My relationship with New Release Tuesday™ has given me the opportunity (or the excuse?) to meet artists on a very different level than simply hearing them at a concert or reading their bio information on their web site. That was the case when I spent the better part of an hour with Aaron Britton, lead singer and guitar player for the group 519, which he formed about three years ago when he was "between worship gigs."

Aaron Britton, the Worship Leader, is no stranger to me. Back in 2001, he was the Worship Leader at Flatirons Community Church in Lafayette, Colorado. He was there when Flatirons was one of the fastest growing non-denominational churches in the United States, growing at a rate of eight hundred new worshipers every ten months. Flatirons was on the "cutting edge" musically, and their closeness to the University of Colorado-Boulder, gave them a huge student base at their four services each weekend. Musically, it didn't hurt that Rachael Lampa attended services at Flatirons, and on occasion would join the praise & worship band as a soloist. Rachael's parents still attend Flatirons.

Aaron Britton is now the Worship Pastor at Calvary Bible Church in Boulder, and he again is affiliated with a church that is growing rapidly. Between positions at Flatirons and Calvary Bible, Britton created his band "519", the title being a reference to Ephesians 5:19, in which Paul states "Talk with each other much about the Lord, quoting psalms and hymns and singing spiritual songs, making music in your hearts to the Lord." (The Book)

Britton, along with wife Jody and the husband-wife combo of Brian and Kassie Mercer, are the heart of 519. Kassie and Jody are the vocalists that back up Aaron, and Brian plays bass guitar. Aaron Britton is also on acoustic guitar. The band is then filled in at electric guitar and drums by various musicians, depending on the timing of the event.

The Brittons have been married for seven years, and are the proud parents of three children, ranging in age from 3 to 7. His dad was a worship pastor, and he admits that he wanted to be a professional musician about the time he realized that we wasn't going to be a professional basketball player. The 6-2 high school freshman came to grips with reality, and then began to use the tools he learned from years of classical piano study to worship via contemporary Christian music.

His love of Christian music continued through his studies as a Music Major at the University of Nebraska. His first full-time position as a worship pastor was in New Jersey, but the job offer at Flatirons brought him back to Colorado, and he has been here ever since. Musically, he has become a great fan of Modern Worship music, with a particular like for the music of Chris Tomlin and David Crowder. One of his pet peeves that he finds painful to see is older Christian artists coming out with worship albums simply because it's "really hot", when in fact their particular style doesn't lend itself to praise & worship. An example? The name John Tesh came to both our minds.

Britton writes all his own songs, and their first entry into the market is titled All of This, a collection of seven songs. We talked about how hard it can be to succeed as an independent artist. "I hate to say it, but so much of it is about the money", he stated. "If you have friends that have really good equipment, you can make a top-notch CD. Maybe one that's as good as a 'signed band' could produce, for cheap. We had zero money and we used the church's equipment and my own art work, and have done it all for really low cost. All things considered, the quality is pretty good." And since I have had a copy of the album since it came out and played it many times over, I can agree.

As a musician that leads praise & worship every Sunday morning, he admitted that he really enjoyed getting into a studio for the album and being able to do it "over and over" until it was right. He also noted that when your band is working for you on a volunteer basis, getting the schedules coordinated can be pretty difficult. He stated that he's "proud of what we did for our first shot".

That led to the next question, which was to ask him if he tried to go with a label. His response was interesting. "It's hard to get with a label because the Christian music industry is the same as the secular music industry. You have to have relationships and connections for them to even listen to you, and they don't listen to unsolicited material. If they don't ask you for it, it will probably get filed in the famous 'cardboard box under the desk'."

Did he ever have the desire to just pack up Jody, the kids, and head to Nashville to seek fame and fortune? "I was offered a half-ride to Belmont University in Nashville, but their half-ride offer still made it way too expensive. The other problem was that in Nashville every waitress and plumber can out-play you on the guitar."

Britton sees himself as a bigger fish in a relatively small pond. "I have a home base, and I have my sanity. I'm not where everyone wants to get noticed and wanting attention." Moving ahead in finding relationships and connections, he hopes, will happen this summer when 519 will spend a week in Estes Park, Colorado, for the GMA Music in the Rockies. He plans on entering his band in the competition, as well as entering the songwriter competition. Many of today's biggest starts in Christian Music have begun their careers after competing in Estes, and 519? Who knows what might happen.

Another new experience for the band came when they made their first of three appearances at Nissi's Live Music Bistro in nearby Lafayette. "It was a whole new experience to have people eating tacos (actually for me it was french fries) while we were singing. It was definitely educational. And overall, helpful" he stated. Nissi's devoted Monday nights at the live club to Christian artists only, and the idea has met with modest success. Britton and his band have come close to selling out each time they've played there, and even though Mondays are no longer for Christian artists only, he feels he'll be asked to play on nights other than Mondays.

Is there another project in the works? "No, not really. We're hoping to take the songs we've already recorded and getting more people to hear them, and make connections with what we've already got." I asked him where he thought he would be in five years, and he was straight forward when he stated that he still wanted to be rooted in a local church. In an ideal world, he mentioned, "it would be a situation where the band would travel during the week, and come back on Sundays to lead worship." He gave the group Casting Crowns as an example.

When it's all said and done, does he have any sage advice for artists just starting out and hoping to make it in Christian music? Yes, he did. "Minister in a local church. That's the best way to get started. Make relationships and connections a priority. Find Youth Groups that want a band to come in. Don't sit back and wait. National labels, ironically, are looking for people that have made an impact locally."

If you'd like to hear 519's newest album, All of This, (at only $8.00 per copy) you can do it by bringing up the band's web site at www.519music.com. You can also find out more information about this group that is led by a young man that seems to have a huge heart for God and his priorities in life very much in the right order. And if you might be interested in competing at the GMA Music in the Rockies, check out the A HREF="http://www.gospelmusic.org/events/summaryDetail.aspx?aid=16&pid=62" target="_blank">GMA web site and consider registering while there's still time.