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
Shadows
Tenth Avenue North Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
With hearts, bent toward possessing
All that our eyes are seeing
Our souls, they never stop wanting
Beauty never intended to be more than a reflection
Oh, Lord, light up my dark eyes
Teach me to let go
Chasing nothing but shadows
My heart is an ocean raging
And Your grace is all that keeps me from drowning
My mind creates deceptions
So I cling the treasure sinking
Oh, Lord, light up my dark eyes
Teach me to let go
I’ve been runnin’
Chasing nothing but shadows
Oh, Lord, please come and
Raise my dead heart, let me know
You can keep me from
Chasing after the shadows
Shadows
All that I run to, all that I cling to
Everything seems to only slip through my hands
All that I run to, all that I cling to
Everything seems to only slip through my hands
But I keep running, I keep chasing
Left holding on to only the after glow
Lord, light up my eyes, let me follow You
To the source behind all the shadows
I keep running, I keep chasing
Left holding on to only the after glow
Lord, light up my eyes, let me follow You
To the source behind all the shadows
Oh, Lord, light up my dark eyes
Teach me to let go
I’ve been runnin’
Chasing nothing but shadows
Oh, Lord, please come and
Raise my dead heart, let me know
You can keep me from
Chasing after the shadows
The shadows
Keep runnin’, keep runnin’, keep runnin’
In "Shadows," Tenth Avenue North address the universal human desire for more, for something beyond ourselves, and the constant longing without ever finding fulfillment. The song speaks about the search for the next thing that will bring us happiness and how we are never satisfied with what we have. We start off with a desire to possess, and our hearts remain forever wanting more. The lyrics suggest that all the beautiful things may not be intended for more than reflections. The lines “Teach me to let go" and "Raise my dead heart, let me know,” imply that we need divine intervention to help us reorient ourselves towards what truly matters. When we chase shadows, we get nowhere, and ultimately, we are just like Peter Pan, doomed to chase our shadows, doing everything to avoid attachment, and never finding the real treasure.
The chorus in "Shadows" is an honest confession of running after things that we can't possess. The lyrics “All that I run to, all that I cling to / Everything seems to only slip through my hands” indicate the futility of pursuing transient things. The lyrics suggest that our hearts can be an ocean raging, and the grace of God is what keeps us from drowning. Our minds may create deceptive thoughts that cause us to cling to earthly treasures that have no eternal value. However, if we allow God to light up our dark eyes and teach us to let go, we will no longer chase the shadows but will experience the fullness that only God can provide.
Line by Line Meaning
We’re born into the longing
From the moment we are born, we feel a desire for something more.
With hearts, bent toward possessing
Our hearts are naturally inclined to want to acquire and keep things we desire.
All that our eyes are seeing
We want to have everything we see and desire.
Our souls, they never stop wanting
Our souls are always longing for something more, something beyond our earthly desires.
Beauty never intended to be more than a reflection
Beauty was never meant to be the ultimate goal or satisfaction, but rather a reflection of something greater.
Oh, Lord, light up my dark eyes
Illuminate my understanding and perspective so I can see the truth.
Teach me to let go
Teach me to release my grip on the things I desire so I may find true fulfillment.
I’ve been runnin’
I have been constantly pursuing something that I cannot capture or keep.
Chasing nothing but shadows
Pursuing things that have no meaning or substance, chasing after things that will only disappear like shadows.
My heart is an ocean raging
My heart is full of overwhelming emotions and desires that are hard to control.
And Your grace is all that keeps me from drowning
It is only by God's grace that I am not overcome and lost in my desires.
My mind creates deceptions
My thoughts can lead me astray, causing me to believe lies and false promises.
So I cling the treasure sinking
I hold on tightly to things that are not truly valuable or lasting, things that will ultimately sink and disappear.
Oh, Lord, please come and
God, I am pleading for your help and guidance.
Raise my dead heart, let me know
Revive my heart that is spiritually dead, so I may experience true life and fulfillment.
You can keep me from
I trust that only God has the power to hold me back from chasing empty desires.
To the source behind all the shadows
God is the source of truth and fulfillment, the one who can reveal the reality beyond empty desires.
All that I run to, all that I cling to
Everything I pursue and hold onto.
Everything seems to only slip through my hands
No matter how hard I try, I cannot keep or maintain the things I desire.
Left holding on to only the after glow
Only the memory or fading image of what I pursued remains, but not the substance or fulfillment.
Let me follow You
Help me to pursue the path you have for me, the way that leads to true satisfaction and joy.
Keep runnin’, keep runnin’, keep runnin’
Despite my weaknesses and struggles, I will continue to pursue God and His truth.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: MIKE DONEHEY, JASON JAMISON, JEFF OWEN, RUBEN JUAREZ, BRENDON SHIRLEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind