The band’s recent history is pretty impressive. Since its 2008 debut album, Over and Underneath, Tenth Avenue North has become one of Christian music industry’s most successful acts, saturating Christian radio with such memorable songs as “Love is Here,” “Hold My Heart,” and “By Your Side,” a number one single that was Billboard magazine’s No. 3 overall Christian song for the decade. They won New Artist of the Year in 2009 at the 40th Annual GMA Dove Awards and in 2010 “By Your Side” was named Song of the Year.
The band’s 2010 sophomore album, The Light Meets the Dark, debuted at No. 1 on the Nielsen Christian SoundScan chart and No. 15 on the Billboard 200. The album hit the No.1 Christian Album chart position at both iTunes and AmazonMP3, reaching Top 5 on iTunes’ Overall chart, propelled by the lead single, “Healing Begins.” The compelling ballad “You Are More” was 2011’s No. 1 Song of the Year on Billboard’s Christian Audience Chart.
As the band approached its third album, it would have been easy to take an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude, but the word complacency is not in its vocabulary. Band members Mike Donehey (lead vocals), Jeff Owen (guitars), Jason Jamison (drums), Ruben Juarez (bass) and Brendon Shirley (keyboard) took a totally different approach in how they wrote and recorded The Struggle. Instead of waiting until they got home to Nashville to begin recording demos, the songs were written and demoed on the road while the band was on tour.
“We wrote ‘Don’t Stop The Madness’ in January of 2011,” Owen says of the confessional anthem. “That’s when we first started writing as a band and we were recording demos as we were writing. On the last two records, Mike would write most of the songs with Jason, or on his own. He would show up and the song would have lyrics and melody and acoustic guitar, and then we’d take that and make it our own. We’d put a beat to it and shake it, but this time we started basically from scratch.”
Recording on the road led to some interesting sessions. “When we recorded, ‘Where Life Will Never Die,’ there was an amp in our bathroom,” Jamison says with a smile.
“Sometimes there were things on the demo that we couldn’t replicate in the studio,” Donehey adds, “so we ended up finding the files from the demo and putting them on it. We recorded drums in the front of the bus at one time. They sounded amazing.”
The Struggle is also the first album to include the two newest members of Tenth Avenue North-- Ruben Juarez and Brendon Shirley.
“Ruben and Brendon are more technically knowledgeable than Jason, Jeff and I are,” says Donehey. “They really added to the musical structure of these songs. Plus, we all get along so well creatively, I couldn’t see doing this record without them.”
In an innovative twist, Tenth Avenue North invited fans to be part of the creative process and invited them to sing on the record. “It started on the Third Day tour,” Owen says of the trek last fall. “We sent out Twitter and Facebook [messages] to our fans and said, ‘Hey, come sing on our record.’ We have people from Nebraska singing with people from Fargo and Albuquerque.”
In various cities on the tour, the band would invite fans to show up and then they’d record their voices to add to different songs on the album. “It’s cool,” Donehey says. “These are the people that support us and listen to this music. It is music that affects their lives and now they are actually a part of it.”
Working again with producer Jason Ingram (six-time winner of SESAC’s Christian Songwriter of the Year award), the members of Tenth Avenue North have crafted a sonically diverse record that mirrors the passion and intensity of its live show. “We got a lot of comments over the past several years about how our live show is much different than our recorded music,” says Donehey. “It has more energy and more of a rock edge to it. We try to be more musical and create different moments, so I think going into this we wanted to make sure we were aware of our live show and how these songs were going to play out live.”
As always, the band was ever mindful of the power of its songs and the messages in its lyrics. Though the word “struggle” tends to evoke thoughts of challenge and strife, leave it to Tenth Avenue North to illuminate the possibilities and show that struggle is ultimately a privilege. “Hallelujah! We are free to struggle. We’re not struggling to be free,” Donehey sings in the title track.
“We want to give people permission to struggle, to realize that there’s grace and you don’t have to be good enough,” says Donehey. “It’s the theme of a lot of our music, but we also want to challenge people to not stay there, to not stay in that place of struggling. There is power and there is grace, not only to forgive your struggle, but to redeem you from the struggle. . . We’re going to struggle until the day that we die, but we don’t have to struggle to earn what God has provided for us.”
