This past week, your favorite Christian artists were doing what they're known to do in the twitterverse: post pics, talk about albums and tours, wax poetic, and crack jokes. But they also were trying to get their wits about them. Musicians were confused as to whether or not they were on tour, forgetting to pay certain "administrative" bills, and pondering a career change to wrestle alligators. We appreciate--and are entertained by--the vulnerability.

Well, in case you missed it, NRT cracked some jokes of our own this week using Twitter. (If you didn't see them, check out this page to read the fake news we posted.) One of the fake tweets/stories was about Francesca Battistelli coming out with a new line of pasta. She certainly understood the humor!

As always, if you'd like to keep tabs on over 1,150 Christian artists, check out our exclusive NRTwitter page to read the latest tweets from the Christian music community. 

RELEASING NOW AND LOOKING AHEAD

@OfficialEmery: Yes!!! We are number 3 on iTunes in the rock section and 27 overall right now!!!! You guys are hooking us up today!!! Thank you so much!! (March 29)

Emery released their new album, We Do What We Want, last Tuesday. The album made a significant impact on the iTunes chart, and the band has been continuing to promote it. You can pick it up on iTunes or wherever else music is sold.

@fmstatic: We are excited to launch our new website, www.fmstatic.com! Check it out! (March 29)

In anticipation of their new album My Brain Says Stop, But My Heart Says Go!, FM Static has revamped their website with a new layout and some new content. They have also been streaming the new album for fans who post about it on Facebook or twitter.

@downhere: Here's a peek into our photo shoot from last week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8fFoheYDsQ (March 29)

Downhere had a lot of fun on their recent photo shoot for their upcoming August release On the Altar of Love. They shared the experience with fans through this video on YouTube.

@jasongraymusic: So what do y'all think of this for an album title: "A Way To See In The Dark" (March 31)

Jason Gray has been finishing up work on his next album. He posted a tentative title on his Twitter page, inviting fan feedback.

@eleventyrock: "QUOTA" EP HAS DROPPED! http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/quota/id429038695 (March 31)

Eleventyseven finally released their new EP, which you can pick up on iTunes. You can also get the title track from the EP for free through NoiseTrade (https://www.noisetrade.com/eleventyseven.

KEEPING TOURING FRESH

@toddiefunk: Tell you how dope @therealtobymac is, we kick off the HipRockFunkSoul tour this week which features his band members & THEIR MUSIC, huh?! (March 28)

TobyMac is heading back out on tour again, and this time each member of his talented band will get a chance to perform solo (ArchNemesiz, Shonlock, Nirva Ready, Toddiefunk, Tim Rosenau, SuperHeRose, Byron “Mr. Talkbox” Chambers). They will also spend time telling stories and playing acoustic. It will definitely be a unique tour well worth seeing for any fans of Toby and his band.

@JFrankenstein: I double-checked to make sure I had my tour pass on before entering a restaurant with my wife tonight. #endoftourbrainlapse (March 28)

WinterJam 2011 is approaching the end of its several-month run, with just a few shows left this upcoming week. Apparently the Newsboys' Jeff Frankenstein will have some trouble readjusting.

@brianheadwelch: the boat was our hotel today... strange, but cool. #TwitPict http://twitpic.com/4fka3e (April 1)

Rocker Brian “Head” Welch--currently out on the Over My Head tour with The Letter Black and Decyfer Down--enjoyed an unusual hotel stay in Chattanooga, Tenn.

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

@owlcity: Wrote a song about a girl I was deeply in love with. Get it through the Owl City Galaxy. It's called "Lonely Lullaby." (March 26)

Adam Young of Owl City is usually known for his infectiously optimistic pop songs, but this week through his new Owl City Galaxy iPhone app he shared a song that demonstrated a much more vulnerable side of his art. The song is titled “Lonely Lullaby,” and was written for Adam's former longtime girlfriend. You can download his new app to listen to it.

@adamagee: Tweets can be broken down into 3 equal categories. 1. Inspirational quotes. 2. Food. 3. Everything else. (March 31)

If you read a few thousand tweets every day for long enough, you soon will learn that there is a good deal of truth to this statement.

@jonforeman: Ok, so over the next 24 hours let's all write a song called "tomorrows song" who's with me? (March 27)

@jonforeman: I read and listened to songs from all over the world! so inspiring. one of my fav. lines: "hope is tomorrow's song" (March 28)

@jonforeman: Amazing! Almost 200 songs written on the #TomorrowSongexperiment. Thanks to @andreamcgrath for organizing them. (March 28)

Jon Foreman of Switchfoot began a project where he invited fans to write a song with the same title and then send him what they had, whether it was just lyrics or else a demo. He shared his own demo via Soundcloud and Twitter. The unusual project resulted in well over 200 beautiful songs, compiled at http://tomorrowsongs.livejournal.com.

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS

@matthammitt: I believe that, in the end, God will finish all of our unfinished songs. (March 27)

Matt Hammit of Sanctus Real—an acclaimed songwriter, no doubt--shared this beautiful thought.

@plumb_artist: My 86 yr old beautiful waitress just said 'I may be old but I'm not gonna
sit down and rock...I'm gonna live till I die'. Time to write. (March 28)

Lead singer Tiffany Lee gave us a glimpse at this thought-provoking and inspiring encounter on Monday.

@markhallCC: On a plane. Heading to Cincinnati. Joining Melanie & my baby girl Hope @ children's hospital. Surgery is tomorrow. She'll be in for 3 weeks (March 28)

@markhallCC: Thank you for all of your continued prayers! We will now learn as we go how well things went in surgery and what challenges she'll face. (March 29)

Casting Crowns singer Mark Hall's adopted daughter, Hope, went through a six-hour surgery this week. The Hall family would appreciate continued prayers as Hope heals.

@codycarnes: It will always be hard to convince people God is real, until God is real to you. Stop & spend time letting God be real with you first. (March 31)

Dallas-based worship artist Cody Carnes shared this thought on practically living out your faith.

DON'T QUIT YOUR EVENING JOB...

@ivegot2leftfeet: A guy in a dream last night told me fixing the ozone layer would only cost $20,000. I'm not sure my subconscious is into science (March 29)

It is probable that Israel Beachy (of Disciple) should avoid science and stick to playing bass. Or maybe he's onto something?

@b_reith: Man, it's hard to be ADMINISTRATIVE when you're in CREATIVE MODE. (Translated): "I totally forgot to pay my car insurance" #NoExcuses (March 31)

Sometimes the absent-minded artist stereotype is somewhat justified. Car insurance companies seem to have no creativity when it comes to billing deadlines.

@anberlin: Saying "I drag gators into boats by their heads with my bare hands, then shoot them" is way cooler than "I'm in a band" #switchingjobs -NY (March 31)

Nate Young of Anberlin is apparently contemplating a possible career shift after watching an episode of Swamp People. I'm not really not convinced he'd be better at wrestling alligators than at playing drums...