Faith Features

Kevin Max enjoyed plenty of success as a member of dcTalk.

The band won three Grammy Awards and sold more than eigh million albums.

In 2001 the band split, still great friends and Kevin Max went on a seven-year journey that he completed with the release of his latest album, simply called 'The Blood'.

"In my mind, I've already lived the fantasy of becoming a rock star, and it's not that great. It doesn't have that much reward. Now I'm more interested in creating something that I want to sing about in the years to come," explains Kevin.

"I want to create a platform that will allow me to continue to make projects that I hope will excite people and get them interested in music, in the scriptures and maybe even get them interested in looking at God in a different way."

Album cover

Well, this album couldn't be more different from his origins in hip-hop. 'The Blood' is a collection of rootsy, soulful Gospel gems that pays homage to the music that was at the root of rock and roll, blues and popular culture.

Max mined some of his own childhood inspirations when picking songs for the new album so we're in the world of Mahalia Jackson, Andrae Crouch and The Blind Boys of Alabama here.

Max spreads the net incredibly widely, collaborating with musical greats such as Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Joanne Cash, Mary Mary's Erica Campbell and in a dcTalk reunion featuring former band members TobyMac and Michael Tait on 'The Cross', written by pop superstar Prince for his Sign O' The Times album.

Max immersed himself in an eclectic slate of songs that includes the gospel-nurtured soul found on such classics as 'Trouble Of The World' (inspired by Mahalia Jackson's recording), Andrae Crouch's 'The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power' (featuring Ashley Cleveland, Judson Spence and Kim Keyes) and Blind Willie Johnson's 'I Know His Blood Can Make Me Whole'.

The exuberant, rockabilly-flavored tempo of 'Up Above My Head I Hear Music In The Air' is the perfect backdrop to the infectious vocal collaboration between Max and fellow artists Amy Grant and Vince Gill.

Kevin Max

Joanne Cash, joined Max on the album’s only original cut, 'One Way, One Blood', a song he wrote and arranged specifically to pay homage to Joanne's brother, music legend Johnny Cash.

But why choose this as the subject for an album? Kevin Max is clear.

"One of the reasons the songs on 'The Blood' are so important is because they represent the answer, the medicine for the ailments. I love the significance of Christ's blood as something that empowers us—it can literally change us. I know I am changed, and God has given me another chance to live a life that is full and without fear."

It's an album that takes some getting used to but, as Max says, if you want to know why Elvis, the Beatles, U2 and so many others understood the power of Gospel and spiritual music – and if you dare risk the possibility that it may speak to your soul too – then it's a good place to start.