Crowder hopes to be uniter at Winter Jam performance
Christian music tour comes to Memphis
Saturday night is a big one for Christian music fans in Memphis. They’ll get to see several of their favorite artists on stage at FedExForum — and admission is just $10.
The occasion, of course, is the annual “Winter Jam” concert tour. Topping this year’s bill is Crowder: the musical moniker of Christian solo star David Crowder. The Atlanta-based artist merged all sorts of music — from folk and soul to hip-hop and electronica — on his “American Prodigal” album, and he hopes he can help bridge divides through his example.
Bridging the gap with music
Despite describing himself as a “hillbilly with a beard,” Crowder said some of his favorite music is hip-hop.
“What am I supposed to do with that? Well, it winds up in my music,” Crowder said. “The beats sound like I live in Atlanta. My friends talk fast in time for a living. If I’m making music, they’re going to be making music with me. That’s not appropriating, and it comes out feeling authentic, I think, because it is. Because I genuinely love these folks that come from a totally different background than me. When you put a face and a name to somebody that you care about and are in life with, then it changes all of the stuff that you see in the news . ... I like living in it to show it, rather than to talk about it so much. I think that’s what we were dealing with in this music and when we’ve been out on the road, it’s just natural. It is what it is.”
‘My people’
Crowder said the photos he shares on
social media with the hashtag #MyPeople are “almost genius.”
He celebrates the makeshift solutions to everyday problems: using a fast-food drink tray as a visor cap, or attaching a boot with a hole in the toe to the end of a rain gutter. And, of course, Crowder practices what he preaches.
“There’s this van that is prone to vehicular malfunction,” he said. “You know the intrusion of plastic that’s between the driver and the passenger? Well, you can drill through the plastic, and that’s the engine. You can tie a rope — this is legit, and real-life — to the accelerator arm and then put it through the hole. Then you just pull the rope if your accelerator cable breaks. You can also cut a slit down from the hole, and tie knots at different increments, and you have cruise control (laughs). That’s real life! My wife, she climbs into this van for the first time, when we were first dating, and she’s like ‘Oh my — what is this? We’re sitting on a loveseat.’ I go, ‘I know. Isn’t it way more comfortable?’”
Transcending what divides us
Playing big rooms like FedExForum is a thrill for Crowder — but he also sees an opportunity to transcend that vast space, by having his band unplug their instruments.