Jars of Clay
Jars of Clay is a four-piece Christian rock band from the United States . In America they are also called the "Fab Four" (based on the nickname of the Beatles ) of Christian pop music .
Band history
From the beginning to the first Grammy
The band was formed at the College of Greenville in Illinois . Dan Haseltine as singer and songwriter and keyboardist Charlie Lowell were in the project group Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) and worked together on a song recording. Then there was guitarist Stephen Mason. As the band name they chose a passage from the New Testament from 2 Corinthians 4, verse 7: "We have this treasure in earthen vessels (English: Jars of Clay), so that the exuberant power may be from God and not from us." Translation after Luther )
The trio continued to work together beyond school and made other recordings. In 1994 they recorded a demo tape and competed in a Gospel Music Association talent competition . You were invited to Nashville and won the competition. When the music industry became interested, they decided to quit school and move to Nashville as musicians. None of the college friends who had previously supported her with live performances wanted to take the step and so they brought in Matt Odmark, a fourth man from their wider circle of acquaintances, as a second guitarist. They signed with Essential , a smaller label, and Adrian Belew, an experienced rock musician, offered them as a producer. Among other things, he supported her with the song Flood , which was well received by the relevant radio stations. The label then promoted the song on mainstream broadcasters and significantly increased the band's popularity. Flood made it into the top 40 of the single charts and the debut album named after the band, Jars of Clay , rose to number 46 on the official album charts and stayed in the top 200 for over a year. In the genre charts, the Top Christian Albums , it took place 1. It was awarded double platinum , which equates to 2 million copies sold. It was also nominated for a Grammy in the gospel category.
Although Jars of Clay was caught between the CCM fans, who were skeptical about their closeness to mainstream rock, and the pop fans who had little interest in Christian texts, they were able to increase the success with their second album. Was produced Much Afraid of Britons Steve Lipson, who with Annie Lennox had already won a Grammy. The album entered the top 10 of the official charts and again sold over 1 million copies. And this time they won the Grammy in the Pop Gospel Album category .
Stylistically, Jars of Clay combine catchy rock with folky elements. The band is sometimes compared to U2 , whose lead singer Bono said in an interview that he is a big fan of Jars of Clay. The band members' faith in Jesus Christ plays a central role in the lyrics . Characteristic here is a lyrically demanding and pictorial textual implementation. While they gave the alternative CCM movement the breakthrough and paved the way for bands like Sixpence None the Richer and Creed , they were unable to maintain mainstream popularity over the long term.
Successes in the 2000s and career ending
The 1999 album If I Left the Zoo , produced by Dennis Herring (including Counting Crows and Throwing Muses ), was their second number 1 Christian album and brought them their second Pop Gospel Grammy. With 44th place and 12 weeks of charting on the Billboard 200, it lagged a bit behind the success of its predecessor. But they confidently followed their path and produced the next album The Eleventh Hour themselves. It was released in early 2002 and brought them the third Grammy in a row. Although it achieved its second-best position in the official charts at number 28, it was not so commercially successful.
A concert DVD was followed the following year by the double CD Furthermore: From the Studio / From the Stage with live and new recordings of older songs. The album was well received and received another gold award. The fifth studio album Who We Are Instead in the same year, however, was their least successful and was the only one that did not make it into the top 100 of the official charts. In 2005 Jar of Clay returned with the album Redemption Songs . With this recording of popular hymns and spirituals, they were again very successful with fans of Christian music. The album came to number 1 in the Christian Music genre and stayed in the charts for over a year. The studio album Good Monsters was then again one of the more successful.
There followed three years without a new studio album, but with various other releases, including the live album for Good Monsters , an Essentials compilation, a greatest hits album, an album with Christmas songs and the EP Stronger . The last three also achieved chart positions. With the album Long Fall Back to Earth in 2009 a return to the more poppy sounds and the music of the 1980s in the style of Tears for Fears and The Cure followed . At number 29, it did well in the official charts, but CCM fans also liked the work and took it to number 1 on the Christian Albums for the fourth time. The Shelter followed just a year later in a similar style, but despite numerous collaborations with musicians like TobyMac and Mac Powell , among others , it could not maintain its success.
So it took another three years until a new album with a new direction was released. Inland was produced by Tucker Martine and brought a more bass-heavy, grunge- tending sound. The album reached number 2 in the Christian charts again in 2013. After that it became quiet around the quartet. A compilation for the 20th anniversary of the band was their last chart album in 2014.
Members
Jars of Clay consist of:
- Dan Haseltine - vocals , percussion
- Charlie Lowell - piano , organ , accordion , keyboard , backing vocals
- Stephen Mason - guitar , vocals, percussion, mandolin , background vocals
- Matthew Odmark - acoustic guitar , banjo , background vocals
The band does not have a permanent drummer or bass player; Joe Porter and Aaron Sands often take on these instrumentations at live concerts.
