Share the music of Dave and Jess Ray on NoiseTrade!

We are happy to announce an easy new way to download and share the latest music from Dave and Jess Ray!  Using NoiseTrade you can either tell five friends about the album and get a free download, or pay whatever you think is appropriate for the music.  If you click “Tell 5 Friends” you’ll be asked to fill in five e-mail addresses of friends who would like to hear about the music and you’ll get a code for a free download. (And they will get an e-mail inviting them to do the same.) Or you can simply click “Pay What You Want” and pay anywhere from $1 to $25.  So check it out by using the widgets below and help us spread the love!

The Doorpost Songs on iTunes!

Friends, I am happy to report that you can now find the new album, The Doorpost Songs: Next Generation on iTunes.  You can find it by searching for “The Doorpost Songs” or “Tallowood Kids” in the iTunes store, or you can just click on the link below:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=316135708&s=143441

Spread the word!  (I hear iTunes gifts are “in” these days!)

Getting Close

We’re getting closer to having the new Doorpost Songs record finished!  Scott sent us three more mixes over the weekend, bringing the total to 8 out of 10.  Next up in the process will be mastering, which takes place on May 1.  Then it’s off to the manufacturer so that we can have them in plenty of time for the June 12 release date.  We can’t wait to share this with all of you!

Thanks to 90.9 The Vine!

Sometimes good things come unexpectedly, as was the case yesterday.  There is a new Christian radio station, WVYN 90.9 The Vine going up in the area of Jess’ hometown, Mt. Vernon, Illinois.  They began broadcasting online yesterday, March 3, and are well on their way to going out over the airwaves across southern Illinois.  Some of the guys at the radio station are acquainted with Jess’ family, heard our CD, and want to put one of the tunes on the air, so sometime soon you should be able to hear “Be Glorious” on WVYN.  So if you’re in southern Illinois, give them a call at 618-315-0178 and tell them you want to hear “Be Glorious” by Dave and Jess Ray.  If you’re not in southern Illinois, well, tough cookies.  Maybe someday you’ll get to hear Dave and Jess on the radio, too.  Until then you’ll just have to listen to the CD.

New Doorpost Songs Project!

Coming soon to fine retailers everywhere…okay, well really just to Tallowood…The Doorpost Songs II.  You may remember that in December of 2006 we released the first Doorpost Songs project, a collection of scripture set to music and sung by Jess, me, and a group of kids from Tallowood.  Take a listen to the first project if you haven’t heard it before.  This time around we did the band tracks in Nashville with Scott Williamson, the producer who did the first record as well as the Dave and Jess album.  Then we came back to Houston to record Jess and me, and in late March we’ll record the kids.  The project will be released on Friday, June 12 with a release concert at VBS Family Night.  Stay tuned for more updates!

Fat Tuesday Resolution

Well, let’s just be honest with ourselves: we’re not good bloggers.  There, I said it.  It was brought up by a friend today at lunch that we haven’t updated the blog in awhile, and she was right.  So here’s a Fat Tuesday resolution: for Lent I’m going to be a better blogger.  Actually, I guess for Lent you are supposed to give up something, so for Lent I’m giving up slacking on the blog.  Sound good?  I think so.  Here we go…

Off to Africa

It’s Thursday at noon, and I’m sitting in my office coughing and sneezing and blowing my nose while Jess is huddled under the covers at home trying to recover from strep throat and both of us are wondering how we’re ever going to be ready (or healthy enough) to leave the country on Saturday!  That’s right, on Saturday afternoon we’ll hitch a ride with KLM Airlines all the way to Uganda, then hop on a charter flight into southern Sudan for two weeks.

We’ll be going with a mission team from Aid Sudan, a non-profit for whom Jess is the Events Director.  They work with southern Sudanese both in Sudan and as refugees here in the United States.  Our team is one of three they are sending this November to different areas of southern Sudan.  We’ll be living and working in the small village of Kuluh, a collection of compounds housing about 800 people, most of whom are subsistence farmers.  There we’ll be training pastors in Chronological Bible Storying, working in the village school, delivering a mill to help the villagers grind grain, and following up on a famine relief project from last year.

Are we ready?  I don’t know.  We’ve check off our list of supplies, but I don’t know that anything could prepare us for the bush of southern Sudan.  Are we excited?  You bet!  We can’t wait to see what God does in us and through us for these two weeks.  Please keep our team in your prayers over the next two weeks and we’ll share our experiences with you right here on the Common Tone when we return!

“Light of the World” to be featured in Song Discovery!

We’re excited to share with you that “Light of the World” off the new album will be featured in the November/December issue of Song Discovery, a compilation CD of new music that accompanies each issue of Worship Leader magazine.  The magazine has 40,000 subscribers, and past issues of Song Discovery have included artists like Chris Tomlin, Michael W. Smith, Third Day, David Crowder Band, Paul Baloche, Big Daddy Weave, Fee, and many others.  Now, I’m guessing most of you aren’t regular subscribers to Worship Leader magazine, but if you want a taste check out www.songdiscovery.com.  (**As of this post, the new Song Discovery issue had not yet been put on the website.**)  As for us, we’re very excited at the thought that somewhere in America this Christmas someone that has never met us before might be singing Light of the World!

E-Card

Haven’t seen the e-card yet?  Click the image below to find out more!

Help Us Get the Word Out

Hey everybody!  Today we are sending out an e-card to let people know about the album and give them a chance to find out a little about us.  It has a short bio, some photos, the video for “Face of God,” and an audio player that lets people listen to clips from the album.  It also has a section called “Send to Friends” that allows you to forward it to some of your friends that you think might enjoy the music.  This could be a great way to get the word out on a grassroots level, but we need your help.  When you receive the e-card think about a couple friends that might like to take a listen and forward the e-card to them.  If for some reason you don’t receive the e-card e-mail just click here to link to it.  Thanks for your help!