“Grace Pockets” Update

(Please note that more recent updates are available at jdouglaswright.net. )

It has been an exciting few months for the song “Grace Pockets”! The song is currently #4 on the Effect Top 20 Countdown! The Effect Radio network reaches over 50 stations, so this has been a major blessing for us. Since the countdown is based on what the listeners are wanting, we can’t thank you enough for your support!

We are also very grateful to Crossroads Radio for their continued support of our music. The wonderful people there played “Grace Pockets” for 17 weeks and recently added our upcoming single “Blindspot” to The Playlist. We consider this such an honor that they play our music, and we have listeners in several states who look forward to their show every Saturday night.

Another major supporter of the song has been 97X fm. “Grace Pockets” was also on their playlist for several months and was in high rotation! This meant SO much to us, and we are overjoyed by their support of the song!

There are many other factors that have led to the success of the song, and we will include all of these in our end-of-year post. Many thanks to all of you for being interested in our music!

“Grace Pockets” on Top 30 Christian Alternative Chart!

We received the great news this weekend that “Grace Pockets” is #25 on the Top 30 Christian Alternative Songs of the Week! This is based on sales and streams from Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube. The chart and links to the playlists are below. There are many to thank, including YOU, and we will be doing this over the next several days!

Metronome Musicbox July 27 at 10:51 PM · 

And here’s your #top30 #christianalternative songs of the week! Enjoy!

🎧 Apple Music: https://apple.co/2SM29jH 🎧

🎵 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2STuc13 🎵

📺 YouTube: http://bit.ly/XtianAltRock30 📺

30. Attaboy – Fearless
29. LOYALS – I’m Sorry
28. Light The Way – Hope
27. Copeland – Lay Here
26. FF5 – Nearsighted
25. J. Douglas Wright – Grace Pockets
24. Eowyn Music – Set Free (feat. Nikko Custodio)
23. VERIDIA – I Won’t Stay Down
22. The Altar Boys – Thousand Miles
21. The Rocket Summer – Shatter Us
20. Starflyer 59 – Hey, Are You Listening
19. Knox Hamilton – Cool
18. Switchfoot – Voices
17. Apollo LTD – On the Way Up
16. The Orphan The Poet – Queen Cobra
15. John Van Deusen – Whatever Makes You Mine
14. Mike Mains & The Branches – Breathing Underwater
13. Cold War Kids – Complainer
12. Manafest – Come Back Home (feat. Trevor McNevan)
11. Citizens – Looking Up
10. Truslow – Walking
09. Roelant – Wrong
08. Ledger – Completely
07. Nightbirde – Girl in a Bubble
06. twenty one pilots – Chlorine
05. Tiger Drive – Watch Me Go Live
04. Danger Scene – Poison
03. Remedy Drive – I Don’t Belong to You
02. Judah & the Lion – Why Did You Run
01. Skillet Music – Anchor

The Model Moonwalker

With our nation celebrating the anniversary of the moon landing this past week, I was reminded that I had the privilege of meeting Astronaut and Colonel Buzz Aldrin several years ago at a conference where he was being recognized as an award recipient and I had been given the opportunity to share some music earlier in the day.

What I didn’t know at the time I met him and just learned this past weekend (on the always-amazing Crossroads Radio) was that Buzz Aldrin gave God the credit for every part of the space mission. He even made arrangements in advance to have communion on the moon!

And when he was headed back to earth, exactly 50 years ago today, he read aloud Psalm 8: 3-4: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou has ordained; What is man that thou art mindful of him? And the Son of Man, that thou visitest Him?”

There are a many verses in the Bible that speak to the act of being humble-James 4:10–Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up; Ephesians 4:10–Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love; and 2 Chronicles 7:14–If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

To me, Buzz Aldrin is a model example of being humble. He had been part of the first mission to the moon. He had walked on moon. Yet he gave all the credit and honor to the One who made the moon.

Countdown: Breathing Fire Like Dragons is 8 Weeks Away!

It is getting closer! Breathing Fire Like Dragons will be officially released in 8 weeks! We are so excited to share the new project with you!

The title and theme of the album are about recognizing the power of God that lives within us. As we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) in His image (Genesis 1:27), so we should never have a moment of fear (Deuteronomy 31:8)!

In Job 41, God’s power is shown in his creation. This passage talks about a sea creature, or Leviathan (often labeled as a dragon): “Nothing on earth is like him, One made without fear. He looks on everything that is high; He is king over all the sons of pride” (verses 33-34).

As the passage describes, there was nothing else on earth like this creature, a true example of fearlessness. God made it more powerful than anything else He had created, and He used this as a physical reminder to us that there is nothing else like God. There is only one God (Isaiah 45:6) and He is all powerful.

When the album was finished, the overall theme was that we have access to this very same power of God every moment we live. This raises the question: If we believe this, then what is keeping us from living it? For example, every day that we are alive, we have been given the awesome gift of having breath in our lungs. God, the Maker of the Universe, gave us the breath of life! Not only should we recognize this gift, but we should also be using every ounce of our breath to live it. To me, this extinguishes every feeling of doubt, fear, depression, isolation, guilt, and loneliness that may come our way.

More about the album will be posted soon! Thank you for your interest and prayers!

New Single “Grace Pockets”

Our new single “Grace Pockets” is available everywhere starting today! Amazing work by producer Swaff and the players–Robbie Fritz, Cody Preston, Matthew Rolfe, Swaff, Scotty Wilbanks, and the cool cover design by John Packer! Blessed to be in the company of such greatness! We hope you like the song. More about it coming soon!

Mark Your Calendars!

Pre-orders for the new album will start on May 20 at iTunes, and the new single will be released everywhere on July 12! To celebrate, we are offering a contest to guess the name of the album. The first person to guess the entire name will win a free gift card to download the album as well as a choice of a physical copy (vinyl or CD), T-shirt, and poster. If you guess one word, you will receive a gift card for a free song download! Message us your answers on the contact tab on this site or on anywhere you find us on social media!

Here is Hint #1: 4 words, verb-noun-preposition-noun.

A new hint will appear at this link every day until someone wins. Good luck!

4/15/19: Hint #2: The first word is something we are doing every day. Message us your answers on the contact tab on this site or on anywhere you find us on social media!

4/16/19: The first word of the new album has been solved! It is “breathing”. Congrats to Marty from Savannah for winning a free download! Hint #3: The second word is one of the basic elements. Be sure to message your guesses!

4/17/19: The second word of the new album has been solved in our guessing game! It is “fire”. Congrats to the 23 folks who just won a free download of their choice! Hint #4: The third word is a preposition, and used as a verb is a prominent word on social media and as well as a popular emoji. Be sure to send us a message with your response!

4/18/19: The third word of the new album has been solved! It is “like”. Congrats to the 62 who guessed it and won a free song download of their choice! Hint #5: The last word is often used as a symbol of power. The first person to message the complete title will receive a gift card to download the album as well as a physical copy (vinyl or CD), t-shirt, and poster! The winner will be announced on September 14!