Integrity Music celebrates multiple Dove Awards wins

October 20, 2023 – Nashville, TN – Integrity Music celebrates three wins among nine nominations at the 54th GMA Dove Awards®, held in Nashville’s Allen Arena. The show’s theme this year was “joyful echo,” a leitmotif which was truly reflected in the vibrant celebrations. Singer-songwriter Sandra McCracken won a Dove Award® for her album “Light in the Canyon,” which was co-produced by Seth Talley. She took home the award for the Bluegrass/Country/Roots Album of the Year category. The Nashville-based artist shared her excitement, saying,“I am thrilled and really humbled to receive this Dove Award. Each song on this album tells the story of God’s faithfulness in my life over many years and I hope listeners can hear how much joy we shared in making this record. It is an added and unexpected joy to receive this honor!”

Sandra McCracken with husband Tim Nicholson

Mitch Wong received a Dove Award® for Southern Gospel Recorded Song of the Year with Karen Peck & New River’s song “The Keepers,” which was written alongside Karen Peck Gooch and Tony Wood. Songwriter Dee Wilson took a Dove Award® home for his contribution to Jonathan McReynolds’s “Your World,” which won Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of the Year. All were announced during the Pre-Telecast of the 54th Annual GMA Dove Awards held in Nashville, TN, which aired tonight exclusively on TBN.

Jonathan Brown, President of Integrity Music, echoed the excitement felt around the accolades.

“What a joy it is to celebrate the craftsmanship and artistry of Sandra, Mitch and Dee,” he said. “We join them in giving God the glory and together are grateful for the hope these songs will bring in lives of people all over the world.”

The Integrity Music team is thrilled to see its artists’ involvement and success across multiple genres, displaying the company’s heart to bring songs of substance to the Church around the world. The 54th GMA Dove Awards® featured over 20 special performances and more than 35 awards across genres ranging from Pop, Gospel, Latin, Worship, Hip Hop, Rock/Contemporary, and more.

For a full list of all the wins, visit doveawards.com

NFN Annual Awards for 2022 Part One

Contemporary Album/EP of the Year

1. Amanda Cook : State of the Union (Provident Label Group)

2. Evvie McKinney : Love (Capitol CMG)

3. Sandra McCracken : Light in the Canyon (Integrity Music)

4. TobyMac : Life After Death. (Capitol CMG)

5. Kristene DiMarco : The Field (Bethel Music)

Congratulations to all those listed!

Hold To God’s Unchanging Hand | Sandra McCracken (Official Live Video)

Sandra McCracken is a singer-songwriter and hymn writer from Nashville, Tennessee. A prolific recording artist, McCracken has produced 14 solo albums over two decades. Her best selling release, Psalms (2015) received critical acclaim, followed by God’s Highway (2017) which made the top 50 on Billboard Heatseekers chart without a major label. She has had songs featured in TV, including ‘Ten Thousand Angels’ on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and has over 15 million streams. Blending the old and new, Sandra has also shown a unique ability to recast sacred scripture texts into theologically rich yet accessible songs. Her thoughtful lyrics and gospel melodies in songs like “We Will Feast In The House Of Zion,” “Steadfast” and “Thy Mercy My God” have become staple anthems in churches across the U.S. As a published writer, she contributes a regular column in Christianity Today and released her first book “Send Out Your Light” in September 2021. Her latest album ‘Light in the Canyon’ scored a 10/10 rating from NFN’s reviewer Dave Deeks, who called it an “excellent release.”

NFN Review – SANDRA McCRACKEN : Light in the Canyon. (Integrity Music)

Already with seventeen albums to her name(!), it is surprising that her eighteenth represents my introduction to Nashville-based Sandra McCracken’s music. And what a great album this is, with Sandra’s ‘backwoods Americana’ vocals well to the fore and supported by a cracking band delivering superbly delivered and sympathetically arranged piano-led accompaniments. As I listened to her clearly sung and well written scripture-based lyrics I was reminded of Iris DeMent’s pure and clear voice and accent – she is the sort of singer whose personality seems to become apparent as you listen. Despite Sandra’s delivery style, this is not an Americana album – the ten songs here combine gospel, folk, country, and even contemporary cool jazz. With instrumental breaks allowing individual musicians to shine, sound quality is excellent and has a ‘recorded live in the studio’ feel. Things kick off with the almost seven minute bluesy/jazzy ‘Send Out Your Light’, with piano, bass, drums and brass and an extended improvised instrumental piano break towards the end. ‘I will sing’ is mid-paced pop ccm, then ‘Trinity Song’ (“bind us together in holy love”) features a slow, simple melody and lyrics. ‘Thy Mercy, My God’ (“Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart”) comes next, with a top notch solo piano accompaniment. Then comes ‘We will feast in the house of Zion’ (“we will sing, our hearts restored”) which features effective harmony bvs. The upbeat and bouncy ‘Hold to God’s unchanging hand’ brings strummed acoustic guitar to the mix, whilst an electric guitar is heard in the gospelly ‘Call upon Him’ (“there is power in the Name”). The slow and reflective ‘Have mercy’ (“oh Lord, have mercy”) follows, and then comes my standout track ‘Christ is the life of the world’, featuring a particularly creative accompaniment and superb acoustic bass playing that takes a lead towards the end. The lovely slow ballad closer ‘Until He comes again’ is a ‘holy communion’ song with an emphasis on Christ’s return, and features support from Andrew Osenga. On the strength of this excellent release I am about to check out Sandra’s considerable back catalogue. Comfortably worth a full 10/10. Dave Deeks

