Quarantine Worship Music

Grace Point Community Church performing
“Do It Again” by Elevation Worship

Grace Point Community Church in Oregon creates a socially distant special music video for their congregation during stay at home orders.

Portland, OR, May 17, 2020 – (bentbeat.com) – When governor Kate Brown announced the “Stay Home, Save Lives” policy in Oregon, Grace Point Community Church in Tigard immediately cancelled their weekly, Sunday, in-person services.  This turned this neighborhood church into a broadcast studio from the staff’s homes.  Worship director, Krista Westfall, was commissioned to handle the technical components to put the service online for the church-goers in southwest Portland.

“With Easter coming up so quickly, we were already behind,” Westfall said in reference to finding a mechanism to broadcast a weekly service.  “We tried everything from Zoom, Instagram Live and Facebook Live, and ultimately landed on YouTube, which we have been using each week since.”

The weekly service involves different staff members broadcasting from their homes in a socially distant world.  Most of the service components, like announcements, prayer, and the pastor’s sermon, were relatively normal.  The main component that changed involved the music ministry.  For the online version of the weekend services, Westfall is usually seen singing alongside a piano or accompanied by an acoustic guitar, filming from a smartphone camera and microphone.

“On a normal weekend service in our building, we would generally have up to ten musicians, singers and technical volunteers all involved to help the congregation worship our Lord in song,” added Westfall.  “We didn’t want to put our artists or their families at risk by having the team in the same room.”

Grace Point’s attendees are reportedly appreciative of the stripped-down music, but admittedly miss the immersive, full sound of a worship band on the platform.  The worship team started meeting weekly on Zoom, in place of their standing, weekly rehearsal.  During that virtual meeting, an idea was sparked to have the worship team create a song separately and put it all together in a single video.

“We called it the ‘Brady Bunch Project,’” Westfall laughed, referring to the opening sequence for the 1970's sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz. “We asked each of the artists to record and video tape themselves performing their part on a specific worship song.”  

Dave Beatty and Matt Sumner from BentBeat, who also attend and are a part of  the church's music ministry, volunteered production and engineering to help make the video a reality.  

“We are very happy to have the time and bandwidth put this together for Grace Point,” said Beatty.  “The end result was a very powerful worship song that conveys the hearts of the artists in a very real, intimate way.”

The song, “Do It Again” by Elevation Worship, was released in advance of the weekend services.

“It was a labor of love,” said Beatty.  “We are very honored to be a part of this project during this very unusual chapter in everyone’s lives.”

About BentBeat Productions: BentBeat is based in Portland, Oregon. BBP’s focus is on partnering with musicians to produce, record, and release high quality broadcast-level music through streaming services, social media and traditional distribution. BentBeat’s artists are available on Amazon, Spotify, Apple Music and all major music sites. Please join in supporting musicians.

Contact:
BentBeat Productions
Dave Beatty
503.489.8275
info@bentbeat.com
http://www.bentbeat.com/

COVID-19 Statement from BentBeat Productions

Source: cdc.gov

BentBeat Productions halts all in-person studio events to help flatten the curve of the coronavirus.

Portland, OR, March 23, 2020 - bentbeat.com - BentBeat Productions announced today that they will halt all in-person production activities at their studio until the "Stay Home, Save Lives" order is lifted in Oregon.

"We have an extensive list of session musicians and engineers who are already working with BentBeat from their at-home studios," said BentBeat owner, Dave Beatty.  "We have a couple of full projects already in the works that will keep our team busy for this period of time."  In January, artist Billie Eilish and her brother/producer Finneas made headlines by winning five of the six GRAMMY Awards they were nominated for, including the night's four biggest prizes.  All from an album produced in their spare bedroom.  

BentBeat is expecting to resume normal daily operations as soon as the rules change to allow for art studios to open again.  The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting artists worldwide and musicians are among the hardest hit. 

"There is no replacement for a live performance that goes unplayed or a song that doesn't get created during this time," Beatty continued.  "Please join us in doing all we can to help support art and the creators who bring us the joy that accompanies it."

About BentBeat Productions: BentBeat is based in Portland, Oregon. BBP’s focus is on partnering with musicians to produce, record, and release high quality broadcast-level music through streaming services, social media and traditional distribution. BentBeat’s artists are available on Amazon, Spotify, Apple Music and all major music sites. Please join in supporting musicians.

