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#83 Catholic Playlist Show

Catholic Playlist #83Welcome friends to the Catholic Playlist show! For those of you who might be new to the show, you might be asking, “What is the Catholic Playlist show?” Well, simply put, the Catholic Playlist is a show where you’ll hear the best and some of the very newest contemporary Christian music from Catholic artists. This is music you won’t hear on mainstream Christian radio stations but it deserves to be heard!

Right now the show is heard on 16 radio stations across the US, including our 2 newest affiliates – the Living Bread Radio Network in Canton and Youngstown in Ohio and Aquinas Communications on KCRD-LP in Dubuque, Iowa and soon to be another new signal reaching Galena, IL.

This week our playlist features a unique collection of music, from the likes of The Thirsting, Sam Rocha, Stephen Kirk, Joe Zambon, Greg&Lizzy, Dane Schmitz and Alverlis. And Josh Blakesley Band is featured at the very top of the playlist with ‘Sing Hallelujah’.

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Featured New Artist: Donny Todd

Donny Todd

Last week in Catholic Playlist #82 Donny Todd was our Featured New Artists. Donny has been creating music with the guitar since he was 14 and began performing in venues shortly after. He joined National Evangelization Teams in 2001 and was chosen as the music leader for his team.

His skills as a musician and writer grew dramatically over that year, that’s also when he began to think of writing Catholic songs. But it wasn’t until 2012 that he really felt called to create an album of Catholic songs.

“Through the years there were people that told me I should write Christian music, but I just didn’t feel it. I would sit down and try to write a Praise and Worship song, but the words would feel hollow. I was forcing myself to do something that’s supposed to be an act of the heart. But one day I just sat down and began to sing this song. I was in a place of shame and was reflecting on my choices and began to ask God”‘Am I the Prodigal Son?” and I was singing it, just singing that line over and over. It became what is now the single on my record called Prodigal Son”

Donny ran a Kickstarter campaign that year that raised $12k through the generosity and support of 134 people to be able to make his album possible.

Kingdom Come from Donny ToddThe resulting album, Kingdom Come, was released April 2015.

“My hope for this record is that it could reach people that don’t necessarily connect with mainstream Christian music. I want it to reach those who are on the fringes of the Church and those outside of it more than even those who are close to Jesus and the Sacraments. I’ve experienced some serious pains in my life and battled some demons and these songs are reflections of those trials. This record is an audio biography of much of my spiritual journey”

Some of the topics addressed in Kingdom come revolve around the Conscience, prayer, mercy, and God’s intense love and forgiveness.

You can check out his album on iTunes, cdbaby.com and on his website donnytodd.com

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#82 Catholic Playlist Show

Catholic Playlist #82Welcome aboard the show that plays the best and some of the very newest contemporary Christian music from Catholic artists only. We’ve got a great playlist this week that features Collin Raye, Connor Flanagan, Jaime Thietten, John Finch, Katy Blythe, Luke Spehar, PJ Anderson and New Name; plus we added a new track from Matt Maher’s new album ‘Saints & Sinners’ somewhere in the playlist – stay tuned for that later in the show.

Now that the show is nearing 2 years on the air, we want to know the answer to this question: Has your personal playlist changed since you discovered and listened to the Catholic Playlist show? Are you listening to new artists and music that you never knew about before? If so, tell us about it! Post a comment below, on our Facebook page or our Contact Us link above and tell us how your playlist has changed since you started listening to the show.

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#81 Catholic Playlist Show

Catholic Playlist #81Once again we are sharing the joy of the Gospel through the power of music by playing the best and the very newest contemporary Christian music from Catholic artists. This is music you won’t hear anywhere else on Christian radio. Today our playlist of songs features many of the names you’re hopefully familiar with by now – Tori Harris, Sarah Kroger, Matt Faley, Ike Ndolo, Steve Angrisano, and many others, including our featured new artist this week Donny Todd. Last week’s new featured artist Dante Schmitz kicks off this week’s playlist with “Uncovered”.

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#80 Catholic Playlist Show

Catholic Playlist #80We’ve got new music this week from Matt Maher, Dave Moore and Cody Roth, plus Dante Schmitz is our new featured artist this week on the Catholic Playlist show.

Welcome to the Catholic Playlist where we share the joy of the Gospel by playing the best and some of the very newest contemporary Christian music from Catholic artists. We’re so pleased to be able to share this new playlist of songs with you this week which includes a new selection from Matt Maher’s new album ‘Saints and Sinners’, a new song from Dee Simone’s debut EP ‘Lovesick’, and our new artist Dante Schmitz; plus songs from performers like Andrea Thomas, Shaun Garrison, Josh Blakesley Band, Dave Moore and Greg&Lizzy.

Dante SchmitzAs for our featured new artist this week, Dante began his music ministry in middle school and high school, when he attended Saint Joseph’s parish in Norman and sang in a band that headlined youth rallies and retreats around the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Dante attributes his talent and love of music as a clear sign that this is what God wants him to do. In fact, performing Christian music has become more than just a form of spiritual expression for Dante; it has become a way of sharing and growing spiritually with people from all walks of life. Something he consistently hears from listeners after performing is, “I don’t like Christian music, but I really enjoy what you’re doing.” For Dante this is the greatest affirmation of success. And with God’s grace, his music will continue to be a light for those in darkness and bridge the gap between spiritual and secular listeners. For his Catholic Playlist debut we play the title track from his latest album ‘Brighter Than The Sun.”