SANDRA MCCRACKEN UNVEILS NEW JAZZ-INFUSED ALBUM

Sandra McCracken introduces her 17th and new album ‘Light In The Canyon’ recorded live at Laity Lodge in the hill country of Texas. This album gathered stellar musicians from LA, Nashville, and New York to reimagine some of McCracken’s most influential church and worship songs as well as to write new ones, putting a jazz twist on each of them. ‘Light In The Canyon’ has a sonic essence of spontaneity and an old-meets-new timelessness as Sandra McCracken retells songs that span two decades of songwriting with more joy and complexity. “These songs are meant to be light and joy for the church, affirmations of the truth that does not change, and spirituals that call us to steady faith,” the artist comments. ‘Light In The Canyon’ is the musical expression going alongside Sandra McCracken’s recent book ‘Send out your light: The illuminating power of scripture and song,’ celebrating the stories of God’s steady presence and call over the years.

‘Light In The Canyon’ marks another landmark in the Southern singer-songwriter’s prolific career. Sandra McCracken hopes these songs will endure for generations to see more of who God is and how his light illuminates our hearts and circumstances – calling praise ever back to him.

Born and raised in the Midwest, Sandra McCracken has since firmly planted her musical roots as a singer-songwriter and producer in the Southern soil of Nashville, Tennessee. Through and through, she is a musician by craft, trade, and gifting, but ultimately, she is a storyteller at heart. Keenly attuned to the thin line between the temporal and eternal, her storytelling has always invited audiences – whether found in clubs or coffee shops, churches, or the Mother Church of Nashville’s own Ryman Auditorium – to consider their own humanity in relation to both creation and its Creator. Over the course of her fifteen critically acclaimed studio albums, Sandra has developed a body of work that encompasses hook-driven melodic pop, No Depression-style Americana, contemporary recastings of classic hymns, and even children’s music as part of the Nashville alt-folk group, Rain for Roots, which crafts Scripture songs for children alongside collaborators the likes of Ellie Holcomb and Sally Lloyd Jones. Both she and her music have long held a remarkable appeal to a wide variety of audiences, whether as a vehicle for congregations across the globe to worship God in their church communities, or in placements for film and network television shows like Grey’s Anatomy. She has also become an advocate for the fight against human trafficking through International Justice Mission (IJM). It is in this work that she has witnessed a new kind of beauty within the Body of Christ, as it works together to bring lasting legal and systemic change for some of the world’s most vulnerable.With new music releasing, Sandra’s deepest desire remains clear: to faithfully steward the passions, giftings, and callings God has placed on her life, whether through song, word, and story, or conservation and social justice work.

New Integrity Music Releases – Friday June 24th 2022

Sandra McCracken introduces her new album ‘Light In The Canyon’ recorded live at Laity Lodge in the hill country of Texas. This album compiles some of her most influential church and worship songs, putting a jazz twist on each of them.‘Light In The Canyon’ has a timeless feel as the songs hold a space in the worship sphere that seems to have been around since the beginning of the genre itself. For those who have been following Sandra McCracken‘s musical journey for so many years, these versions mark where she is at right now, a place of fresh exploration and desire for community. For new listeners, the artist notes, “this is the side of me that speaks about my heart, my faith, and I am so glad you are here.” Sandra McCracken wanted to craft a memorable project; one that was filled with different musicians’ flair and captured the atmosphere of the recording and its surroundings. ‘Light In The Canyon’ is the musical expression going alongside Sandra McCracken‘s recent book ‘Send out your light: The illuminating power of scripture and song.’ The singer-songwriter hopes to invite people to knock at and open a door that they might not have even been looking for through ‘Light In The Canyon’.

Urban Life Worship have been greatly impacting the worship landscape in the German-speaking world with their versions of international worship songs. After covering influential songs by worship leaders like Brooke Ligertwood and Phil Wickham to Maverick City Music’s ‘Jireh’, Urban Life Worship release a new single as part of this collection called ‘Schaffe Raum’. This new song is their version of Community Music’s ‘Make Room’.