Jars of Clay

In the 1990s three guys from Illinois formed the band Jars of Clay. Dan Haseltine, Steve Mason and Charlie Lowell wrote their first songs for music classes, since they studied at a music school named Greenville College in Nashville. The second guitarist Matt Bronleewe and drummer Scott Savage joined the band later. The music they play is a mixture of alternative rock, acoustic, folk and R&B. In 1994 they released their first demo and sent it to a talent competition and they won the contest run by the Gospel Music Assosiation.
Their first single Flood had a great success on mainstream radio stations. The band toured in support of Christian and non-Christian teams either. Their second album Much Afraid sold so well, that it won a Grammy in 1997, and received a Platinum certification in 2000. But it was not the first and the last prize they received: in 1999 the album If I Left The Zoo and in 2002 the album Eleventh Hour earned them the second and third Grammy prizes. The other albums, that I don't want to mention now, were great successes too.
After the lead singer, Dan Haseltine, visited Africa in 2002, the band decided to found the so called Blood:Water Mission, a non-profit organization that fights against the 2 major problems of Africa: poverty and AIDS. Haseltine described the Blood:Water Mission as: "The two things Africa needs"- clean drinkingwater, and clean blood.
Haseltine described their own music with these words: " our songs are not really to explain our faith but are written about our life that is affected by our faith" He wanted to make people feel what is true rather than telling them through their lyrics.