Even though it's been only four weeks since my last posting, it seems like it's been a lot longer than that. My wife and I live in Colorado, and we spent almost two weeks driving back to Ripon, Wisconsin for our son's college graduation at Ripon College (Never heard of it? Harrison Ford went there. He didn't graduate. My son Guy did.).

For Helene and I, that meant about 2,000 miles of driving. I'm a fan of Christian music, and my wife tends more to The Beatles and Peter, Paul & Mary. So we alternated music as we worked our way across the country. One CCM album, then one of her choices. It must have worked ok, since we were still speaking to each other when we got there.

One of the albums that I listened to on our trip was Brian Littrell's Welcome Home. We're hoping to get some interview time (via phone or e-mail) with Brian, and I'm hoping to have a posting down the road in the form of a Brian Littrell interview. Most of America knows him as one of the singers with the Backstreet Boys, and of the incredible success that group had in the "boy band era" (remember Plus One?). If anyone is in a position to comment on the differences between Christian and secular music, it's Brian. So stay tuned.

And while I think of it, thanks so much for taking time to comment on my previous postings. I have REALLY enjoyed your comments about the various artists that I've written about.

But back to "pre-Amy"...

So many people, including me for a number of years, really felt that the dawn of CCM came with Amy Grant (pictured above). I've had the opportunity to meet and talk with Amy on a couple of occasions, and I've shared with her my belief that she has been the most influential artist in bringing an awareness of Christian music to the masses. She has also been one of the most successful in crossing over from Christian to mainstream secular, something that happened back in the mid 1980's with a song titled "Find a Way".

Now in her mid-40's (sorry, Amy), she has sold over 30 million copies of her albums, and proved how tough she was after surviving the storm of her divorce with Gary Chapman back in 1999, and her marriage to country artist Vince Gill back in March 2000. Coming out with Legacy....Hymns and Faith was a wonderful move on her part, since it convinced many of her fans that she still had strong Christian values, despite the divorce. With her recent Grammy Award, she has proven that "she is back" as a force in the Christian music business.

Part of the reason that many feel she was "one of the first" Christian artists is because her albums go back to 1977, when she was a teenager. Not only does CCM pre-date Amy, it actually, even pre-dates me. And I go back to the early 40's.

One thing I do remember well when I was growing up was spending my summers in Winona Lake, Indiana, where we attended tent revivals every night, led in worship by a young pastor named Billy Graham. I was in my early teens when we started going from our home in Cleveland, Ohio, but I can still remember the wonderful voice of George Beverly Shea singing "How Great Thou Art," as well as the great sermons preached every evening by Graham, followed by the alter call while the choir sang.

Ironically, it was that same Billy Graham and his Association that produced one of the first Christian-based films in 1965. Called "The Restless Ones", it featured rock instruments on the soundtrack. But even as far back as that was, it was still a lot newer than the early great American revivals, that went back to the early nineteenth century. The music and tone of those revivals were looked down upon by the major denominations of the day, just as many look down upon CCM in today's church culture.

Another evangelist that used music to lead the people was a man named Bill Sunday. Sunday was probably the most famous of the "fundamentalists", and these were people that believe in a literal reading of the Bible. Sunday made his way across America with his revivals, and his use of music as a form of entertainment would be something that would be picked up upon by his successors, including Billy Graham.

When we get to the 50's, we enter the era of rock & roll, and the career of Elvis Presley. Presley was raised in the Assembly of God church by his family, and he went for a short time to Southwest Bible College in Waxahachie, Texas (Note: I've been to Waxahachie and it hasn't changed since Elvis walked the streets.) Rock & roll music of that era didn't make Christian musicians and fans feel at ease with themselves, especially since the music of the 50's was taking on a very disturbing tone.

There were some ministers, however, that saw that popular music could be a means to bring a gospel message to young people. This was also about the time that Word, Inc. became interested in contemporary projects, and it was Word that had been an important factor in Christian music from it's beginning in 1950. They saw that music was one way that a younger generation could be reached, just as our contemporary music of today is seen as a way to reach a younger generation.

Not much happened in the 1960's to move CCM along, as a greater emphasis was placed on sex and drugs during this period as we started to enter into the "hippie era" of the late 60's and early 70's. That's also a period that I can relate to, since the late 60's and early 70's was a period when I was living in San Francisco. And since this will bring us up to the period of the "Jesus music" of the early 70's, this might be a logical place to break.

While I have used a number of sources for the information I've provided for you, I have to give a lot of credit to The Billboard Guide To Contemporary Christian Music. Written by Barry Alfonso in 2002, it goes into excellent detail in not only the music history but the artists that make up Christian music as well.