Jars of Clay

Posted on by katrine

Vocalist Dan Haseltine met Lead guitarist Steven Mason at in Greenville College in Illinois. The two friends wrote a few songs for school projects. Along with fellow schoolmate Charlie Lowell on keys they formed the band The Jars of Clay, a name that comes from 2 Corinthians 4:7 “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” One final schoolmate Matt Bronleewe joined. They wrote a number of songs together, and in 1994 they won a nation-wide Gospel Music Association contest. Following this success Dan Haseltine, Steven Mason and Charlie Lowell dropped out of school go follow their music career full time. Matt Bronleewe left the band to stay in school and finish his degree, although he was credited for songwriting when the band signed with Essential records. Matt Odmark took his place on rhythm guitar. The band has no drummer or bassist, they get guests to fill in the gap on tour. 

The Jars of Clay’s self-titled debut album was released in 1995. The album went multi-platinum and the single Flood flew up, not only the Christian charts, but mainstream radio chats as well. In 1997 their second album Much Afraid was released. It won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Gospel Album of the year. They also won a Grammy for their next album If I Left The Zoo, which was released in 1999. Along with this album was a special live online promotional album called Front Yard Luge. It featured covers from bands like Petra and the Beach Boys.

In 2001 honorary degrees from Greenville College where given to the members of Jars of Clay, including Matt Odmark, who didn’t even go to Greenville. In 2002 the received a their third consecutive Grammy Award for the album The Eleventh Hour. In 2003 they released re-recordings of their best songs in a double disk album called Furthermore. The first disk “From Studio” featured acousic versions and the second disk “To Stage” was a live concert, which was later released on DVD. Later that year they released an all new album called Who We Are Instead. Their next album Redemption Songs was released in 2005 and featured old hymns with new music. In 2005 they were featured on the Chronicles on Narnia Soundtrack (Waiting for the World to Fall). In 2006 the Jars of Clay changed their style a bit and released their first rock album Good Monsters, which was followed by a live album called Live Monsters. They also released two greatest hits albums before their next studio album Grey Matter in 2007. That was their last album on Essential Records.

 They formed their own label called Grey Matter on which they released a seasonal album called Christmas Songs later that year. In 2009 the released their tenth album called the long fall back to Earth. The Jars of Clay’s latest album is called The Shelter (2010).