A great deal has happened since Cross Rhythms became the first national magazine to write an article (CR28) on Jars Of Clay. Tony Cummings reports on the progress of the Illinois rockers.

Certainly the US radio public think it is. After landing three consecutive No 1 songs on the Christian Rock and CHR charts with "Flood", "Love Song For A Saviour" and "Like A Child", the Jars Of Clay saw the video of "Flood" move into regular rotation on MTV, while the single climbed into the Top 10 of the Billboard Modern Rock chart and the album bulleted into the top 50 of Billboard's Top 200 albums.

Jars Of Clay was nominated for a Grammy this year and five Dove Awards for the 1995's best group, new artist and album of the year, as well as song and video of the year for "Flood". The group has also garnered significant coverage in both Christian and mainstream media.

A recent partnering for promotion and distribution between general market powerhouse Silvertone Records, and Essential Records/Brentwood Music, both sister labels in the international Zomba Group of Companies, has given Jars Of Clay a tremendous level of mainstream support.

In Britain's CCM market places, Brentwood/Essential have switched their representation from Alliance Music to Kingsway and the latter have taken the opportunity to release the 'Jars Of Clay' album in a collectors edition with additional tracks. (Talking of collectors editions, the band's first privately recorded CD 'Frail' is now so sort after Stateside that collectors are willing to pay $500 for a copy!)

The pivotal event which was to lead to the band reaching such dizzying heights as touring with Sting and playing on movie soundtracks (Long Kiss Goodbye) was the Spotlight talent contest run as part of the GMA CCM bash in Nashville each year. Charlie Lowell remembers, "We entered in the Spotlight contest and had no expectations of even making it. We ended up as one of the 11 finalists. We came down and were very overwhelmed... we were kind of starstruck. And we ended up winning the contest. We were really just blown away."

A week or two later, their CD demo was pressed and sent out. When school ended that spring, the band moved to Nashville because it seemed like there were a lot of open doors for them. "GMA was really helpful," says Steve Mason. "They helped us connect with a lot of different people."

Dan Haseltine says the sudden label interest allowed the Jars to be choosy. "Atypical of a lot of bands, I guess, we got to talk to a lot of labels and get a feel for who was better at what and stuff like that. And it seemed like Essential was willing to give us a lot of creative control. They were a smaller label, so they would give us a lot more focus and put a lot more time into us. And the people at the label were just incredible, we were just feeling like it was a family, in a sense."

"The further we got along in negotiations," Matt Odmark says, "the more we couldn't imagine going anyplace else. It just felt like home to us really quickly."

Haseltine says the involvement of producer Adrian Belew (who'd previously worked with acts like David Bowie) in the project - he worked on two Jars Of Clay tracks - came about because of an intern at Essential. "Adrian's wife is her cousin, if you can follow all that. So she passed our music along to Adrian. And we all knew Adrian's work; obviously we had a great deal of respect for him. And he had actually heard our independent project and was interested in it. It never occurred to us this could happen, until things just kind of fell into place."
Was there a danger that a brand new band might be overshadowed by the weight of the producer's name. "Possibly," Mason says. "He's a big name and therefore his name is a big draw in itself...but with him only producing two songs..."

"The thing Adrian did really well," Odmark cuts in, "he enjoyed what we were doing and caught the same vision for us; the songs he tackled, he just unleashed what we wanted to do anyway.

"We did the rest of our stuff after those two songs, too, so in many ways they set the tone for the rest of the record," Odmark continues. "I feel like the record is a whole and not just two songs and then filler."

Jars Of Clay have stated their intention is to "reshape Christian music". From what?

Dan: "It's an artistic question: is it proper to sacrifice art for ministry? I think the conclusion is pretty simple - it's not. I think God calls us to do the best with our abilities and to be relevant with style - 'Why should the Devil have all the good music?' (laughs) It seems the Christian industry has been somewhat stagnant in developing creative artists. I think God gives you the gifts; you just have to use them."

A lot of Christian music is heavy on instruction to believers: what to do, how to think, how to respond to situations. Jars Of Clay's noticeably isn't. Dan Haseltine wants to "make (people) think for themselves!" He continues, "So many decisions that you make involving Christianity and a relationship with Christ are personal and require much thought and deliberation. To have all that stuff dictated to you doesn't really make sense. It's kind of like growing up and hearing the doctrine and theology and list of rules but never quite understanding what it really means until you sit down and wrestle with it yourself."