A group of emerging artists that began making music in high school have reunited to send out a message of hope for the holidays.
Crawfordsville High School graduates Cam Monroe, Jake Zurawski and Grace Stewart recorded original Christmas songs under the banner of their newly-renamed band Ordinary Friends.
The friends hadn’t completely parted ways as they pursued their own careers in music and worship, but they decided it was time to get the band back together.
“This has been waiting to happen for so long and I’m so happy that it has,” said Monroe, who writes and performs music in Nashville, Tennessee.
With just a month to produce the singles, they met over Zoom to write lyrics, using their phones to record the music. A producer took the voice memos and patched them into a song.
In early November, the group went to a Kokomo studio for a socially-distanced recording session. The first single, “The Only Thing I Want More,” was released the day after Thanksgiving.
The second single, “Sincerely, Christmas,” drops on Friday. Both songs can be streamed on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
The artists say they want their faith to come through in the music. Each of them has worked at Rock Point Church, where Stewart is a worship director. Zurawski now serves as creative arts and communications director for a Greenwood church, where he also leads worship.
“When you look at your scripture, like, singing is one of the most talked about things in the Bible,” Zurawski said.
“As believers, we’re called to spread the gospel to share the good news about Jesus Christ,” Stewart added. “And, you know, each of us has been gifted with … music, so that’s a great way to share that, share about Jesus Christ through music and what we’ve been so sweetly and so graciously given by Him.”
