David Crowder Band Experiences Highest Sales Yet

David Crowder*Band’s latest, Church Music, premieres at the No. 11 position on the Billboard Top 200 raking in over 35,000 units the first week. Church Music also peaked at No. 3 on the iTunes® Overall Album chart.

“The street week results for The David Crowder*Band are extremely rewarding, especially in the current market climate, and reflect both the amazing creativity Church Music embodies and the powerful story the Crowder clan has woven together around this new release,” explains sixstepsrecords founder and director Louie Giglio. “Crowder continues to carve out a unique space on the musical landscape with the band's forward-thinking approach to our time-honored faith. I'm proud of the band's efforts, and those of our dedicated sixsteps/Sparrow team."

Church Music is the band’s highest debut to date with a 10% increase from the band’s previous release in 2007 of Remedy. This increase comes despite the market’s decrease.

Kris Allen Releases First Single

Kris Allen, American Idol Season 8 winner, has released his first single, "Live Like We're Dying."

The first song is compelling. Partial lyrics:

"Sometimes we fall down and can't get back up
We're hiding behind skin that's too tough
How come we don't say I love you enough
Till it's too late, it's not too late

Our hearts are hungry for a food that won't come
We could make a feast from these crumbs
And we're all staring down the barrel of a gun
So if your life flashed before you
What would you wish you would've done?

Yeah gotta start
Lookin' at the hand of the time we've been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start pickin' it
Every second counts on a clock that's tickin'
Gotta live like were dying

We only got
864 hundred seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying"

Jennifer Knapp Crawls Out of Her Hole

Jennifer Knapp, whose sudden disappearance from the music scene has prompted many questions over the years, has returned. She's posted a new song to her site and according to her Tweets she plans to be in the studio in November with an anticipated release in early 2010.

Iconic TV actor Gavin Macleod Stars in Christian Film

As Murray Slaughter, he wrote for airhead anchor Ted Baxter on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" for seven years. As Merrill Stubing, he captained the "Love Boat" for nearly a decade after that. Today, iconic TV actor Gavin Macleod says "I know who my admiral is," referring to his faith in God.

Macleod, 78, is a born again Christian now piloting a career in the Christian film industry, and starring in the movie "The Secrets of Jonathan Perry," which opens this weekend.

"I've worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, Gregory Peck, Mary Tyler Moore," he told FOX News in an exclusive interview. "[But] the biggest honor I have ever had was to play the role of Jonathan Sperry in this simple but special film."

Skillet Debuts at #2 on Billboard 200

Skillet debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with Awake, selling 68,000. That is the group's best sales week yet and highest chart position. Skillet's last album, 2006's Comatose, has quietly sold 462,000 to date.

Needtobreathe debuts at #20

Needtobreathe's The Outsiders debuts at #20 on the Billboard 200 and #9 on the Rock Albums charts.

P.O.D. Guitarist Enlists Alt-Rock Vets For New Band

Former members of Papa Roach, Chevelle and Rock Star Supernova have joined P.O.D. guitarist Marcos Curiel in a new band, Daylight Division, that's posted two tracks online and is in the midst of writing and recording its first album.

The Definition of Irony

The Afters, who once released a song and video entitled "MySpace Girl," recently updated their MySpace blog to read:

so its been awhile
Hello myspace! So it's been a while since I posted a blog! It's because I've been twittering and facebooking! Anyway thank you all for following us and keeping us making and playing music. We're writing this week and next in Nashville and L.A. The new music is awesome hang in there and we'll get you a new record of awesome music in the spring. But I digress. Twitter? Facebook? Or myspace? Your thoughts Matt

Kutless' "Strong Tower" Goes Gold

Kutless's worship album Strong Tower was awarded RIAA Gold Certification. Gold Certification was also awarded for their Long-Form video "Live From Portland."

The rockers are readying the release of their second worship album, It Is Well, in October.