Discography
Albums
Placement in the official album charts ( Billboard 200 ) and the Top Christian Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 US
|
Christian
|
|||
| 1995 | Jars of Clay |
US46  × 2
(70 weeks)US |
Christian1 (103 weeks) Christian |
|
| Drummer boy |
US101 (4 weeks) US |
Christian5 (8 weeks) Christian |
Christmas EP
re-release: 1997 |
|
| 1997 | Much Afraid |
US8th (19 weeks)US |
Christian2 (61 weeks) Christian |
|
| 1999 | I left the zoo |
US44  (12 weeks)US |
Christian1 (46 weeks) Christian |
Grammy (Gospel)
|
| 2002 | The Eleventh Hour |
US28 (11 weeks) US |
Christian3 (28 weeks) Christian |
Grammy (Gospel)
|
| 2003 | Furthermore: From the Studio, From the Stage |
US64 (9 weeks)US |
Christian3 (32 weeks) Christian |
Double album with songs played live and newly recorded
|
| Who We Are Instead |
US103 (5 weeks) US |
Christian4 (23 weeks) Christian |
||
| 2005 | Redemption songs |
US71 (9 weeks) US |
Christian1 (68 weeks) Christian |
|
| 2006 | Good monsters |
US58 (6 weeks) US |
Christian3 (34 weeks) Christian |
|
| 2007 | Christmas songs |
US130 (4 weeks) US |
Christian7 (11 weeks) Christian |
Christmas album
|
| 2008 | Greatest hits | - |
Christian22 (13 weeks) Christian |
|
| Closer | - |
Christian44 (2 weeks) Christian |
EP
|
|
| 2009 | The Long Fall Back to Earth |
US29 (8 weeks) US |
Christian1 (24 weeks) Christian |
|
| 2010 | Jars of Clay Presents: The Shelter |
US78 (3 weeks) US |
Christian5 (25 weeks) Christian |
|
| 2013 | inland |
US70 (2 weeks) US |
Christian2 (11 weeks) Christian |
|
| 2014 | 20th | - |
Christian28 (1 week) Christian |
|
More albums
- Jar of Gems (best of album, 2001)
- Live Monsters (Live EP, 2007)
- The Essential Jars of Clay (compilation, 2007)
- More Christmas Songs (EP, 2011)
- The Others (EP, 2015)
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
US
|
Christian
|
|||
| 1995 | Flood Jars of Clay |
US37 (19 weeks) US |
- | |
| 2002 | The Valley Song (Sing of Your Mercy) Furthermore: From the Studio, From the Stage |
- |
Christian10 (25 weeks) Christian |
|
| 2003 | Show You Love Who We Are Instead |
- |
Christian6 (26 weeks) Christian |
|
| 2004 | Sunny Days Who We Are Instead |
- |
Christian29 (18 weeks) Christian |
|
| 2005 | God Will Lift Up Your Head Redemption Songs |
- |
Christian11 (26 weeks) Christian |
|
| 2006 | Dead Man (Carry Me) Good Monsters |
- |
Christian14 (20 weeks) Christian |
|
| Work good monsters |
- |
Christian27 (12 weeks) Christian |
||
| 2007 | There Is a River Good Monsters |
- |
Christian22 (7 weeks) Christian |
|
| Love Came Down at Christmas Christmas Songs |
- |
Christian12 (2 weeks) Christian |
||
| Wonderful Christmastime Christmas Songs |
- |
Christian23 (1 week) Christian |
||
| 2009 | Two Hands The Long Fall Back to Earth |
- |
Christian6 (20 weeks) Christian |
|
| 2010 | Out of My Hands Jars of Clay Presents: The Shelter |
- |
Christian27 (15 weeks) Christian |
|
| 2011 | Shelter Jars of Clay Presents: The Shelter |
- |
Christian32 (8 weeks) Christian |
|
| It came upon the midnight clear |
- |
Christian41 (2 weeks) Christian |
||
More singles
- Love Song for a Savior (1995)
- Like a Child (1995)
- Liquid (1996)
- Blind (1996)
- Crazy Times (1997)
- Five Candles (You Were There) (1998)
- Fade to Gray (1998)
- Overjoyed (1998)
- Needful Hands (1998)
- Everything in Between (1999)
- Unforgetful You (1999)
- Collide (2000)
- I'm Alright (2000)
- Can't Erase It (2001)
- I Need You (2001)
- Fly (2001)
- Revolution (2002)
- Show You Love (2003)
- Work (2006)
- Two Hands (2009)
- Heaven (2009)
Awards for music sales
|
Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.
| Country / Region |
gold |
platinum
|
Sales | swell |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources) |
||||
 Canada (MC)
|
gold1
|
- | 50,000 | musiccanada.com |
|
United States (RIAA)
|
2 × gold2
|
3 × platinum3
|
4,000,000 | riaa.com |
| All in all |
3 × gold3
|
3 × platinum3
|
||
Awards
- New Artist of the Year (1996)
- Group of the Year (1997, 1998)
- Works:
- Flood (Short Form Music Video, 1996)
- Unforgetful You (Modern Rock Recorded Song, 2000)
- The Eleventh Hour (Modern Rock Album, 2003)
- Redemption Songs (Recorded Music Packaging, 2006)
- Good Monsters (Rock / Contemporary Album, 2007)
- Work (Short Form Music Video, 2007)
- The Long Fall Back to Earth (Pop / Contemporary Album + Recorded Music Packaging, 2010)
swell
- ↑ a b US chart history
- ↑ Jars of Clay at the Grammy Awards (database)
- ↑ Past Winners of the GMA Dove Awards (database)
Web links
- Official website
- Jarchives.com (fanpage)
- Jars of Clay - lyrics
- Jars of Clay at Worshipsong.de. Archived from the original on July 17, 2010 ; accessed on November 18, 2019 .
- Jars of Clay at Allmusic (English)
- Jars Of Clay on discogs.com