “Who is like the Lord” beautiful standout track  Who is like the Lord, strong in battle/Who is like the Lord/mighty to save/Who is like the Lord, King forever/Jesus reigns, Jesus reigns. Followed by a beautiful gentle track Your Love Is Enough  “Oh-oh, Your love always is enough/Oh-oh, Your love always is enough/Your love in us, overflowing/Jesus, Your love is enough/Nothing higher, nothing wider/Nothing deeper than Your love”. 9/10 Vivienne Neville