Christian Songwriting Podcast

A bittersweet episode, but a good one to end on…. Nate explains a big transition for his family, and why it’s time to wrap up CMB. View the blog post for this episode here.

Merry Christmas! Check out the show notes here.

In episode 70 of the CMB Podcast, Stephen and I talked about his latest record Liberating King, his new book that goes with it, and an exciting new worship community called Rooted Network. Check out the show notes here.

Matt Tinsley’s new EP “The Hardest Part” is FANTASTIC…. View the show notes here.

Win a copy of their new book! Visit http://natefancher.com/ for more.

In episode 67 of the CMB Podcast I spoke with emerging artist Meredith Kinleigh. Get the show notes here.

Jeremiah Carlson and Nate Fancher sit down to chat about Jeremiah’s band The Neverclaim, and their latest release The Joy.

Oleh Nate Fancher: Songwriter, Christian Music Maker, Blogger

View the show notes here.Oleh Nate Fancher: Songwriter, Christian Music Maker, Blogger

In episode 63 of the CMB Podcast I was stoked to sit down with an awesome new artist Lauren Daigle. Unsure if it was her true calling, she almost pushed music to the back burner until a devastating illness brought her young life into sharper focus. Now Lauren is living up to the high expectations for her new single, “How Can It Be.” We talked about…

In episode 62 of the CMB Podcast, I was honored to talk with singer/songwriter Joanna Beasley. Her latest album Loud Love, is her third full length album since she started back in 2005 as a nineteen year old, with no record label. Her musical journey started as a semi-finalist for American Idol’s third season in 2003, opening up several doors and o…

Today on the CMB Podcast, we get to hear from talented new worship leader and songwriter, Corey Voss. Back in episode 57 we had music publisher Steve Rice on the podcast to discuss the launch of the new worship label CentricWorship. This time around, it’s an honor to have their first artist on the podcast to talk about his story so far as a songwri…

On today’s podcast, I was honored to sit down with Josh and Angela Walker, a couple with an awesome story and a purpose to get behind…. The following story is taken from http://hymnsforselena.com Hymns For Selena is a story that started in the heart of Josh and Angela Walker five years ago while on a mission trip. It was then that they met Selena, …

Not many songwriters understand the power of storytelling the way Andrew Peterson does. He truly has a gift to connect with people through his art, which has obviously come through in his more than 12 studio releases, and his knack for writing great fiction. In fact, earlier this week, his fourth and final installment of “The Wingfeather Saga” hit …

Stephen Altrogge’s book Create: Stop Making Excuses and Start Making Stuff, is a must read. I’ve followed Stephen for some time at his blog The Blazing Center and was eager to get this self-published book. It’s a wonderfully refreshing book on what it means to be creative in light of the gospel. When it was released, I immediately got it and read i…

Today on the podcast, I was privileged to speak with music industry executive, Steve Rice. Steve has served as music publisher for some of the most recognized Christian songwriters, producers and artists throughout the world. He is currently VP of publishing at Centricity Publishing, and founder of the newly launched CentricWorship label, with thei…

Today on the Podcast, singer/songwriter Ginny Owens shares her very inspiring story. Born with poor eyesight that lead to blindness at the age of two, Ginny found a home at the piano, and a love for crafting songs. We talked about how she started her music career, her songwriting process, her upcoming album set to release later this year, and more.…

Today on the podcast I share with you my chat with singer, songwriter, and worship leader Zach Sprowls. Zach reached out through our CMB Spotlight submission form, and after I checked out his EP and heard his story, I strongly felt like it should be a podcast interview. If you’re a subscriber and have great music to share with the readers, check ou…

Today we get to hear from a few of the members of a band called Sow and Tether. We talked about their new EP entitled “Stripes Speak Out”, their heart for their local church, and more. If you’re looking to do a band model for your local church worship ministry, I think you’ll get a lot out of this episode. Before the interview, I share a little fro…

Should local church worship bands release albums? Today on the podcast, I had worship pastor and songwriter, Tim Hooker, join me in the studio to talk about the upcoming release of his church’s new album Banner Over Me, releasing on May the 16th. We talked about the process he and his worship team went through to record and release this record. It’…

