W. Wade and Trena Stooksberry (The DOVES) depart from their regular fare of trans-genre “sad songs”, blues, and introspective retro pop-rock (“Why Did You Hurt Me?”, “Shut My Mouth”, “Mirage”, Wild and Strange”, “Everybody’s Happy But Me”, et. al.) to take a Gospel turn with their latest effort, “King of Kings”. “King of Kings” is an old-fashioned, drop-beat, stomp-your-feet praise and worship song: marked by its stately, unhurried rhythm; underpinned by the rhythm section of Joey Stuckey’s sinewy bass line, and Tim Alexander’s syncopated kick drum and choice percussion. Joe Turner’s keyboards add a soaring element that puts you in the pew of “that old time religion”, as does Trena’s angelic “choir”, which supports Wade’s calm, halcyon vocal melody. “With a name like The DOVES, we get asked if we’re a Christian act,” said Wade. “It is not overtly evident from our body of work. I always tell folks ‘we don’t make “Christian music”. We’re Christians who make music.’ ‘King of Kings’ is an exception — and, I guess, puts the question to rest.” In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. — John 1:1-3 “The idea with ‘King of Kings’ is to extol Jesus Christ as the Creator of ‘time and space, energy’ — our dimensional environment, and shared reality; which we know now is but a limited, bounded subset of a larger, ‘hyperdimensional’, spiritual one,” Wade continued. “That’s an office that is frequently overlooked in our praise of Him; and an exclusive attribute of His that we wanted to focus on. It is because He is our Creator, that He can be our redeemer.” He offered the following on his own creative process regarding the song: “Some songs, you really have to go after. You might get the germ of an idea, and then knuckle down to follow where that idea needs to go.” “ ‘King of Kings’ is one of those songs that came in a moment of inspiration. It practically wrote itself. It’s the first unapologetically ‘Christian’ song I’ve written; and it came along during a period in my personal walk where I was beginning to understand who Jesus truly is: not just a worthy teacher, or good role model, or radical prophet. But ‘very God of very God’; the ‘voice of the Burning Bush’; the self-existent, uncreated ‘I AM’ (John 8:58).” “That occurred at a definite point along the way — my personal journey from what could be called a ‘typical’ atheistic materialism, that rejects the category of the spiritual, and relegates God to the imaginary — to the gradual realization that ‘everything that has a beginning must have a cause’. And since the universe has a beginning, it must have a Cause, a Creator. Of course, that is a pretty intellectual approach to faith; which is really a matter of the ‘heart’, or soul — the whole person. There were experiential events in my life that turned me towards Christ, in addition to the intellectual arguments of men like C. S. Lewis. A lot of the music I’ve written over the years draws on those experiences, I think; and I now can see they trace an arc from unbelief to faith.” “And the awesome thing — the God-blessed thing — is that I’ve had Trena by my side for the whole journey. And that we are ‘equally yoked’. And she can sing pretty good, too,” he said with a smile. “And is a terrific songwriter.” ______________ “King of Kings” video (beautiful imagery of God’s creation): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miL7i118gNg&feature=youtu.be The DOVES Website (downloads, vids, and more): http://www.thedovesamerica.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDOVES2010 ______________ W. Wade and Trena Stooksberry (The DOVES) hail from beautiful Macon, GA – a town located an hour south of Atlanta, renowned for it amazingly rich musical heritage (Lena Horne, Little Richard, Otis Richard, James Brown, The Allman Brothers and Capricorn Records, Mark Heard, Mike Mills and Bill Berry of REM, et. al.), as well as its signature antebellum architecture, which was spared by Sherman during his march to the sea. Wade also claims musical DNA from his childhood in Memphis. They have taken all these influences, and many more, to forge a sound both immediately familiar, and uniquely their own; spanning a gamut from Classic AOR to Adult Contemporary to New Wave, Blues, British Invasion, Southern Revival – and of course, being Southerners, Spiritual. The DOVES have been capturing attention and acclaim from radio stations and bloggers both at home and abroad: New York City, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC, LA, Seattle, San Francisco; London, Wales, Germany, the Netherlands, Paris, and elsewhere. Call it “the superior arrangements… and perfect harmonies of the couple” (German blogger Walter H., “A Few Good Times in My Life”); call it "Lush melodies, mystery and simplicity, the profane and the sacred, driving acoustic lyricism. The alternative to the alternative” Whatever you choose to call it, we hope you enjoy our music! All the best, and God bless, W. Wade and Trena The DOVES __________________ “King of Kings” is the latest in The DOVES growing and varied body of work (Note: videos, and song samples in their entirety, available here): http://www.thedovesamerica.com/listen/ from the “musical smorgasbord” of their 6-song EP, “Day (One)” which ranges from acoustic lament (“Dirty Words”), to guitar-driven New Wave (“Day”), to electronic synth (“Some More Than Others”), to glorious chorale (“Out of the Wood”), to “grunge meets Latin in Motown” ("Angeline"), to soulful blues (“Everybody’s Happy But Me”) – their follow-up “double-sided single” of catchy pop-rock, “Wild and Strange/Shut My Mouth” – their more recent offerings, “Mirage” (a galloping reflection on the boundaries of reality: is our world really a “Mirage”?) and “The Fine Line” (the pathos involved with choosing to “walk the line”, a la Johnny Cash – or not to) — and their latest, Trena’s soulful vocal coupled with Wade’s vintage guitar in the evocative “Why Did You Hurt Me?” — The DOVES express an effortless shifting of musical genres that confirm what Dan Herman of Radio Crystal Blue remarked on the “Novus Ordo” broadcast of 12/07/14: “they have something unique up their sleeve…” _________________ Special thanks to Joey Stuckey, and the auspices of his incredible Shadow Sound Studios, Macon, GA: http://www.joeystuckey.com and to Joe Turner, keyboardist extraordinaire: https://www.facebook.com/epicaudiorecording