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The Jars of Clay Family Christmas Show

A night full of fun, festivities, and a whole lot of Christmas Spirit, join us Wednesday,
December 16th for our first annual Jars of Clay Family Christmas Show.

The Jars of Clay Family Christmas Show
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Jars 20th Anniversary:

Fan-Curated Album & Anniversary Tour Pledge now and you can help pick the Top 20 Jars of Clay songs for our new acoustic album.

Jars 20th Anniversary:
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Happy Holidays from Jars of Clay and ...

Howdy from out on the road during our Inland Christmas Tour! We have a lot to update you on for the last few weeks of 2013 so let's jump right in:

Happy Holidays from Jars of Clay and Daytrotter, Noisetrade, and Stageit!
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JR Montes
November Stageit Concerts!

Coming up this Thursday Nov 7th at 8.30pm CST

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Relevant Magazine Podcast!

If You have not seen it already take a look at these great videos and podcast from our recent visit to Relevant Magazine. Listen to the audio here:

Relevant Magazine Podcast!

VIDEO: Sing & Tell Tour Questions, Answers, Music. With special guest Dave Barnes

 

Join Jars of Clay at an intimate Speak & Spell show this October! Jars will be playing just a few very special acoustic concerts featuring all of the hits as well as fan favorites that are rarely played live. The show will feature an intimate experience full of music as well a time to interact with the band and ask questions and hear stories from all of the guys! Special guest Dave Barnes will be joining the guys on this intimate night. Get your tickets below!

October 12 - ­ New York, NY ­ B.B. Kings Blues Club - BUY

October 14 - ­ Showcase Live ­ Foxborough, MA - BUY

October 15 - ­ Paramount Theater ­ Rutland, VT ­ 2 Sets - BUY

October 16 ­ - Sellersville Theater ­ Sellersville, PA ­ 2 sets - BUY

October 13 - Hartford, CT - Webster Theatre

October 27 - Sacramento, CA - Capital Christian Center - BUY

October 28 - Pasadena, CA - First Church of the Nazarene of Pasadena - BUY

October 29 - Lake Forest, CA - Saddleback Community Church

Rock & Worship Roadshow and Sing & Tell Acoustic Events

Jars of Clay is excited to announce that they will be once again joining the 2011 Rock & Worship Roadshow, which kicks off on November 3rd! Jars will be joining MercyMe, Hawk Nelson, Matt Maher, Disciple, Group 1 Crew and Tip Lee for this amazing line-up.


Jars will also be offering a limited number of tickets to their very intimate VIP acoustic "Sing & Tell" event on every RWRS tour date!



Get your VIP tickets Here

The VIP ticket includes:

-Admission into Rock & Worship Roadshow
-Intimate VIP acoustic performance by Jars of Clay
-Q&A with Jars of Clay
-VIP laminate
-Special edition CD

Rock & Worship Roadshow Tour Dates:

11/3: Saginaw, MI - Dow Event Center
11/4:  Grand Rapids, MI - Van Andel Arena
11/5:  Ft. Wayne, IN - Memorial Coliseum
11/6:  Cleveland, OH - Wolstein Center
11/10:  Atlanta, GA - Gwinnett Center Arena
11/11:  Charlotte, NC - Bojangles Coliseum
11/12:  Knoxville, TN - Thompson-Boling Arena
11/13:  Columbia, SC - Colonial Life Arena
11/17:  Oklahoma, OK - Oklahoma City Arena
11/18:  Wichita, KS - Intrust Bank Arena
11/19:  Kansas City, MO - The Sprint Center
11/20:  Memphis, TN - FedEx Forum

Update From Charlie: Fall Tour, New Album and More

Well, it's mid-summer, and Nashville could not be any hotter or more humid! We have been working hard in the studio on a number of different projects. The main one being the writing for our next full-length project. We started writing in June, and will continue throughout the next few months, but we are excited to see what gradually comes forward.  Writing is funny for us, and it's always been this way, but the record sort of finds us, as opposed us knowing exactly what we are creating.  It's a mysterious process, and it keeps us engaged and intrigued!

We have been working on a Christmas EP that will be available this fall.  We found a couple more "classic" Christmas songs to re-invent, as well as a new original song that we wrote.

We've also been recording some acoustic versions of older Jars songs that have not had much attention these past handful of years.  Mainly inspired by our VIP remix events during last winter's Roadshow tour, we have enjoyed capturing some of these intimate arrangements for your ears.