Today on the CMB Podcast, I’m glad to share with you my interview with singer/songwriter Andrew Greer. For Good Friday, we highlighted a beautiful video he did with Ginny Owens, covering the song Via Dolorosa. Check it out here if you haven’t seen it. Andrew has an awesome story of how he got started as songwriter. You outdoor types will love it! W…

As Christians we are told that we will go through suffering. A Christian life without tribulation doesn’t exist, and the way that Christian artists and songwriters respond to suffering, really matters. Today on the podcast we bring back some friends. Kristen Gilles’ new album just released on April 1st entitled Parker’s Mercy Brigade. We originally…

Wow. So this is a cool achievement. 50 episodes. I was thinking about how to make CMB 050 special, and, as I was thinking through things, I put myself in the shoes of the folks who have recently signed up. Perhaps some of you have missed some episodes. So today we’re going to look back at some highlights. These aren’t just my personal favorites. Th…

Are you feeling like you do too much? Perhaps you’re feeling overwhelmed with all the different tasks that artists deal with…. From tech maintenance, to communicating with your band, to finding time to actually work on your set-list or let alone write a new song, there are a lot of hats that you have to wear. Today on the podcast we have author, bl…

We recently did a CMB-ite Spotlight with worship leader and songwriter Jordan Connell, and I knew we needed to hear more from this guy. The obvious way to do that was to invite him on the podcast. Jordan has a love for songwriting and music making, but when you sit down with him and hear his heart, you can see that he loves God more. Here were some…

Warning: This was a totally unscripted episode. I get all vulnerable and open, with no notes, and no script to read from. All from my head. So, in this very raw podcast episode, I remind us of the 3 Pillars of CMB (from episode 8), I share my heart and my thoughts on where we are currently, and then I look forward and talk about where I’d like to s…

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve done a podcast! Excited to be back in the swing of things. Today on the podcast, I go over our CMB Songwriting Checklist. 10 check points to send your song through. You may be feeling stuck and unable to finish a song. I have several fragments of songs that I’ve felt stuck on for months. Sometimes the song is waiti…

Today on the podcast I’m delighted to introduce you to Sean Carter. No. Not Shawn Carter. But singer/songwriter and worship leader, Sean Carter. If you’re not already, you’ll be a fan of his after today’s episode. His heart for Jesus and serving others is contagious, and, not only does it come through in his music, but it also comes through in his …

In session 44 of the CMB Podcast, I sat down with songwriter and guitar player Zach Janicello. I’ve been privileged to sit down with Zach on a handful of different occasions. It’s been awesome getting to know him. His band Great Awakening, not only have a killer sound with some wonderful songwriting skills, but they have an awesome vision for Jesus…

One of the things I love about CMB, is meeting new folks from within the CMB community. So when a CMB-ite reaches out to me on e-mail, introducing me to his music and life, I feel like we must be doing something right. Meeting new artists because of CMB is so rewarding. And today’s podcast episode is an example of this very thing. Cole Mize is a fa…

As we wrap up 2013, I want to get highly practical and provide you with some ideas, tips, and tactics that you can take into your new year, to see immediate results. Taking action and putting one foot in front of the other, is the only way to grow in anything. Even in our walk with Christ, we aren’t merely hearers of the word, but doers. It’s in ou…

As we wrap up 2013, I want to get highly practical and provide you with some ideas, tips, and tactics that you can take into your new year, to see immediate results. Taking action and putting one foot in front of the other, is the only way to grow in anything. Even in our walk with Christ, we aren’t merely hearers of the word, but doers. It’s in ou…

As we wrap up 2013, I want to get highly practical and provide you with some ideas, tips, and tactics that you can take into your new year, to see immediate results. For the next four weeks, each episode will have something that you can take and apply right away. I’m learning that taking action and putting one foot in front of the other, is the onl…

As we wrap up 2013, I want to get highly practical and provide you with some ideas, tips, and tactics that you can take into your new year, to see immediate results. For the next four weeks, each episode will have something that you can take and apply right away. I’m learning that taking action and putting one foot in front of the other, is the onl…

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! If you’re like my family, you’ll be breaking out the Christmas decorations this weekend, and gearing up for the holiday season. With all the festive frenzy, there’s bound to be some Christmas music in the mix right? For the Fancher family, a frequently played record will be Paul Baloche’s Christmas Worship. It was a pri…

