bsu-announce: Caedmon Countdown

[Ken Watkins <kew@ra.msstate.edu>]

This is an update on the Caedmon's Call Concert.
Lee Hall Auditorium, 8 PM , Tuesday, February 16.

Tickets will be on sale until concert time or until we sell out. Currently
we still have a good many tickets, but sales has really picked up. Doors
open at 7:15.

In Starkville you can purchase tickets from 
1) the BSU; 2) a ticket sale table on the first floor of the Union, 11:00
AM till 3:00 PM; 
3) the Good Bookstore in College Park on Russell St., the same shopping
center where TCBY is located.


Caedmon's Call will be introducing some new songs from their new, soon to
be released album.  Also, see Fred Haring and A Dog Called David, who will
open the concert.

To get to know Caedmon's Call a bit better, here is some bio information
from their web site. If you want to check out their web page the site
address is www.essentialrecords.com/artists/caedmons

Six years ago when several
        friends named their band for
        a medieval monk who
        couldn't sing, they began
        playing classroom-sized
        audiences at Texas
        colleges. Caedmon's Call has
        grown since those days with
        accomplishments including
        album sales approaching
        250,000 worldwide, the
        latest tour comprising 56
        dates and spanning the
        nation, and a deal with a
        major label. Despite their success, Caedmon's Call is
        narrowing its vision. 

        "We're getting back to what we've always wanted to
        do: playing on college campuses," said founding
        member and vocalist Danielle Young. "It's the kind of
        music college students want to listen to. We like to
        think of our music as thinking music. The music
        doesn't overpower the lyrics. Our songwriters
        challenge the listeners." 

        The band's blend of acoustic-folk sound intertwined
        with thoughtful lyrics has brought sellout crowds
        everywhere from Harvard to the University of Missouri
        to the University of Texas. Caedmon's Call exudes
        informality during concerts where T-shirted band
        members banter with each other and audience
        members. They routinely spend hours talking with
        audiences after the show. While they sing from a
        Christian perspective, band members say that their
        lives, not simply their music, are their ministries. The
        group's relationship with audiences is a natural fit,
        Young said. 

        "It's not an us-them thing. It's a we thing." she said.
        "We break all the rules as far as performing. The
        talking that we do on stage is never planned. We talk
        about some experience we had that day. Somebody
        from the audience will yell, and the guys will say,
        'What? What did you say?' and talk to them." 

        Caedmon's Call signed with Essential Records this
        year because of a shared interest in reaching college
        students. The label gives the band the freedom to
        make decisions not only about artistry, but also about
        business. Caedmon's Call's first album with Essential is
        slated for a early 1999 release. 

        "Our next album is going to be a lot more raw, not as
        produced. We are so much stronger with our focus
        now. We were naive before. We didn't know we could
        say no. I think we're more hard-core independent
        even with a new, big label." Young said. 

        The band's independent roots go
        back to 1992, when guitarist and
        vocalist Cliff Young met songwriter
        Aaron Tate at Texas Christian
        University and the two began
        collaborating on songs. At the same
        time Cliff and Danielle, who recently
        married, sang in the services at
        their church. Soon the group had formed and began
        shuttling to nearby college campuses performing for a
        handful of students and family members. As word of
        their music spread, they began playing to regional
        colleges and universities throughout the Mid-West
        and Southeast. They also produced two independent
        CDs, which prompted Musician Magazine to name
        Caedmon's Call one of the best unsigned bands in
        America in 1996. 

        Their self-titled album, nationally released in 1997,
        debuted at number one on the Billboard Magazine
        Heat Seekers sales charts and included four
        consecutive number one CBA radio singles. The video
        for "Hope to Carry On," a Rich Mullins cover song,
        garnered a nomination for a Billboard Magazine Music
        Video Award. 

        Caedmon's Call now includes vocalists and guitarists
        Cliff Young and Derek Webb, vocalist Danielle Young,
        drummer Todd Bragg, percussionsist Garett Buell,
        bassist Aric Nitzberg, and Hammond B-3 organist
        Randy Holsapple. "Eighth member" Aaron Tate still
        remains a songwriter for the band. 

        Above all, Caedmon's audiences know that the band
        would play together regardless of their success, and
        after experiencing the intimacy and sincerity of their
        music at a concert feel as though they have spent an
        evening with old friends.


-- 
Ken Watkins, BSU Director - Mississippi State University
kew@Ra.MsState.Edu       http://WWW.MsState.Edu/org/bsu/

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