ISREAL HOUGHTON & OTHERS DONATE NEW SONGS TO CHARITY: Artists compose and record songs for CompassionArt.

gospel | Jan 04, 2009 | Comments 2

Last January, some of the biggest names in contemporary Christian music gathered in a small town in Scotland to huddle up and write a few songs.

The plan was to donate any songwriting and recording profits to charities.

Among the artists were Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith, Israel Houghton, Tim Hughes, Graham Kendrick, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Darlene Zschech, and Martin Smith.

They had hoped to come up with 10 to 12 new songs and give the profits to trusted organizations that feed the poor, help orphans, fight modern-day slavery, and provide other sorts of help to people in need.

The artists ended up writing 22 new songs, including 14 that will be included in a CD scheduled for release Jan. 27, 2009, titled “CompassionArt: Creating Freedom from Poverty” on EMI’s Sparrow Records label.

“The time spent writing and recording these songs was one of the highlights of my life,” Michael W. Smith said, “and my hope is that these songs on the CompassionArt album will help fed the poor, satisfy the needs of the oppressed, and reach out to the downtrodden.”

The recording also includes a 50-minute documentary DVD on CompassionArt, a Christian charity based in Littlehampton, England. And a companion book, The Art of Compassion, is being released simultaneously with the CD/DVD.

Guest artists who joined the original songwriters in the studio included Amy Grant, the Watoto African Children’s Choir, tobyMac, Kirk Franklin, and Joel Houston. The disc and book have been released in the United Kingdom already, and the first single, “King of Wonders,” by Redman, Hughes, and Houston, is already getting airplay on U.S. Christian radio stations.

Although the CD’s stateside release is still more than a month away, six of the songs are now available online at http://widget.nabbr.com/compassion_art.html. Downloads are free, but a donation to CompassionArt is “suggested.” The artists are hoping to give away 100 million songs and, in the process, engage people around the world to help end poverty.