NewSong

Joel Caballero
7 hours ago
4 min read

NewSong is an American contemporary Christian music group that was established in 1981, at Morningside Baptist Church in Valdosta, Georgia. They have several Dove Award nominations and a Grammy Award nomination.

They are also the founders of the Winter Jam Tour Spectacular which started in 1995. It is the United States' largest annual Christian music tour. Winter Jam has artists perform including Skillet, MercyMe, Newsboys, Audio Adrenaline, Natalie Grant, ZOEgirl and many others. NewSong has provided support for organizations working with abandoned and underprivileged children. For years they worked with World Vision. Then in 2006, NewSong became involved with Holt International, a faith-based humanitarian organization and adoption agency based in Eugene, Oregon.

NewSong originally started as a southern gospel quartet. The original four members included the current members Billy Goodwin, the lead vocalist, and Eddie Carswell, the primary songwriter, and former members Eddie Middleton and Bobby Apon. Before NewSong, Middleton was a country music singer and released a self-titled album in 1977. NewSong recorded three custom albums independently in 1981 and 1982. Then also in '82, they signed on with Covenant Records, and released their debut album The Son In My Eyes that year. In 1984, they signed with Word Records and released their second album The Word on their label Canaan Records. NewSong stayed on the Word label until 1992 and released more albums like Trophies of Grace, Say Yes!, Light Your World and Living Proof. And like the other, more successful quartet at the time, The Imperials, NewSong's sound would change throughout the years going from southern gospel to contemporary Christian.

In 1993, NewSong signed with Benson Records and released All Around the World that year. It was also the final album to feature Middleton and Apon as they both left the group after more than a decade. Middleton remused his solo career after he left NewSong and then died on August 21, 2021. The following year in 1994 with just Goodwin and Carswell, they both recruited songwriter Leonard Ahlstrom, soloist Charles Billingsley, musician Scotty Wilbanks and former Truth vocalist Russ Lee and released their next Benson album People Get Ready and reinvented NewSong as a band. The album was very successful on the Christian AC chart with number one hits like "My Heart's Already There" and "When I'm With You." It also contains a re-recorded version of their signature song "Arise My Love," which NewSong originally recorded in 1987 on their Say Yes! album.

In 1996, Billingsley left NewSong to resume his solo career. Their next album Love Revolution was released in 1997 and produced more number one hits like "Rhythm of the World" and the title song on the Christian AC chart. They next released their compilation album Arise My Love: The Very Best of NewSong in 1999 containing hits from their Benson releases and three new songs. That same year, Apon later died by suicide on May 17, 1999. In 2000, NewSong went through more personnel changes as Lee and Wilbanks left and brought in Christian vocalist Michael O'Brien, Steve Reischl and former Truth member Matt Butler and released Sheltering Tree in October 2000. NewSong caught the attention of radio personality, Isaiah "DC" Daniel (then, of "Steve & DC") and began collaborating on Sheltering Tree. It was on this album that NewSong introduced a Christmas bonus track entitled "The Christmas Shoes." Ahlstrom left NewSong after this release.

"The Christmas Shoes" was released to mainstream AC radio as a single and climbed to number 1 on the Billboard AC chart. Shortly after this, the Benson label was shut down and folded and NewSong stayed on the Provident Label Group and released their next album The Christmas Shoes on the Reunion Records label in 2001, containing the title song from Sheltering Tree and other holiday recorded tracks. In 2003, NewSong earned their only Grammy nomination for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album for The Christmas Shoes. That same year, NewSong released their final album on Reunion Records entitled More Love.

In 2004, NewSong left Reunion Records and signed with Integrity Music and released a live CD and DVD called Rescue: Live Worship in 2005. A year later, O'Brien left NewSong to resume his solo career and Drew Cline was asked to replace him. In September 2006, Goodwin, Carswell, Butler and Cline released their next Christmas album The Christmas Hope. In 2007, Christian solo artist Nate Sallie joined NewSong temporarily as their new lead vocalist but only for touring. Russ Lee eventually returned to NewSong as lead vocalist in 2008, replacing Sallie. NewSong released their next album Give Yourself Away independently on their own label HHM Records.

NewSong continues to tour and record into the 2010s and 2020s and are still hosting Winter Jam concerts yearly.

Discography

Independent releases:

More Than Music (1981)

Alive (1982) (cassette tape only)

All the Best (1982) (cassette tape only)

Major releases:

The Son In My Eyes (1982)

The Word (1984)

Trophies of Grace (1986)

Say Yes! (1987)

Light Your World (1989)