If you haven't yet heard the recent Roadshow news, there is a fall tour going out and we'll be playing on it once again!  We're excited to re-join MercyMe and Matt Maher, as well as Hawk Nelson, Disciple, and more, for a great evening of music at a low price.  Stay tuned for announcements about our own exclusive VIP pre-show event, which includes a ticket to the Roadshow concert.  Tourdates and info at: http://therockandworshiproadshow.com/

Just before Roadshow goes out this November, we'll be performing a couple weekends in clubs as an acoustic foursome.  It'll be a fun evening of stories, interaction and acoustic music, hopefully something our long-time
fans have not seen lately.  We are privileged to have the incredible (and hilarious) Dave Barnes out to support us!

We are also experimenting with some news media outlets to better be in communication with YOU.  We have been U-streaming live from our studio as we write and record a bit this summer.  Twitter and facebook are the best ways to stay plugged in with what we are up to.  The link to our stream, if you care to bookmark it, is:  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/jars-of-clay

If you are on our facebook page, you may notice that a couple of us havenstarted our own artist pages, as a way to be in more direct communication with you, reading stories and replying to questions and comments more regularly.  Feel free to LIKE our artist pages and check in or throw your questions at us.  ;) 

Thanks, friends!!  May your summer be filled with air conditioning and sweet lemonade.

For Your Listening Pleasure

If you have ever read any interviews about Jars of Clay, there is a common answer to the question about why we started playing music together.  It was simply that we were all fans of music.  Music allows even the most unadventurous the opportunity to be an explorer. 

The mechanisms for exploration have taken many strides.  Nearly gone, but not entirely, are the days when I could just drop in to my local record shop and gamble on an album based solely on the cover art, and hopefully, be pleasantly surprised by what I heard. 

Even as the influence of a radio deejay who finds a band worth liking and champions them, goes the way of the buffalo, there are more ways to discover new music than ever before.  The technology is changing. It means that we will be forced to adopt new ways of hunting and gathering.  And no one truly loves change. It is the reason we don’t simply rent our clothing. It is why most of us live in homes that have concrete foundations. We like things the way they are. 

I can’t even imagine what it must be like for generations before my own.  If you want to see how terrifying technology can be, spend a couple minutes explaining a push button flip phone to my grandfather, or testing out Netflix with my grandmother. Technological advancement is a scary proposition. But we can’t let these things scare us.  After all, what’s the worst that can happen? 

AIDS at 30: Nothing to Celebrate, Everything to Hope For

We are celebrating an anniversary this year.  “Celebrating” is not the correct word.  Perhaps, “acknowledging” is a better word.  We won’t be sending cards or thinking romantic thoughts, or raising a glass as we release sentiments like, “we hope the next 30 years are even better than the first. “   It was 30 years ago that the first cases of, “The Gay Cancer,” were reported.   We have come to know this disease by a different name.  We know it as AIDS.

I still remember sitting in the corner office of our Rendy Lovelady Management as I listened to a man describe what was happening in Africa.  He was not hopeful in that conversation.  His words held no silver lining.  How could it?   He was in the office because he needed help.  A poll had been commissioned by World Vision to find out what the general state of knowledge and understanding was in the church surrounding HIV/AIDS.  They asked a simple question of Evangelicals. “If you had the chance to help someone with AIDS, would you?”   Only 3% said yes.

 AIDS is complicated.   Just as relationships are complicated, or medicine is complicated, or humanity is complicated, or being a Christian is complicated.  So, for many people it was necessary to find reasons to disengage without feeling implicated in the work that needed to be done.  
The poll suggested that Evangelicals blamed HIV/AIDS on a lot of things.  One of the loudest critical voices speaking about HIV/AIDS was the one telling us that Africans were reaping what they had sewn. AIDS was the way God was acting out his wrath on sinners, and so our job was simply to ignore Africa and let those infected with AIDS die.

AIDS is complicated. And the church was immature.  And the act of pulling the covers over our heads and hoping that the monster would simply go away, well… , It didn’t work.  The monster grew.  The next approach was better.  What could we learn from people struggling with HIV/AIDS?  Our approach was to listen and observe.

We found that the reason for HIV/AIDS rapid spread was not entirely due to an influx of homosexual activity.  We learned that it was transmitted through breast- feeding, and ceremonial circumcisions, and wife adoption, and a host of tribal practices meant for healing, and childbirth.  We also learned that our response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic was selfish and fearful.  We, as a culture, found the human story trapped under the umbrella of mega-statistics and impersonal numbers. We found a foothold to re-engage.  And even with a massive push by musicians like Bono and world leaders like, Bishop Tutu, we saw the effects of HIV/AIDS continue to rise.

