TERRE HAUTE — A Terre Haute native’s recent rocking has garnered national attention with his band’s nomination for two Dove Awards.
David Frey was working out Saturday in a gym near Charlottesville, Va., getting ready for another show as the lead singer of Sidewalk Prophets. The band is on tour promoting its debut album, “These Simple Truths.”
The band, whose roots stem back to Frey’s and Ben McDonald’s days together at Anderson University, signed with Word Records in Nashville, Tenn., in January, 2009, releasing “These Simple Truths” later in August. The group is in the midst of a 66-date, cross-country tour which kicked off last month and runs through May.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Frey said of the new record now available in Christian music outlets, online and in stores such as Walmart and Target.
The album attracted the attention of the Gospel Music Association and has been nominated for Best Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year, with the Sidewalk Prophets earning a nomination as New Artist of the Year. The 41st Annual GMA Dove Awards will be presented at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on April 21, and Frey noted the competition includes the big names of Christian music, including Jars of Clay.
Frey himself attended Dixie Bee Elementary and Honey Creek Middle School before graduating from Terre Haute South Vigo High School in 2000. He graduated from Anderson University with a degree in English education four years later, running into fellow artist McDonald along the way.
“We started out in October of 2001,” he said over the telephone Saturday afternoon, explaining the duo’s first work together won a pizza party for their dormitory in a school contest.
Other members of the band have come and gone over the years, but the two finally struck out for Nashville in 2008, advertising for new players on Craigslist.
“Who wants to be poor and worship Jesus with us?” Frey laughed, recalling the pitch made for local players. That ad resulted in a drummer and bass guitarist though, and the current line-up features those plus rhythm and lead guitars with Frey on lead vocals.
“I do play a mean ukulele on stage,” the singer-songwriter quickly added. “That’s right, if we ever go to Hawaii we’re set.”
McDonald occasionally brings out a mandolin and other instrumental additives over the years have included an accordion, Frey said, crediting secular bands such as R.E.M. and Counting Crows as inspiration.
The group’s current tour stretches from Los Angeles and the state of Washington to Virginia, Florida, Texas and everywhere in between. The Sidewalk Prophets will play Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on March 18.
“This is really our first year,” he said of the group’s big break in signing with a record label like Word.
This summer the band plans to hit the festival and summer camp circuit, working “These Simple Truths” along the way.
Meanwhile, Frey’s father, Ted, described his own excitement at hearing his son’s name alongside the big-name bands he’d heard him listening to as a kid.
“I’m just excited and real proud of my son,” he said, adding it’s a “unique feeling” to see one’s son on stage. While playing in Columbia, S.C., the 19,000 fans in attendance packed the house and about 1,000 were turned away from the gate, the older Frey recalled. The band came outside and gave the small throng an acoustic performance essentially for free.
Frey credits his parents’ musical background as an inspiration. His mother, Carol Harder, teaches first grade at Farrington Grove Elementary and has used her guitar as a tool for many years, he said, adding his father also plays the piano.
“I play enough guitar to get me by,” he said, recalling a few experiences impressing his mom’s students. “I know enough that first graders really think I’m good,” he laughed.
Online voting will play a role in the Dove Awards and Frey said people can get more information at www.doveawards.com and the band’s Web site, www.sidewalkprophets.com. Their performance tonight in Virginia will be available online at www.hearitfirst.com as part of a fundraiser for Haiti earthquake relief.
Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.
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Terre Haute native’s band nominated for two Dove Awards
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