Chris Tomlin is a man with more than a mission. He has a calling, and his calling has become music to the ears of countless fans of contemporary Christian music and the additional genre of worship music, which Tomlin's compositions have come to dominate.
Tomlin has released 11 albums, which have contained 12 No. 1 radio singles and won him a Grammy Award, three Billboard Music Awards and 21 Dove Awards. Tomlin is on what he's calling his Love Ran Red Tour, named for his latest album, Love Ran Red, released in 2014.
Chris Tomlin
Opening acts: Tenth Avenue North, Rend Collective
7 p.m. today, Verizon Arena, East Broadway and Interstate 30, North Little Rock
Tickets: $63.50, $43.50, $31.50, $24.50
(800) 745-3000,
And while the soft-spoken Tomlin is quick to acknowledge the blessings of his career achievements, he's quick to point out it's the smaller accomplishments that make him smile.
"My wife, Lauren, and I had our second daughter, Madison Amore Tomlin, in October," he says, "and for most of the tour, they and our other girl, Ashlyn Alexandra Tomlin, who is now 4, have been on the road with me. It's awesome to all be together, but it's not easy. No one eats good or sleeps good, but my wife is awesome and has kept everything on an even keel."
Tomlin, 42, grew up in Texas and later moved to the Atlanta area but moved to Nashville, Tenn., a couple of months ago. The family has yet to find the home of their dreams, so they are renting, he says, and since Atlanta is not that far away from Nashville, he continued to serve as a worship leader at the Passion City Church in Atlanta, alongside Louie Giglio, an author and speaker, and Kristian Stanfill, Brett Younker and Christy Nockels.
"Somewhere there's a place in the Nashville area where we want to raise our family," he says. "We just haven't found it yet. My life has changed. When I moved to Atlanta, I was single."
Sales of nearly 30 million albums have propelled Tomlin's career to a level where Time magazine has called him "most likely the most often sung artist anywhere." His songs "How Great Is Our God," "Jesus Messiah" and "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" are ones that some 40 million church members sing each week.
On tour, Tomlin plays guitar and is accompanied by a band that includes another guitarist, bassist, drummer and keyboardist. The songs on Love Ran Red are meant to get the blood pumping and spirits soaring, Tomlin has said, and though he learned to play guitar by playing along with Willie Nelson records, he can cite no subsequent influences on his sound, which is certainly not country but can stand alongside the anthemic rock of U2, Peter Gabriel and Coldplay.
"I don't copy others," he says. "I write songs that can find their way to the church."
Tomlin's opening acts are two rising acts on the Christian music scene.
Tenth Avenue North, formed by college students in West Palm Beach, Fla., debuted in 2008 with an album Over and Underneath, and won the Dove Award for New Artist of the Year in 2009. A year later, the band's song "By Your Side" won the Dove Award for Song of the Year.
The band has since released The Light Meets the Dark in 2010, The Struggle in 2012 and Cathedrals in 2014. The latest album was created while the band was on the Winter Jam tour, and it is the group's first album that the members wrote together, rather than utilizing outside writers. As their producer, they hired John Fields, known for his work with Pink, The Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato and Switchfoot.
Rend Collective formed in Bangor, Northern Ireland, a small coastal town. Rend was a ministry for young people in search of spiritual expression, which led Gareth Gilkeson, the informal pastor, to create a loosely defined group of musicians who play an assortment of odd instruments, from children's toys to native Irish folk instruments and various synthesizers.
The band released a debut album, Organic Family Hymnal, in 2010, followed by Homemade Worship by Handmade People in 2012, Campfire in 2013 and The Art of Celebration in 2014. Gilkeson has called the latest album "an attempt to reflect something of the irrepressible laughter in the heart of God" and "a call to the cynical to once again choose celebration over condemnation and a reminder to the broken that 'The joy of the Lord is our strength.'"
Weekend on 04/23/2015