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
On And On
Tenth Avenue North Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And love, I was wounded for you
Won't you look into my eyes
Through the pain and through your pride
And find I am true
You're the one I can't deny
And I'll never leave your side
I gave my life for you
On and on we go
Come love take my hand
On and on we go
Time and time again
On and on we go
Back to where this all began
Come love take my hand
Life is waiting for you
And life I have given to you
Tell me what else can I do
What more have I left to prove?
That I am what you need
Still I will hold on to your heart
Through the chaos and the dark
When your eyes fail to see
So what are you waiting for?
On and on we go
Come love take my hand
On and on we go
As you run away again
On and on we go
Back to where this all began
Broken I was for you
Broken I'm still for you
My broken heart breaks for you
Broken I'm over you
On and on we go
On and on we go
On and on we go
Come love take my hand
On and on we go
Time and time again
On and on we go
Back to where this all began
Come love take my hand
Come love take my hand
Come take my hand
The lyrics to Tenth Avenue North's song On and On describe the passionate love of Jesus Christ for his followers, comparing it to the love between two human beings. The song portrays Jesus as patient and selfless, willing to endure any pain or suffering for the sake of his beloved. The repeated refrain "On and on we go" emphasizes the everlasting nature of his love, as it will never diminish or fade away. It also suggests that the path of life is a journey that we take together, hand in hand with our Savior.
The lines "Through the pain and through your pride/ And find I am true" reveal that while we may doubt or question his love at times, Jesus remains steadfast in his commitment to us. The lyrics "Life is waiting for you/ And life I have given to you" show that Jesus's love is not only emotional but also practical--he has given us the gift of life and wants us to make the most of it. The ending of the song is particularly moving, with the repetition of the phrase "Come love take my hand", as if Jesus is extending a personal invitation to each and every listener.
Overall, the song is a powerful reminder that Jesus's love is an unending force that we can always rely on, even in our darkest moments.
Line by Line Meaning
Love, I have waited for you
The singer has been waiting for love.
And love, I was wounded for you
The singer was hurt because of their love.
Won't you look into my eyes
The singer wants their love to look into their eyes.
Through the pain and through your pride
Even through difficult times and pride, the love still stands.
And find I am true
Love will realize that singer is true.
You're the one I can't deny
The singer can't deny their love.
And I'll never leave your side
The singer will never leave their love's side.
I gave my life for you
The singer gave everything for their love.
So what are you waiting for?
The singer wants their love to take action.
On and on we go
Love continues on and on.
Come love take my hand
The singer wants their love to take their hand.
Time and time again
Love keeps coming back.
Back to where this all began
Love goes back to where it all started.
Life is waiting for you
Love has a future waiting for them.
And life I have given to you
The singer has given their love life.
Tell me what else can I do
The singer wonders what more they can do for their love.
What more have I left to prove?
The singer has already proven themselves to their love.
That I am what you need
The singer is what their love needs.
Still I will hold on to your heart
The singer will always hold their love's heart.
Through the chaos and the dark
Even through chaos and darkness, the singer will remain with their love.
When your eyes fail to see
When love can't see, the singer will still be there.
As you run away again
Love keeps running away.
Broken I was for you
The singer was broken for their love.
Broken I'm still for you
The singer is still broken for their love.
My broken heart breaks for you
The singer's broken heart breaks for their love.
Come take my hand
The singer is still offering their love their hand.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Spirit Music Group
Written by: JASON INGRAM, JEFF OWEN, MIKE DONEHEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind