Joshua Creek up for Pearl Awards

PROVO — Utah County-based country band Joshua Creek has received five nominations for the upcoming Pearl Awards awarded by the Faith Centered Music Association.

Voting is within the association's voting membership, said spokesman Earl Madsen. Votes also come from artists, producers, writers, arrangers and other industry professionals who worked on and promoted the material.

Joshua Creek is nominated for Pearl Awards in the following categories:

• Contemporary Album

• Group Recording Artist

• New Recording Artist

• Singer-Songwriter/Folk Recorded Song: "Faith, Hope & Charity"

• Album Design

In addition, Joshua Creek has been invited to play at the awards along with Cherie Call, One Clear Voice, Jenny Jordan Frogley, Jason Deere and classical duo Marshall McDonald and Steven Sharp Nelson.

"It's a great opportunity to be surrounded and encouraged by other talented artists with the common goal of sharing good music with the world," said Joshua Creek member Jeff Hinton.

Quint Randle, a BYU communications professor, is the other half of the singing-songwriting duo. Hinton teaches at Mountain Ridge Junior High. The pair have been writing together for seven years.

Their second album, "Heaven's Not That Far," has just been released by Covenant Communications. Songs on that album include "Honey Do List," a humorous tale about the list of chores a wife gives to her husband before they can go on a date, and "The Women in My Life," a sentimental song about the mothers, wives and daughters that mean so much to Randle and Hinton.

Joshua Creek just debuted at No. 10 on the International Country Gospel Top 100 Chart and is receiving radio airplay in Salt Lake City and other markets including New Zealand. One of their songs, "I Love You Son," was picked up by Christian country artist Jackie Cox and reached No. 1 in the Power Source magazine's top 20 list, a position previously held by Tim McGraw.