A regal night for Casting Crowns at the Dove Awards
Red-hot Christian group Casting Crowns cleaned up at the 39th annual GMA Dove Awards at the Opry House.
The group won three trophies, including its fourth straight for Group of the Year. And lead singer Mark Hall won an additional four trophies for his songwriting, including one for Song of the Year for East to West.
All this for a bunch of guys who still consider the band a side job.
“It’s really odd for us, really, ’cause I’m still a youth pastor back home. And we’re home Sunday through Wednesday with our students,” Mark told me.
“So we just sort of get on the bus and travel three days a week. We’re not usually around all this.”
Another highlight: American Idol alums Mandisa, Phil Stacey and Chris Sligh sang songs in a tribute to the 25 years of artistry from Michael W. Smith (Place in This World).
And Wynonna joined Female Vocalist of the Year winner Natalie Grant for a killer duet.
The Dove Awards have been living in relative TV obscurity for years, airing on a hobbled-together syndication distribution that had the show airing at different times on different dates on a wide variety of channels throughout the country.
This year, the show aired live on the relatively new Gospel Music Channel, or Comcast digital channel 189.
Other big winners:
TobyMac won artist of the year for the first time since 1996, when he was a member of dc Talk. Chris Tomlin won best male singer for the third year in a row. Brandon Heath beat out Mandisa for best new artist.
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