Welcome back to the Skinner music blog! I’m going to present to y’all two solo artists and two bands that are either just flying onto the radar or staying on the radar via differentiation from the past. I am talking about Lecrae, JC Stringz, Paramore and the Slo Smoked Band.

Lecrae

If you have heard of Christian rap, then Lecrae is often the first artist you hear of. That’s not surprising considering the impact he has made in his 13 year-long career. He has made hits such as “All I Need Is You”, “I’m Turnt” ( a personal favorite of mine), “Outsiders”, and “Say I Won’t”. What immediately stands out to me about his style is that he incorporates both biblical references and clarity as to what message he’s trying to convey. He had a difficult upbringing, and he goes in-depth about it in his songs. Lecrae recently released a top ten single with Ty Dolla Sign titled “Blessings”. What stands out about this song is that it tells us that we should feel blessed that God gave us breath on this earth, and that we should live life while we have it. Another aspect that stands out to me about this song is Lecrae’s rapping style. He altered it from his usual straight-forward, normal-paced style to a fast-paced style while still maintaining a steady flow and annunciation. “Blessings” has received lots of support from fans everywhere. However, Lecrae has also received backlash from the conservative Christian community for working with Ty Dolla Sign, a singer and rapper that’s known for glorifying drugs. I see it as a discipleship opportunity because Lecrae can potentially build a long-term relationship with Ty Dolla Sign and show him the gospel through “Blessings”. Therefore, I fully support this.

JC Stringz

How often do you guys hear of a 16-year-old who has been working to perfect his craft on multiple instruments since the age of eight? That’s an accurate description of JC Stringz. He’s a local musician from Killeen, Texas. He got his start when he asked his parents to play the guitar when he was eight years old. His parents said yes, as long as he practiced. This subsequently led to him taking violin lessons age ten and picking up the piano at age 12. He plays a variety of genres on these instruments, such as hip-hop, r & b, jazz, gospel, rock, and soul. That shouldn’t be surprising, considering that his musical inspirations are B.B. King and Jimi Hendrix. If you look him up on Youtube, Google and Facebook, y’all will hear covers that he has done on guitar and violin. These include “Hotline Bling” by Drake, “Trap Queen” by Fetty Wap, and “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers. JC performs at church, local restaurants, family reunions, and festivals. We actually play guitar at the same church together. We play at Greater Vision Community Church in Killeen. Therefore, I can personally hear how hard he works on his instruments every day. That’s because like most aspiring musicians, he’s not complacent, and he’s never satisfied with what level he’s at despite being so young and having so much talent and potential. He wants to be a music teacher in either college or high school when he gets older. I say the sky is the limit for someone like him!

Paramore

I’m pretty sure y’all have heard of Paramore. Paramore consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro. They have been pleasing ears with their grunge pop rock style for the last 13 years. They have made such hits as “Misery Business”, “That’s What You Get”, and “Ain’t It Fun”. They recently released a new album titled “After Laughter”. If you listen to this album and their past albums, you’ll notice a sharp contrast style-wise. I like to describe “After Laughter” as more like ’80’s new wave pop. It’s very synth-heavy and has a little bit of a disco feeling to it. Two songs from that album, “Hard Times” and “Told You So”, use marimba instrumentation, something that is not common in Paramore’s music. Also, all the songs from this album are ironic in the sense that they are in a major key (happy sounding), and yet the themes of these songs are negative. These themes include depression, anxiety, and exhaustion. I applaud this! I’m a fan of irony! I can relate this to a plot twist in a movie. What can y’all relate it to?

The Slo Smoked Band

The Slo Smoked Band is a band from Moody, Texas that plays blues and rock music. It consists of Johnny Grusendorf on rhythm guitar, Kirt Hibbitts on drums, Bob Austin on bass and James Skinner (My dad!) on lead guitar. They have only been a band for four months, and yet they played their first gig three weeks ago! I got the opportunity to play some blues songs with them and watch them rehearse this past Saturday, and I witnessed this band’s unity and connectivity inside and outside of rehearsal. They seemed to know each other really well in their short tenure as a band, and that, in turn, transitions into how they rehearse. They are able to easily pick up on what one another is playing and how they are playing it, and play in unity with them to make great, quality music! Be on the lookout for the Slo Smoked Band because they have a lot of potential!

Thanks for reading, and please be sure to keep up with the Skinner Music Blog!