The lead single, “Losing,” is a song that challenges believers to forgive because we’ve been forgiven. Offering forgiveness may sometimes make you feel like you're "losing" but only in showing others the grace God has shown us are we truly free. Such powerful yet poetic messages continue to populate every song on The Struggle. “Strangers Here,” inspired by Hebrews 11 reminds us of better things to come. As Donehey sings the emotional lyric he urges us to remember that this life is only temporary and one day we will touch the face of our God.
“Worn” is a tender ballad that acknowledges our human frailty and the rest that awaits in our heavenly Father’s arms. As a young father, balancing the responsibilities of music ministry and raising two young daughters, Donehey is well acquainted with physical and emotional exhaustion; and in the song, he shares one of the most vulnerable vocal performances on the record. Yet even in the midst of struggle, fatigue and alienation---all emotions every human battles---the songs celebrate the sovereignty of God in every aspect of our lives. Song after song, the band offers up the kind of lyrically substantive lyrics people have come to expect from Tenth Avenue North wrapped in the most adventurous music they’ve ever crafted.
“Grace” boasts a vibrant melody and some of the record's most compelling lyrics as Donehey sings: “Grace, only grace can roll your dead heart's stone away. Grace only grace can move us to a rhythm that can changes our ways.” “We’re going to struggle until the day that we die," says Owen of the song's message, "but we don’t have to struggle to earn what God has provided for us.”
“All the Same” acknowledges the fact that though we might appear very different on the surface, at the core we are all the same, desperate for the love of God. “You Do All Things Well” is yet a soothing prayer that celebrates the power of God to meet our every need. The worshipful chorus is a soaring celebration of God's majesty.
Tenth Avenue North has come a long way from sharing the Gospel with students at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida to playing for more than a half a million people in concert last year. It’s a platform and privilege they take seriously. “When I’m playing, I look out and I can see people’s eyes,” says Donehey. “I’ve always carried an ache for people. I want people to experience the freedom I’ve experienced. I want people to experience the forgiveness I’ve experienced.”
Music can provide a healing balm to those breaking hearts and through its music, Tenth Avenue North continues to shine a light not only on the struggle, but the hope that changes lives forever.
Members:
Mike Donehey - Lead Vocals/Guitar
Jeff Owen - Guitar/BGVs
Jason Jamison - Drums
Ruben Juarez-Bass Guitar
Brendon Shirley-Keys
Former Members
Bryan Homan
Daniel (Danny) Zayas
Scott Sanders - bass guitar, keyboard
Andrew Middleton
Genre:
Rock/Christian/Religious
Hometown:
West Palm Beach, Florida
Record label:
Reunion Records
Grace
Tenth Avenue North Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She cries to bitter hearts
And your suffering
Oh, please let go
Give up your fight
Holding back your love
Will never make things right, no
Okay, tonight
Grace, only grace
Can roll your dead heart’s stone away
Grace, only grace
Can move us to a rhythm that will change our ways
Oh, listen to love
Let pride hit the ground
When joy is the armor
It can’t be broken down
If hate is the fuel
No one will win
When your off on empty
That’s where life begins
Grace, only grace
Can roll your dead heart’s stone away
Grace, only grace
Can move us to a rhythm that will change our ways
Grace, grace
Come and move me
Oh come and move me now
Grace, recreate me
Oh, from the inside out
Grace, only grace
Can roll your dead heart’s stone away
Grace, only grace
Can move us to a rhythm that will change our ways
Grace, only grace
Can roll your dead heart’s stone away
Grace, only grace
Can move us to a rhythm that will change our ways
In Tenth Avenue North’s song “Grace,” the lyrics revolve around the notion of grace being the only force that can transform and uplift us. The song starts with the lines “Hear mercy sing, she cries to bitter hearts and your suffering, oh please let go..” Here, the lyrics convey the idea that grace calls out to those who are hurting and struggling. The next two lines “give up your fight, holding back your love will never make things right” imply that we tend to resist grace by holding onto our resentment, pain or anger. But it is only when we let go of those emotions that we can experience true grace.