Contact:
BentBeat Productions
Dave Beatty
503.489.8275
info@bentbeat.com
http://www.bentbeat.com/

Eggs, Bunnies and Chocolate, Oh My!

Hello, music lovers.  We thought it would be great to give everyone an "Easter Egg" sneak-peak of Mike Brandow's upcoming album this spring.  This single is a variation on the old hymn, "Amazing Grace" with Mike's personal refrain on it ("Your Grace Alone").

If you have a music subscription, it's available on Apple Music, Google Play, Spotify, Amazon or you can hear it on YouTube for free right here:

Have a great Easter, everyone!

BentBeat Productions
info@bentbeat.com

GRAMMYs 2018: 60th Birthday in Manhattan

So here we are again! It’s that time of year, it’s GRAMMY TIME.  This year we’re headed to New York for Music’s Biggest Night, and this year we couldn’t be more excited because this year we have a dog in the fight, that’s right: this year we got to peruse the list of nominees and VOTE!  Yup, we got a new fancy status as a voting member and we exercised our power. 

Boy howdy, did we ever.

So, this year, instead of giving you our predictions on who will win what (which, let’s be honest, were never very accurate anyway), we’ll give you a rundown of a few works we voted for.  Here’s the categories we feel most strongly about, in no particular order:

Record of the Year:

This is a production award, which made this category a bit of a runaway. We hand this honor to “Despacito.”  Hey, we have no idea what he’s singing about, but we figure any producer deserves a Grammy if they can make Justin Bieber sound 1. Like he’s bilingual, 2. Good.

...or 3. "Un hombre afortunado para estar con Selena Gomez"

Album of the Year: 

There’s a soft spot for this one, and it belongs to “Awaken My Love” by Childish Gambino.  You can’t beat the creativity on this project, from beginning to end it will captivate you.

Song of the Year:

This is a songwriting award, remember- we’re giving this to “Issues” because, well, we like pizzicato. (Yes, we know that probably wasn’t “written” but we’re going with it anyway.)

Best New Artist:

And since we’re there, we’re going to go ahead and give this one to Julia Michaels too.  Truth: Julia wins our vote because we did some random sampling of all of the submissions.  Out of 25 chosen samples, hers was the only collection that never landed on lyrics that included the N word.  Just trying to keep it classy over here at BentBeat…you’re welcome.

Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media:

Oo! Oo! Speaking of “you’re welcome,” we strongly and emphatically put “Moana” in this winner’s spot.  (We’ll go on record as saying we don’t think it will win.)  Here’s why: this is a tight race between “Moana” and “La La Land.” We give “Moana” our vote because while “La La Land” has some good music, it’s basically just a recording of a Broadway musical. We give full credit to the engineers and performers for the necessary manipulations to make that a good album. However, the Moana vocalists were sought out for purposes of authenticity (Opetaia Foa'i, Jermaine Clements) and talent (maybe we concede the exception of The Rock here), and the resulting recordings are, frankly, quite good.  

"Hey... wait...  Well, actually you make a fine point."

Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals:

Here’s where we’ll give “La La Land” it’s due and vote for “Another Day of Sun.” Although the irony of being able to award Seth MacFarlane a Grammy for “I Like Myself” was not lost on us, we decided to go with the deserved winner here and not the punch line.

Pop Vocal Album:

“Evolve” from Imagine Dragons wins our vote.  See the note above regarding creativity in the Childish Gambino section.  Oh, hey, Grammy coordinators: can we officially request a duet here? We’re drooling at the possibility.

Pop Duo/Group: 

Here’s some PDX hometown love: we give our vote to Portugal. The Man and “Feel It Still.” It’s fun, guys.

Pictured here after losing a bet with a promoter

Country Duo/Group:

We love Zac Brown.  Have we ever mentioned that we love Zac Brown? Zac can have this one for “My Old Man.”

Country Song:

We give this one to “Drinking Problem” by Midland.  Anyone who can write an entire song based on a pun (and make it work) deserves an award.

Country Album:

“From a Room, Volume 1” by Chris Stapleton.  Let’s be honest.  With all of the country crossover happening today, don’t we really all just want to listen to this?  A bunch of amazing dudes sitting in a studio for a jam?  This was so refreshing and wonderful to listen to.

Country Solo:

Speaking of country crossover, Miranda Lambert gets this one for “Tin Man” purely for clinging to her country roots and making a brilliant song out of them.  Thanks for keeping the country in country music, Miranda.

