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One On One With Sidewalk Prophets (Their Live Concert Is Tonight In Atmore For $5)
August 4, 2024
With four major studio albums, five No. 1 hits, eight top 5 songs and new music on the radio and streaming, Christian music’s Sidewalk Prophets will headline the Intent Movement Sunday night in Atmore.
General admission is just $5 or a VIP package for $25 with preferred floor seating. Cash, Venmo and Cash App will be accepted at the gate. The event will take place at the Poarch Cultural Arena at 6477 Jack Springs Road. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the event starts at 7 p.m.
Friday, NorthEscambia.com had a one-on-one phone interview with singer and songwriter David Frey, frontman of the Sidewalk Prophets.
“We’ve been around since 2001. I met my buddy Ben and now here we are 2024 and releasing our fifth studio album and we have a current single called ‘Hurt People’ on the radio right now,” Frey told us. “And we are really just blessed that we still keep on keeping on and excited that we have new music. We haven’t had new music since 2020. So it’s been quite some time. I became a dad twice since our last record came out and we’re just, living the dream.”
Sidewalk Prophets is more than just a music group; they are a family to make everyone feel love while sharing the love of Christ.
As the father of a 4-year-old, Frey currently spends a lot of time these days singing classic kids’ songs like “Wheels on the Bus”, “Skidamarink A Dink A Dink” (one of his daughter’s favorites) and host of Disney songs.
In May, the group released the lead track from their upcoming fifth studio album. “Hurt People (Love Will Heal Our Hearts)”. It was Sidewalk Prophets’ first new music since 2020.
Hurt People was actually written before the pandemic, but “the lyrics were just not quite right” and didn’t make the cut for the last album. Then there was a small tweak, and everything fell in place as the right song at the right time.
Hurt people, they hurt people
Is it ever gonna stop?
Hurt people, they hurt people
So give me everything you’ve got
“This is a time to release this song, and I feel like with the state of the world, state of our hearts and state of everywhere, you look around” Frey said. “There’s there’s a lot of hurt in the world, and it’s so easy to when you get hurt, man to pass that hurt on, maybe even hurt yourself, hurt those around you that don’t deserve it. But man, what an idea to know that Christ taking the cross looking after the very people that hurt him. That was the absolute example of how to stop hurt in its tracks and heal and change our hearts forever.”
The Sidewalk Prophets’ second song from the new album was released just over a week ago. “Come to Jesus” is a simple but powerful invitation. Written by Frey, Ben McDonald and Mitch Wong, the ballad encourages listeners to come just as they are to the Lord.
“It’s just a simple worship song,” Frey said. “As soon was we heard it, we knew it was tugging at our heartstrings with the idea that no matter what you’re going through, no matter what, the hopelessness or depression you’re facing; even on the best of days or the worst of days, just fall into the arms of Jesus. It’s such a powerful thing.”
“My favorite line in that song is ‘there’s kindness in his eyes’, and I think that so many times this day and age, we kick kindness around we minimize it and we, we think of it as a weak thing, but to have, to know that our God is a god of kindness. It’s a powerful thing. To now that you can always fall into the arms of our Savior who has kindness in his eyes is a powerful thing.”
The soon to be released title track of the new album is “Looking Up”, a collaboration with American Idol runner-up Megan Danielle.
“I don’t know how she didn’t just win everything because her voice is unbelievable,” Frey said. “When she walked into the studio as just this unassuming sweet Georgia girl, and then she sings and you are just floored. It’s this powerful Bonnie Raitt, Dolly Parton kind of mix. She’s got rock and roll in her too.”
He said “Looking Up” was inspired by the daily commute in Nashville and seeing people on the side of the road begging for change.
“It’s about our lives and how the smallest thing could put us at rock bottom. But there’s always a reason knowing how much Christ loves us, and we always have a reason to keep looking up. It’s a song about the goodness of God.”
The Intent Movement concert Sunday night in Atmore will feature some of those new songs.
“We’ll be rocking a lot of the new songs, but we’ll be playing songs you might have heard on the radio before.”
One of those classics will be “Come to the Table”.
He said come to the table
Come join the sinners who have been redeemed
Take your place beside the Savior
Sit down and be set free
“That’s one that really resonates with myself,” Frey told us.
While the song is about coming to the table with Jesus, the story of how it came to be might not be what most people expect. It’s what Frey called a “funny story”.
Come to the Table was written in a place with no internet, no Wi-Fi, just because the group needed to get away, and they flew in a group of writers from Nashville to this “log cabin-ish thing” All they had was a DVD player in a cabinet and it had the 1991 Robin Williams movie “Hook” in which young children are abducted by Captain Hook. Peter revisits a foggy past in which he abandons Neverland for family life, leaving the Lost Boys to fend for themselves.
“The Lost Boys were sitting at the table, and it just inspired us to think about all the people that would sit at the table with Christ. All this motley crew of misfits, that’s who is going to be sitting there when we get to heaven. Those are the people that Christ called when he opened his arms so wide.”
“That song definitely holds a dear place in our hearts.”
What on David Frey’s playlist right now?
A lot of Disney, and a lot of “Skidamarink A Dink A Dink” for his kids. For him, it’s 21 Pilots and a lot of a old-school singer songwriters like the Eagles and James Taylor. Tom Petty’s “Free Falling” is a favorite that his son also loves.
“You just roll the window down and sing and have a lot of fun.”
The Future of Sidewalk Prophets
What’s the future of the Sidewalk Prophets in five or 10 years?
“Man, I really hope to keep doing what we are doing and making records,” Frey said. “What floors me is when people say a song meant this to me, and I’m like I didn’t even think God could use it that way. I hope we can continue to see people’s hearts changed. Not because of us, but because God takes these things. If you marry your passion to God’s will, it is a powerful thing.”
“I am super grateful that this passion of mine God has allowed us to do for so long, and I just pray in five years we are releasing our sixth or seventh record and hopefully it’s still resonating with souls.”
About Sunday Night’s Performance In Atmore
“We’re going to have so much fun, and we are excited. I hope that people come that don’t know Jesus and they get swept up in what He’s doing, and I pray that friends and family and churches all come. I pray we can just sing about the love of God and watch people be moved in mighty ways because of him.”
Photos courtesy Sidewalk Prophets for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
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