Great Classic CCM Music on the Net

El shaddai, el shaddai,
El-elyon na adonia,
Age to age you're still the same,
By the power of the name.
El shaddai, el shaddai,
Erkamka na adonai,
We will praise and lift you high,
El shaddai.

Do you remember Amy Grant singing this famous Michael Card song. Actually, quite a few artist covered it. Amy must have liked it, she had 3 versions of it. As I get older I find myself wanting to reconnect to music out of my youth and college days . Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) has been around since the 60s and has changed a lot. The early stuff tended to sound acoustic and like west coast rock. Some out and out rock was part of this new music. As CCM grew up it tried to sound like top 40 music. Later hard rock, alt rock and even hair metal music would all have their own CCM artist. Today praise music is a pretty pervasive part of CCM. As a fan from the 70s and 80s, I have began to want to listen to some of that era of music again. Like it or not, that music formed who I was spiritually. Did you sing Michael Smiths “Friends” at camp. How many names can you recall from 7^th grade church youth camp. Later I would see Pat Terry and Steve Camp at a National High School religious camp. Both performances still speak to me today. Later in life I would see Larry Norman, Steve Green and Rich Mullins before they passed.

I am also concerned that a lot of music from that era was put on vinyl and cassettes and has yet to be archived on digital or at least CDs. Sadly, we could lose or degrade some beautiful early heartfelt work of many artist. Also death is a factor, some of these artist are getting older and a window to capture this music is getting smaller.

Streaming radio will not solve all of these problems but it may at least get some of this music off the shelves and back into some old and even new ears. I have found a few good outlets playing CCM “oldies” or classics.

The station I feel has the most promise is http://classicchristian247.com/ This five year old outfit has a great website. It is apparently visited by lots of artist from that age. The stream is available on the tunein mobile app too. They are supported by gifts and some advertising.

I have also found http://www.ccmrewound.com/#! The website is not as cool at 247's but the music seems a little more diverse. They also seem to have really good audio at 128k. Some of the base material can be hard to get good sound from, but they seem to do it well. I also like the fact they are playing Jerry Bryant's 'Full Circle” shows on a regular basis. Jerry was a DJ with decades of experience and plays some very early, sometimes quite rare material. They are also listener supported.

Another station I checked out has been http://www.ccmbacktracks.com/ Their website is pretty much just a place to get the stream. Audio is good at 128k and you can get them on the net and with Roku and smartphone through the tune in app.

A multi site (has more than one stream) http://www.christianclassicrock.net This site considers any rock over a few years to be classic rock. They play a diverse list of artist from the history of Christian Rock. They are associated with 3 other stations that their parent non profit ChristianRock.net They offer Christian Rock, Power Praise and Hard Rock. Beware these streams have some really loud music in them. They have their own apps for smart stores and are carried by tunein.

Honestly I have only reviewed a few stations. Googling CCM Classics will get you a host of websites and streaming sites that play classic CCM. It seems to be growing genre that many are going into.

A face book site I have found is https://www.facebook.com/groups/jesusmusic/, They try to focus on the music. To their credit they ask posters not to comment on artist failures and theology. I am a member and have seen lots of album covers and other commits about finding music.

This January a group calling itself CCM United pulled together over 30 classic artist and had a mega concert called “We Will Stand” for some excellent charities. The DVD of the concert will be available at CCMunited.com later in March and through Lifeway book stores.

Back in the day this music helped build my faith and helped me find expression of my faith. I am thankful that so many are also apparently ready to rediscover this great stuff. As I end this post, I am listening to “Watch and Pray” by Twilla Paris on http://www.ccmclassic.com/ccm-classic-radio-station.htm a station I found randomly with a google search.

End notes: Tune in is a web site, smart phone app and Roku app that caries various streaming services. The Roku is a device for streaming apps that can be hooked up to a tv. I have listed the stations by their web adress for easy access from this article. You may need to hit a “listen Now' button or two.