Being an indie artist is serious stuff. Add to that the realities of a full time job and a family, and you have quite the adventure before you. There’s never a dull moment in the life of a DIY music maker. So how does a full-time mom, a volunteer leader with Young Life, and a creative indie artist pull everything off? How does someone with such a f…

Tim Timmons got a wake up call when his doctor told him that he had an incurable cancer with 5 years to live. 12 years later, Tim has been used by God all over the country to see the church embrace the message of God’s Kingdom, and what it means to radically follow Jesus. Tim is exemplary in his approach to being joyful and Christ-centered in the m…

How does business and ministry work well together? Is it possible? Today on the podcast, I was joined by my good friend Jimmy Lakey. Jimmy is a renaissance man and entrepreneur who has started several businesses, from concert promotion, artist management, and even pursuits in public service and politics. Here’s some of what we talked about… Jimmy’s…

This week on the CMB podcast I share with you my conversation with author and blogger, Tim Challies. We talked about a handful of things, but primarily discussed the effects of technology and the digital explosion in the life of the believer. Specifically Christian musicians. It was both an encouraging and a challenging conversation that I’m sure w…

Here recently at the blog, the parable of the talents has come up a few times (CMB 029 with Stephen Miller, and this guest post by Kristen Gilles). I had to originally reschedule my chat with Bob Kauflin, and before that, I had not heard his talk from the Worship God East conference. Thanks to Bobby and Kristen Gilles, I was turned on to it after s…

From professional baseball to full time music making, Brady Toops, is an example of hard work, honest artistry, and what it looks like to live in community. His sound is a convergence of his influences from gospel music, traditional folk, and rock and roll. In our conversation we talked about his new self titled album released in August, produced b…

On this week’s episode of the Christian Music Blog Podcast, I had the privilege of sitting down with A&R executive, John Mays. Having worked at Word, Sparrow, and Star Song Records before serving as president of Benson Records, John has seen many artists come and go for more than 35 years. He previously signed artists such as Point Of Grace, Cindy …

This may be one of my favorite podcast episodes so far. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about how worship pastors should be developing the artistic side of what they do, simply as people of faith who make music. In last week’s podcast, I interviewed Stephen Miller about his new book, Worship Leaders: We Are Not Rock Stars. It’s a great book. One th…

This week, I have a very encouraging conversation to share with you. Stephen Miller, worship leader and author of the new book Worship Leaders We Are Not Rock Stars, is bringing a much needed reminder to worship leaders and artists. It’s a reminder about how our identity isn’t in our songs, our ministries, our art, or the praise or rejection of peo…

On session 28 of the podcast, I had fellow worship pastor, songwriter, blogger, and podcaster, David Santistevan. We have a couple things in common, and wanted to get the word out on our end about what he’s up to. One of the many things that I love about this guy is his passion for vision. Vision is a word that you hear a lot these days – especiall…

John Maxwell is known for saying “everything rises or falls on leadership”. This is true not only for POTUS and the obvious ones who have “excelled”, but this also includes the right-brain solo artist who flies by the seat of their pants. In this session of the CMB Podcast, I speak with leadership coach Dave Kraft. We talk about what leadership loo…

In session 26 of the CMB Podcast, I was privileged to sit down with singer/songwriter, Derek Webb. Derek has been an inspiration to a lot of people. Certainly in his years with Caedmon’s Call he left an impact on the church, and since his time with them, with now 8 full length studio records under his belt, he’s been a leader and influencer for ind…

If you’re like me, then you’ve been stressed out a time or two over the administrative side of songwriting, music making, and… …copyright compliance. Perhaps you’ve wondered about how to get permission to do an amazing cover for YouTube, or even a desire to release some cover songs and not worry about digital distribution. If you’re a worship leade…

In session 24 of the podcast, I was privileged to talk to Cam Huxford, lead singer of the band Ghost Ship. With a unique sound that blends each member’s influences, Ghost Ship (originally called The Holy Ghost Ship), is a convergence of folk, rock, alt-country, pop, and traditional church music, all with a message that is undeniably gospel centered…

In the 23rd episode of the CMB Podcast, I share with you my conversation with dynamic songwriting couple, Bobby and Kristen Gilles. They both have important roles in the life of Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY – Bobby as Communications Director, and Kristen as a worship leader. Together, they have written songs for the Sojourn Music albu…