The chorus expresses the theme of grace once again, and how it can move us and transform us in ways we could never imagine. “Grace, only grace, can roll your dead heart’s stone away. Grace, only grace, can move us to a rhythm that will change our ways.” The line “dead heart’s stone” symbolizes the idea that sometimes our hearts can harden, and we become rigid and unyielding towards others. But when we experience grace, it’s like a stone being rolled away from our heart and it starts beating again with love and compassion.
The lyrics also touch upon the notion of joy being a force that can’t be broken down and how hate only creates more hate. The line “when joy is the armor, it can’t be broken down, if hate is the fuel, no one will win” implies that it is only through joy and love that we can overcome negativity around us. The song concludes with the lines “Grace only grace, can move us to a rhythm that will change our ways, grace, only grace, can roll your dead heart’s stone away..” emphasizing that grace is the only force powerful enough to transform and uplift us in ways we could never imagine.
Line by Line Meaning
Hear mercy sing
The voice of mercy is pleading with those who have bitter hearts
She cries to bitter hearts
Mercy is calling out to those who have hardened their hearts with bitterness
And your suffering
Mercy is especially reaching out to those who are experiencing pain and hardship
Oh, please let go
Mercy is begging those who are holding onto negative emotions to release them
Give up your fight
Mercy counsels those in conflict or resistance to surrender and find peace
Holding back your love
Refusing to offer love or forgiveness is not the path to resolution
Will never make things right, no
Withholding love or forgiveness will never lead to resolution or healing
It’s gonna be okay
Despite the struggles, there is hope for things to get better
Okay, tonight
The hope is immediate and present
Grace, only grace
The only solution is grace, as nothing else can roll away the deadness from the heart
Can roll your dead heart’s stone away
Grace has the power to remove the weight and death from a heart that has become hardened
Can move us to a rhythm that will change our ways
Grace can inspire us to move in a new direction, changing the patterns of our behavior
Oh, listen to love
Love is speaking, and we should pay attention and heed its message
Let pride hit the ground
Pride must be humbled and brought low to make room for healing
When joy is the armor
When we are clothed in joy, nothing can shake or break us
It can’t be broken down
True joy is unbreakable
If hate is the fuel
If we allow hatred to motivate us, we will all be losers in the end
No one will win
Hatred and vindictiveness lead to a lose-lose situation for everyone involved
When your off on empty
When we hit rock bottom and feel like we have nothing left to give
That’s where life begins
There is hope even in the darkest moments, and new beginnings can emerge from the ashes of defeat
Grace, come and move me
The artist is actively requesting that grace come and inspire transformation
Oh come and move me now
The request is urgent and immediate
Grace, recreate me
The singer is asking for a complete overhaul of their inner being, enabled by grace
Oh, from the inside out
The transformation requested is not superficial or cosmetic, but deep and thorough
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: AJ CHEEK, BRENDON SHIRLEY, JASON JAMISON, JEFF OWEN, MIKE DONEHEY, RUBEN JUAREZ
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@musicsavesmylife98
My youth pastor, the other day he was talking to me, since I'm a new believer, and said "I think God made you named Grace for a reason." I asked why...he said "Because I see you trying to spread God's grace to everyone. His love flows through you." I almost cried :')
@AlbanPupuj
Woah, such touching speaking ! All glory to God !
@laurenlikesthings
This song is sooooo underrated. It's one of my favorites off The Struggle!
@stevepack1613
His grace is enough for me,thank You Father in heaven for Your Son Jesus!!
@oliviasalvador3755
Am I the only one who just loves the background of this video? I am just so obsessed with it right now… Beautiful lyrics on a beautiful background.
@Stardust475
No your not! I love it too. Evokes so many emotions. I think its a copy of Rembrandts painting. The colour tones in this is more appealing.
The God who calmed that storm on the Sea of Galilee can can calm the storms in each of us.
@lelmdrWHO
"grace,grace! only you can lift up what holds me down" oh how i need those words every day!
@dredredrea916
tenth avenue north songs inspire me and may God bless them and their music. GOD IS AWESOME!!!
@77SeLeNa7
Listened to it +100 times literally .. And I'm still loving it :)
@MrsMonkyG56
I just can't help worshiping when I listen to this song! This band's songs have ministered to me so very much over the past few years! Thank-you for singing from the heart!