Rock Performance:

We don’t have a lot of words to say about this except that there was NO WAY ON EARTH that this vote wasn’t going to “The Promise” by Chris Cornell.  We’re not crying, you’re crying.

Pop Solo:

And, while we’re busy not crying, we’ll just slide in our vote for Ke$ha and “Praying” here.  Okay, this vote isn’t a slide, it’s probably our most vehement vote of the whole bunch.  There’s a lot to say about this particular recording, but maybe another time and another place.  Excuse me while I go out and get some waterproof mascara. 

Video of the Year:

We gotta end this on a more chipper note.  Our extremely emphatic vote goes to “Makeba” by Jain. If you haven’t seen this video yet, stop reading this long-winded post and go watch it.  Right now.  In fact, you can find it here:

And that’s our votes! Sure we voted in more categories, but those are the ones we feel strongest about.  What do you think?  Did we pick the right winners?  Do we need a drinking game for the ones we got right/wrong?  We’re open to suggestions of course.  

The chaos awaits

The 60th Annual Grammys Awards are Sunday, January 28 at 4:30pm PST on CBS, and we’re ready for the countdown to begin!  Follow us all weekend on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook where we’ll be sharing our New York adventures and red carpet action on Music’s Biggest Night.  

We’ll see you there!

The BentBeat Team
bentbeat.com
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Dustin Rose Releases His Newest Album, "Catch The Wind"

Dustin Rose releases his first Christian album, "Catch The Wind," with Portland-Based BentBeat Productions - available on Amazon.com, iTunes, Spotify, and all major music sites.

Dustin Rose's "Catch The Wind" album is available now

Portland, OR, December 05, 2017 --(PR.com)-- Northwest-based Dustin Rose releases his third solo album, “Catch The Wind.” Rose is a Portland native and a 6th generation Oregonian who has been performing live for over 20 years, most recently with the band Wilson Fifer Rose.

“Catch The Wind” features local and national musicians and two featured guest singers. “Holy Is My God” features Amber Schroeder, the Director of Choral Music at Sam Barlow High School in Gresham, and Dustin’s wife Andrea is featured as a duet singer for the song “My Father’s House.” The song being co-written by the Roses for a nonprofit that shares the same name in Gresham.

“My Father’s House, A Community Shelter” is the largest privately funded homeless shelter program in the nation with an 85% success rate helping people secure stable employment and housing upon exit from the program. Dustin and Andrea have been involved with the shelter in various capacities for over 17 years. “We composed the song because we wanted to convey to everyone how important the community shelter was to us,” said Andrea. “Residents of the shelter take classes in renter education, financial management, and other life skills. There are up to 30 homeless families at a time taking part in their program. We hope that the song will encourage others to join us in supporting their ministry to Multnomah County’s homeless population.”

This is Dustin Rose’s first collaboration under the Portland-based BentBeat Productions label. Produced by Dave Beatty, Rose found great freedom in the partnership. “The team was easy to work with. I was able to come to creative sessions with ideas and partial songs and somewhere along the way it turned into a full-length album. I was very pleased with how everything turned out.”

“The best way to have great music is to start with a great artist. We heard Dustin sing and were hooked,” said Beatty. “It's great to have an entire album featuring both an artist's playing and singing talents."

Rose recently took the stage at Creation Northwest in Tri-Cities, Washington, to promote his upcoming project. “It was exciting to get to play some of these new songs for such an enthusiastic crowd,” said Rose. “It was great to see people enjoying themselves and stepping away from their daily lives, and I was glad to be a facilitator for that.”

The CD release party for “Catch The Wind” will be on Friday, December 8th, from 5:30-7pm at Clinton St. Bible Chapel, 18255 SE Clinton St, Gresham, Oregon 97030. A portion of the evening’s album sales will go to benefit “My Father’s House.” All ages free.

Dustin is a sponsored artist of Breedlove Guitars in Bend, Oregon.

About BentBeat Productions: BentBeat is based in Portland, Oregon. BBP’s focus is on partnering with musicians to produce, record, and release high quality broadcast-level music through streaming services, social media and traditional distribution. BentBeat’s portfolio is available on Amazon.com, iTunes, Spotify, and all major music sites. Please join in supporting musicians.

Contact:
BentBeat Productions
Dave Beatty
503.489.8275
info@bentbeat.com
www.bentbeat.com