Chasing Crabbs
Adam and Jason Crabb play together in February 2008 at Northeast Winterfest.
By Deborah Evans Price, Senior Music Editor, GospelMusicChannel.com
Like so many other southern gospel music fans, I was devastated when I heard the news that the Crabb Family was parting ways. After all, the talented siblings were at the top of their game, and their success had spread well beyond their roots in the southern gospel community. The future looked bright, and it was hard to imagine the group changing course, but these days it’s obvious God was calling each of them to a new season of ministry. In fact, what was once one successful group has now splintered into several exciting new acts. In what seems like kind of a loaves and fishes story, the great music coming from this gifted family has multiplied exponentially.
Jason Crabb has signed a deal with Spring Hill Records and will have a new album out next year. Adam Crabb and sister Terah Penhollow have formed Crabb Revival with lead guitarist Zach Smith, drummer Micah Schweinsberg and bassist Jedidiah Richardson. During this year’s GMA Week festivities they previewed their Daywind Records debut album, Runaway Train. The single “You Amaze Me” is garnering airplay at southern gospel stations while “Best Friends” and “Rescue Me” are getting exposure via AC and Inspo stations.
The good folks at Daywind Records have also signed Aaron & Amanda Crabb. (Adam and Aaron are twins, and Amanda is Aaron’s wife.) After seven years of marriage and two beautiful children, the couple recently launched their own ministry. Their Daywind debut, After the Rain, has spawned the single “Miracle,” currently playing on southern gospel radio.
After the Crabb Family parted ways, it was only natural that Kelly Bowling would join her husband Mike in his music ministry. Mike and Kelly perform with Jeff Snyder and the trio recently signed to Canaan Records, a division of Word Entertainment. The talented group’s Canaan debut, Faith to Believe, will be released August 12 and will include their current single “Your Cries Have Woken the Master” as well as “We Have A Savior,” which has already topped the southern gospel charts.
Employees at the Nashville offices of BMI and a few special guests recently got a treat when Jason Crabb stopped by to perform a short set. Afterwards, he graciously talked to GospelMusicChannel.com about his upcoming solo project. “It’s a new season for me. So I’m ready to go after it,” says Jason. “I think what we’re going to do first is we’re going to find songs. We want good songs period. We’re going to listen to all styles, all kinds. I really can’t say I’m going to create a country album or rock album or pop album or a straight gospel album. It’s going to have a mixture of different stuff because I like all kinds of music. I just want to make good music, that’s it.”
Thus far, Jason has been talking to several producers. “Norro Wilson is going to produce a couple of tunes,” he says of the famed country producer. “Also we’ve talked to Tommy Simms. I’m going to work on a couple of tunes myself – me and a friend of mine named Tre’ Corley. He’s just a brilliant guy. We already cut one tune, and the label loves it. It brought Tommy to the party. They played it for Tommy and he said, ‘Man, count me in!’ It’s a tune that Celine Dion did on her last record called "A World To Believe In" and it’s really such a great song...such a God song."
As excited as he is about his future, Jason has great memories of the Crabb Family’s days together. “It was some of the best days of my life; my brothers and sisters are my life,” he says. “It’s just a seasonal thing. Nobody got aggravated. Nobody got mad. Honestly it was at the peak of our career and you know a lot of times people wait until they start coming down before they do anything different, but it was time to start recreating ourselves and try to show our own identities.”
While he’s working on his Spring Hill debut, Jason is continuing to tour and perform solo concerts. The other Crabb alumni are also on the road this summer doing their new things. “We’re reaching more people at one time than we did when we were all together,” says Jason. “Adam and Terah and their group Crabb Revival are just phenomenal. It’s just a fresh, kind of acoustic, but driving sound and the lyrics are so in your face. Aaron and Amanda right now are writing some of the best praise and worship music and ministering to couples and churches. When I heard them, I thought ‘Where have you been with that voice?’ He just has stepped into a whole other level of singing. Mike and Kelly are doing some of the best singing I’ve ever heard them do, and their new album has great songs. Also Dad is out preaching and singing and writing songs. It’s all going great.”
Jason says his new album may hold a few surprises. “I sing for God because He’s the one that gave me this gift,” he says. “And I feel that there are some things inside me that I need to get out."
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About the Writer
Deborah Evans Price has covered Christian/Gospel music for Billboard magazine since 1994. She also contributes regularly to Country Weekly, CMA Close Up, Devo’Zine, Christian Single, HomeLife, BMI Music World, and other publications.
A Nashville resident since 1983, Deborah has held editorial posts at Radio & Records, Country News, American Songwriter and Billboard. Amy Grant, Trace Adkins, Brad Paisley, Charlie Daniels, 3 Doors Down, Third Day, Don Henley, Bon Jovi, Chris Rice, Sandra Bullock, Mercy Me, Alan Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Carrie Underwood and Steven Curtis Chapman are among her many interviews. Additionally, she's a sought-after music industry analyst who has been interviewed on CNN, MSNBC, TNN, The Today Show, and ABC PrimeTime Live, among other outlets.
Deborah is a member of the Gospel Music Association's board of directors and a graduate of Leadership Music. She resides south of Nashville with her husband, Gary, and 17-year-old son Trey.
