c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) One of the oldest Christian music expressions may again become one of the hottest _ if the term “hot” can be applied to hymns.

In the coming months, several top Christian artists will release their own unique versions of classic hymns. Folk rockers Jars of Clay and Ashley Cleveland, MercyMe leader Bart Millard, and urban sister trio Out of Eden are rolling out their first recordings of hymns. Amy Grant is releasing her second such project.

In recent years, hymns have been the almost exclusive domain of singers such as Bill Gaither and Andy Griffith who appealed to a decidedly older audience. But with the worship music craze hitting a saturation point and churchgoers desiring more lyrical depth in their worship, hymns seem poised to retake a respected place among all age groups.

One veteran artist, Fernando Ortega, has included hymns on each of his recordings, blending them with his own songs. He finds in them a richness and history absent from more modern music.

“They connect the church to our own history,” says Ortega. “These were songs that people rallied around, that the church has done for centuries. Good hymns have really withstood the test of time, and seen the church through all kinds of circumstances. So many were written by church fathers _ Martin Luther, St. Francis of Assisi and others. It’s our theology in song.”

Ortega recorded an entire album of them several years ago and is considering another. His sometime tour mate and duet partner Grant is about to follow her “Legacy Hymns & Faith” project with another hymn production, “Rock of Ages,” again produced with husband Vince Gill.

Say Out of Eden’s Andrea Baca: “With the worship trend, I think you want to get to the root. These are really powerful and are kind of the root of modern worship today.”

She cites hymns’ broad appeal, important since the sisters appear regularly at women’s and girls’ conferences that draw from all backgrounds. Hymns, she says, enable them to connect across age and racial lines.

Baca and family envisioned their project both as a break from their urban-flavored pop and as a tribute to their mom, even sitting down with her to pick out songs. Among them: “Immortal, Invisible” and “Fairest Lord Jesus.” The results are more solidly adult contemporary with a slight R&B flavor.

At the other end of the musical spectrum, Jars of Clay’s members delved deep into church history, pulling out more obscure songs, like “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder” and “God Be Merciful to Me.”

“They’re involved in a church that loves the old hymns, and reinventing hymns has been part of their worship experience,” explains Dean Diehl, senior vice president of marketing for Provident Label Group.

“We asked them to do a song for WoW Worship, but they’re not big fans of modern worship stuff.” So the group sang “I’ll Fly Away,” an American classic.

“We loved it. We said we’d love to hear another. But when I got their first set list, I asked if I needed to buy them a hymnal,” he laughs. “We got to understand that for them this was about exploring hymn texts and reinventing the music.”

Indeed, listeners will find songs both obscure and familiar, given a distinct Jars spin, like the Beatles-esque version of “It Is Well.” Says keyboardist Charlie Lowell, “A lot of people associate it with sad events, so it was interesting to pull the hope and longing out of it in the midst of trials.”

Lowell says the band’s church home, Christ Community Church of Franklin, Tenn., fostered interest. The church has released several albums in a hymn renewal project called “Indelible Grace,” which also includes members of Caedmon’s Call. Both bands have brought these songs into their repertoire.

Jars chose a song most wouldn’t recognize as a hymn as its first single, a brisk version of “God Will Lift Up Your Head.” The song is testing well with radio audiences, says Diehl, a positive sign for the record.

Out of Eden has already seen a strong response to its first single, a tame version of “Fairest Lord Jesus” that quickly had stations adding the song to their playlist.

Audiences seem primed. Both Millard and Ortega recall fans coming up after shows to say they liked a particular song, which turned out to be a hymn. The success (more than 500,000 records sold) of Grant’s Legacy project indicates there is a demand.

Millard, taking a short break from MercyMe to record “Hymned,” says his take will “have a kind of a Lyle Lovett, `O Brother, Where Art Thou’ vibe to it. I hesitate to say that because if it turns out half that good, it’ll be great. We’re trying to get several guests to appear on it _ Lyle, Robert Randolph, Johnny Lang, Delbert McClinton. If I get half of those on the record, it’ll be a dream come true.

“When I started working on this, it took me to a place spiritually that I hadn’t been in a long time. Amy said the same thing. It’s paying respect to where you came from. My grandfather was a Baptist preacher. Since my grandmother passed away, this has been something I’ve wanted to do.”

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The timing of many hymn releases seems driven more by the artists’ desire to do these particular records than by their labels’ marketing departments.

Jeff Moseley, president of Millard’s label home, INO Records, says “it’s a coincidence” that so many hymns are coming out now “but it’s also a reflection of what’s happening in the church as a whole.”

He and Diehl observe that churches are moving away from worship choruses, which are sometimes lyrically slight, and toward combining praise and worship with hymns in services.

“People are recognizing that old hymns contain timeless truths and are blending those truths with music that has more relevance for today,” says Moseley. He stresses that will involve casting hymns in a new musical context: “The truth’s relevant, but the containers are dusty.

“When we’re at our best is not when we try to invent artists or fads but wake up and realize what’s going on around us _ and that’s what’s happening.”

MO/PH END BLACK