Chris Rice

Chris Rice is an American CCM songwriter. He became a recording artist as well in 1996 after signing a contract with Michael W. Smith's own record label and releasing his debut album, Deep Enough to Dream.

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Early years

A native of Maryland, Chris Rice grew up as the second of four sons born to Christian bookstore owners. His parents and other adult mentors provided a backbone to his Christian faith. According to him, it?s their influence that drives his work with youth today.

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Chris Rice didn?t aspire to a career in music or youth work, but he gradually wandered into both and found they were where he was meant to be. After taking piano lessons as an adolescent, Chris began using his musical talents while attending Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, to lead college worship services and retreats. What began as a collegiate ministry soon turned into a full-time career. For the past two decades Chris Rice has spent his time as an itinerant youth pastor, playing for high school and college conferences and camps nationwide.

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The career as a songwriter

His songwriting career began in the mid-'80s, a full decade before he became the 1995 Christian Songwriter of the Year (according to American Songwriter magazine) after writing Kim Boyce's "By Faith" (the single was proclaimed Song of the Year). Thanks in part to his success at songwriting, he became the first artist signed to Michael W. Smith's label Rocketown Records in 1996. Rice's producer, Monroe Jones, passed a demo tape to Rocketown president Don Donahue, who leaped to sign the newly transformed recording artist. It was Rice's ability as a lyricist that convinced Rocketown to sign him; he is today considered on of the best Christian lyricists around.

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With the help of Jones' production skills, Chris Rice recorded Deep Enough to Dream for a September 1997 release. Past the Edges followed a year later.

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That time, his investment in kids not only required the bulk of his time but also a great deal of his energy, which made his career as an artist a bit of a juggling act. Before the release of his next studio album, Rice realized his need for a change and asked Rocketown to release Smell the Color 9 without his involvement in marketing and promotion. The decision have given him time to rest, recover and recognize his limitations. He once said, "I wanted to take some time to pull myself out of the public Christian world. I?ve found that being a ?Christian celebrity? taxed me of a lot of things I need for the day-to-day of dealing with kids. That public work brings fans who adore me much more than I?m worthy of and in greater numbers than I?m used to. There are people who give a lot of weight to what I say and listen to my songs and scrutinize my every word. There?s a lot of pressure with that."

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Smell the Color 9 was issued in fall 2000. This album was one of his most succesfull ones. It stretched his musical boundaries and proved this thoughtful folk-leaning songwriter could pen a dandy pop track.

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Actually, most of the other tracks weren't the usual Chris Rice folk songs. The Face of Christ is a shuffle-rock song based on the passage in Matthew 25 about "stooping down low" and serving others. Chris reminds us of the simplicity of faith in Sailing With Russell, another fun song with a strong Bobby McFerrin influence on it.

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There are also two particularly beautiful ballads: Belong, about discovering that our true place in this universe is with God, and "Home Tonight," which takes the prodigal son's point of view, remembering how good things were at home with his father. The album's cover art (a man on a unicycle balancing on a high-wire) comes from the song Life Means So Much, which deals with making the most of the time we're given every day through God's generosity ? that balancing act in Chris' case is between being a Christian artist and a youth leader.

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The title track is named like that because, according to the song, sometimes seeing God is like trying to smell the color 9, even though "nine's not a color, and even if it were you can't smell a color / That's my point exactly ..."

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In 2001, Rice surprised his fans with two piano-only instrumental releases that showcased a different side of his musical and arranging talents, not to mention his fondness for old hymns and Christmas songs. The names of the albums were The Living Rooms Sessions and The Living Rooms Sessions: Christmas. They were given these names because their songs were recorded in Rice's own living room grand piano.

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And with his sixth album, Run the Earth... Watch the Sky, released in March 2003, Chris again teams with the perpetually production talents of longtime friend and collaborator Monroe Jones. It?s a partnership that?s garnered more than 1 million unit sales to date.

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Musically this time around, there?s still the modern folk leanings reminiscent of David Wilcox and James Taylor, but fans will also notice Rice?s newfound admiration of earthy but radio-friendly pop in the vein of John Mayer and Travis. The album?s first single, The Other Side of the Radio, sports driving guitar and percussion sure to get listeners "tapping the wheel" to the song?s infectious melody while Me and Becky recalls classic rock sounds from Chris? own adolescence. "A lot of the record mentions my childhood or my teenage years so it fit to reach back into the earlier sounds from the ?70s in some of the background vocals and string arrangements", he says about it.

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In June 2004, Short Term Memories was released. This album chronicles his trajectory with most of Rice's hits (Sometimes Love, Deep Enough to Dream, Smellin' Coffee, plus a host of others) and they sound just as immediate as when they first came out. The inclusion of lesser hits is a bonus (The Other Side of the Radio, Face of Christ, Home Tonight).

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New studio cuts include Go Light Your World (a Rice original first popularized by Kathy Troccoli), a new acoustic mix of Untitled Hymn, and Mama Prays,. As for unreleased material, live renditions of Cartoons and Clumsy.

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His latest album came out in February 2005, Snapshots: Live and Fan Favorites. This album features notable omissions from his last album, such as the child-like honesty of Na?ve, the delightfully whimsical Questions for Heaven, and Me & Becky, now a radio single. There are also worthwhile rarities like the hymn-inspired Nothin' from the Exodus worship project and Calling out Your Name from the tribute to Rich Mullins. Billy Joe McGuffrey is a VeggieTales silly song from the Jonah soundtrack.

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The live tracks are more of a mixed bag. There's an early career performance of Prone to Wander as well as a fine performance of Hallelujahs, recorded during GMA Week 2003 and featured on Rocketown's Hallelujahs worship CD later that year. The rest come from 1999's A Night at Rocketown, an album that can be found in the clearance section of most stores. It provides a splendid version of Deep Enough to Dream that takes on added vibrancy. The concert tracks interestingly represent the best of what was left off of the first compilation.

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Chris Rice still tours around the US in churches and youth camps.

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CCM: CCM can stand for several things:...

1996: 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty....

Michael W. Smith: Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957 in Kenova, West Virginia), often nicknamed "Smitty", is an American singer, songwriter and keyboardist....

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