We built initiatives, and peace plans, and watched the development world truly rally to the call of ending HIV/AIDS.  And still we saw the disease hold it’s ground.   We saw pockets where an idea or an education campaign made a significant difference in the number of new transmissions of HIV.  And still, we find ourselves 30 years into a great war, unable to fully end HIV/AIDS.

MUSIC: "Stay," a remix by Stephen Mason

From Stephen Mason:

"Stay" is a re-imagining of the song "Forgive Me" from our last full-length Jars of Clay release,  The Long Fall Back To Earth. This is a favorite of mine on the record. It's been really fun to change the melody and add some different textures.

I love remixes, and the opportunity to approach our music like this was a cool opportunity. It revealed the DNA of the song and presented an opportunity to highlight musical and lyrical pieces that challenge and inspire me personally.

DOWNLOAD "STAY" HERE

 

Update from Charlie

Greetings friends!!

It's been quite a busy and exciting season for the band...  we are just rested up from two back-to-back tours.  Roadshow was a new experience- we had an absolute blast with MercyMe and a handful of other bands playing on the Roadshow tour this year.  We did enjoy the "big stage" but had some pretty special moments playing acoustic songs for a number of you that came out early and got your requests in.  We played songs that we literally have never played since recording them... like Scarlet, Redemption, River Constantine, Forgive Me, and more...  a good brain exercise for us, but it was truly a treat to hear stories of how these songs have connected with you over the years... thank you!!  We hope to do more of that in the future.  Following the Roadshow tour was our Shelter headline tour- all through the making of The Shelter, we knew that the songs would really take form live- hearing you sing along with us, as these songs were written to be sung by "the people"!!  We toured with Derek Webb, Matt Maher, and Audrey Assad, who all sang on the record with us.  It truly felt like family (if not camp!) out there, which may sound like a bit of a cliche, but we say it with honesty and gratitude.  If you don't have any of their projects, please check them out! 

Right now, we're doing just a handful of tour dates in the next month, but primarily starting to write for the next project, whatever that may be!  We really have no idea what is on the horizon until we get in the habit of gathering, turning our chairs toward one another, and seeing what is waiting for us.  It's an odd combination of scary and exciting!  We have enjoyed the acoustic sets lately (if you haven't seen it, here's a nice intimate version of "Closer", acoustic at a club in Nashville opening for Burlap To Cashmere last month: (VIDEO), and may do some select dates this fall in that vein- stripped down arrangements and stories about songs... 

As always, thanks for listening and coming out to see us in concert!!  It's a great season to look ahead and anticipate what is next, what we are passionate about saying and creating, and expecting God to meet us in unexpected ways, as is most always the case! 

May you find joy in your journey today-

Charlie Lowell
Jars of Clay

VIDEOS: Jars - Closer and Flood - Nashville Sunday Night

Thanks to our friends at Lightning 100 and The Funky Umbrella for the following videos from this past Sunday night, May 15, 2011 at Lightning 100's Nashville Sunday Night show, where we played with Burlap To Cashmere.

 

WELL:DONE CELEBRATION RAISES OVER $100,000

Blood: Water Mission - the organization that began as the vision of Jars of Clay’s Dan Haseltine to impact Africa with safe water—had reason to celebrate (May 10) in Nashville. The concert staging of the “Well:Done Celebration” was held in honor of the successful completion of the ‘1000 Wells Project’ now producing water in communities all over Africa through the work of Blood:Water Mission. The event held at the historic Ryman Auditorium raised over $100,000.

Jars of Clay's Dan Haseltine (third from left) joins in the 'Well: Done Celebration' with (left to right) Rich Hoops, Chairman of the Board of Blood: Water Mission; BWM Director Jena Nardella; (TN) Governor & Mrs. Bill Haslam; Mike Hamilton, Althletic Director at the University of Tennessee and BWM Board member.

Jars of Clay with friends and fellow artists from 'Well: Done Celebration' in Nashville. Included in photo are: HANSON, Eric Wainaina and band, Brandon Heath, Charlie Peacock, Derek Webb, Sandra McCracken, and Blood: Water Mission Director, Jena Nardella.

Well:Done Celebration

We hope you can join us Tuesday, May 10 for Well:Done Celebration, a benefit evening of stories and songs at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, as we celebrate the first 1,000 communities that have received safe water. The line-up will be: Jars of Clay, HANSON, Derek Webb, Sandra McCracken, renowned Kenyan artist Eric Wainaina and band, along with special guest host Charlie Peacock.