Finally, here is the iTunes playlist of all the songs in show #80:

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#79 Catholic Playlist Show

Catholic Playlist #79Brand new music headlines this episode of the Catholic Playlist as John Finch releases a new EP last week and new featured artist Dee Simone drops her debut EP Lovesick. That and more great music on the Catholic Playlist show, where we share the joy of the Gospel through music – Happy Easter everyone! Again we’ll be playing the best and the very newest contemporary Christian music from Catholic artists.

Catholic artists like Kara Klein, Marie Miller, Ben Walther, Sarah Hart, NOVUM, L’Angelus and others. But before we start the playlist, we need to welcome the listeners of 2 radio stations now carrying the Catholic Playlist show, first we welcome to the listeners of the Living Bread Radio Network in Northeast Ohio, the Canton and Youngstown areas specifically, and those listening to KCRD 98.3FM in the Dubuque, Iowa area – glad to have you aboard.

This is our first show since Easter Sunday, so it’s quite appropriate that we lead off this week’s playlist with “Sing Alleluia” from Cooper Ray.

Here’s the iTunes playlist:

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Crowdfunding: Andrea Thomas

Andrea Thomas

Back in Catholic Playlist #50 we were pleased to feature Andrea Thomas as our new artist of the week, and now she’s looking to get back into the studio to record some new music. We enjoyed playing a couple of tracks from her first recording project “Crying Out to You” and we look forward to hearing her new music, which she says will be about overcoming fear.

We ask you to consider helping her spread her message of overcoming fear with faith, mercy, and love by making a donation towards her project.

Check out her Kickstarter post to learn more about this project and prayerfully consider supporting her.

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Support the Catholic Playlist

Support the Catholic Playlist

Every year Holy Family Radio WJTA 88.9FM in Ohio conducts a Radiothon pledge drive to raise funds for its annual operating expenses to keep it on the air. As a non-profit charitable ministry, Holy Family Radio’s only means of financial support comes from their listeners and business underwriters.

The Catholic Playlist is produced by Holy Family Radio and is provided free of charge to Catholic radio stations and is available for free on our website, by podcast and mobile apps. But it isn’t free to produce. There are many costs associated with producing and distributing the shows, such as music licensing and acquisition, studio production time, web site maintenance and fees, podcast hosting, marketing and more. These costs are over and above the normal costs Holy Family Radio spends to operate the station. So right now the Catholic Playlist show is a drain on Holy Family Radio’s budget – to the tune of about $5,000 a year.

We need your help to change this.

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#78 Catholic Playlist Show

Catholic Playlist #78There’s a lot going on and so our posting this week will be brief. Holy Week is coming up and we continue to share the joy of the Gospel message here on the Catholic Playlist. Are you ready for the end of Lent and the passion of our Lord? Well this week we looked for music that could carry us through to the end of Lent and the promise of Easter. This week in the playlist you’ll hear music from Jackie Bissin, New Name, Connor Flanagan, Mikey Needleman, Joe Zambon, Tori Harris and more, including Danielle Rose who starts playlist #78 Sharing Calvary.

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#77 Catholic Playlist Show

Catholic Playlist #77New albums from Matt Maher, Chris Bray and WAL (formerly Jacob & Matthew Band) headline episode #77 of the Catholic Playlist show this week.

mm-saintsMatt Maher released his new album titled ‘Saints and Sinners’ on March 17th and it does not disappoint. In fact, it’s hard to pick one or two favorites from the album because the music is so good. We got our hands on the deluxe edition which has a 18 tracks, for over an hour of music goodness and inspiration. We start the playlist with his first radio single ‘Because He Live (Amen)’, and then later in the playlist we picked ‘Everything Is Grace’ for an encore. We think you’ll like it.

chris-bray2On the same day Chris Bray dropped his new album called ‘The Praises of His People Live’. Chris’s latest work reflects his desire to “create a project that enables people to be able to enter into worship with God. The goal of this record was to create an experience that Christ followers could worship along with in their car on their way to work or throughout their day and feel like they are part of a larger church, together worshipping our Creator.” So he assembled a group of worshippers together and captured an evening of praise singing their favorite worship songs: songs like ‘10,000 Reasons’, ‘Our God’, ‘Lord I Need You’, ‘Your Love Never Fails’, ‘Oceans’ and more, including the one in the playlist, ‘Great Are You Lord’.

WALNot only did Jacob & Matthew Band release a new EP on Marth 12th, but they also announced a name change to WAL. According to their new website walmusic.com, after 12 years being known as Jacob and Matthew Band, they have decided through prayer and discernment to rename themselves to WAL. In going this new direction, they said that “God sees all of us, wonderfully made, and wants us to know that we are loved. This love is what propels us to share His love with other people, through music.” The new EP is titled ‘Always and Everywhere’, and in the playlist is the title track, ‘Always & Everywhere’.