For nine years, the Nashville Tribute Band has been touring the United States and abroad, sharing their music, testimonies, and love of the Gospel. On March 17, 2014, their newest album, My Call to Serve, will join their formidable line-up of CDs.
But this one is different. And you’ll have to hear it to understand why.
The Nashville Tribute Band has taken their music all over the world, singing in countless church gyms and more than a few concert halls. Their first album, Joseph: A Nashville Tribute to the Prophet, was, as the title implies, a look at the life of the Prophet Joseph. The second album, Trek: A Nashville Tribute to the Pioneers, was also, as the name implies, a tribute to the Saints in Nauvoo, and as they crossed the plains. In 2011, they released, The Work: A Nashville Tribute to the Missionaries.
With an album out already saluting the hard-working missionaries, why is there another missionary themed album and how does it differ?
The answer starts deep in the heart of Nashville Tribute Band founder and soul, Jason Deere. He’s an energetic and enthusiastic man, reading to give everyone he meets a hug (or two). He shares his testimony with the passion of a man converted and the poetry of a songwriter. Most of the songs on the four albums were penned by Deere.
When I asked Deere how My Call to Serve is different from The Work, he shared the following.
“The Work album was our paying tribute to, and a celebration of, the incredible culture of sending missionaries by the thousands out into the world every year. I often wonder what it would have been like if President Monson announced in October of 2012 that all of the full-time missionaries were coming home and the work would now be up to the members? I think of the way that that would change our culture. Our kids would not be challenged with putting forth the faith to prepare for and to turn in their papers. Nor to go on a mission, nor to return from a mission.
“We wanted the world to know that young men and young women, at such a pivotal time in their lives, give up their time and talents to learn of Christ, to speak of Christ, to teach of Christ…that moms and dads and sisters and brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles write letters and pray for their loved ones as they serve.
“If the world were to know of our passion as a people toward this culture of sending missionaries into the field for 18 or 24 months, then they may at least be nicer to missionaries when they encounter them, even if they choose not to listen to their message.
“At the time that we finished The Work album I was fairly sure that I had said everything that I ever wanted to say about missionary work in that album. However, after the 2012 announcement, I saw the playing field begin to change. So many missionaries going. So many sisters going. So many new areas in missions being covered. So many mission presidents scrambling for housing for missionaries, for companionships, for opening new areas, etc. So many changes for good and so many souls being exposed to the message of the gospel…more than ever before on a worldwide basis. All of these factors made me want to write more music to address the changing landscape of the growing number of missionaries in the field. In fact, it made me want to make yearly My Call to Serve projects to give missionaries, and their families and friends music for their passion for The Work.
What Deere didn’t mention to me was something I learned on my own as I listened to the album- it’s not exactly country. This new album is definitely different. There is more of a pop sound to it and it is aimed at the younger Saints. Deere described I’m Gonna Go as, “unapologetically designed to be a back of the mini-van kid’s jam.” And he wasn’t wrong.
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The album began last fall, with the song, My Call to Serve, which is about the growing number of those who have felt the call since October of 2012. After that, Deere added a song just for the sister missionaries, and soon-to-be sisters, Daughters of the Promise. It’s a powerful balled about the strength and heart of a sister missionary. There’s a song for the mothers, too. M.O.M. (Mothers of Missionaries), just might bring a tear to your eye as you think of your boys leaving.
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There is one song on the album that is destined to be played for years to come. It’s the one that’s already played in churches everywhere, and nearly guaranteed to have this new version played just as often. It’s a choir and piano version of Janice Kapp Perry’s We’ll Bring the World His Truth, where Dan Truman (the other co-founder of Nashville Tribute Band), and his son Chad perform a piano duet like I have never heard before. It’s beautiful and stunning.
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When asked Deere why he wrote another missionary album, he said, “I felt a desire to talk about something in some our shows back in 2012, something that I have seen make a difference with many of our audience members over the years. I often ask the parents in the audience to do something at their very next Family Home Evening. “Sit down with your children and write down the exact month and year that your children will turn their papers into their bishops. Not the date that you will go on your mission -that is not specific enough. You want the month and year you will turn your mission papers in to your bishop.
“Whether it is in 5 months or in 15 years, write the month and date down on a sticky note and place it on the mirror where they brush their teeth each morning and night. Place a sticky note reminder on the dashboard of mom’s mini-van where they put their feet daily. Heck, take them down to the nearest tattoo parlor and have it tattooed on their foreheads if you have to but make sure that they know that month and year that they will turn in their papers and make sure they see it every day.
“Okay, forget the tattoo part, but you get my point. On some Saturday night when your children are teenagers, some night when you parents are nowhere around, that date being firmly planted in their mind may effect a decision that they make for the better. It may change their lives.
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“One year after I had shared these thoughts and feeling with an audience in Arizona, we went back to the same performance theater for another show. After the show, as friends and fans stood in line to purchase the latest NTB CD and to get an autograph or two, I noticed a family waiting in line. The kids looked excited and the parents looked happy. When they finally got up to me each of their six children had their personal set of scriptures in tow and one by one they each opened them to show me the inside cover where they had neatly printed the month and year that each would turn their papers into their bishop. The mother and father both had tears in their eyes and in an instant my eyes were blurry with emotion. The parents said one thing only, “Thank you.” I hugged them all.
“I realized then that there was definitely something to these young people setting specific goals and reaching them. For a few years I have wanted to come up with something to remind people of their missions. Sticky notes are great but something that a person wears as a daily reminder of the mission that they have served or will serve one day would be perfect… Everyone has their own personal “call to serve” and we all need reminding of it.”
And this album was written to help everyone identify their own “call to serve” and work towards it.
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The My Call to Serve personalized product line is now available online at www.mycalltoserve.com. The album is available on their website and on Amazon. The Nashville Tribute Band all received bracelets and/or pendants with their missions engraved on them recently and love them. They encourage others to get one just to see how many good conversations the bracelets inspire with friends and colleagues.
“I can think if nothing that I would rather do in my life then travel the world and share the gospel with some of the most wonderful people I have ever known. We meet and work with the wonderful church leadership in the various areas of the world and we get to work with the fantastic missionaries of the church, playing and singing music that sometimes gives them a kick their step and hopefully inspire their investigators to move closer to the truth. We have our personal calls to serve, and we are doing our best to do something about it!” – Jason Deere
You can get the My Call to Serve album on Amazon, iTunes, and at www.mycalltoserve.com.
Erin Ann McBride is a writer, dreamer, and Mormon pop culture connoisseur. By day she works in marketing, and by night she hunts unicorns and writes romantic novels, “You Heard It Here First,” and the sequel “This Just In!“ She entertains herself and others regularly at the Story of a Nice Mormon Girl.
SharonMarch 17, 2014
Erin, thank you so much for posting this. I had not heard their music before, but I was very intrigued by the clips! What a great spirit and enthusiasm and talent they bring to their music. It will brighten my day!
ShareeMarch 17, 2014
Even though this is not my kind of music, I listened to all the segments you linked to and was quite moved. I got goosebumps listening to "We'll Bring the World His Truth." Some years ago I went on a Book of Mormon cruise. While we were in Belize, we visited a site that our Book of Mormon teacher said dated to B of M times. He said it was a place like this that Heleman and his stripling warriors set out from. We all sang that song--as best we could, anyway, as we were all rather teary-eyed.