Bethany Dillon (born September 22, 1988), known since 2008 by her married name, Bethany Barnard, is a Contemporary Christian music artist. Her self-titled 2004 debut album was the highest selling female solo debut for that year, and attracted Gospel Music Association nominations for both Female Vocalist and New Artist of the Year. Her album Waking Up (2007) included production assistance of the GMA's 2005 Producer of the Year, Ed Cash, as well Will Hunt and John Alagia. Her sixth and seventh albums were Stop & Listen (2009) and A Better Word (2017).
Bethany Dillon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Bethany Barnard |
| Born | September 22, 1988 Bellefontaine, Ohio |
| Genres | CCM, acoustic |
| Labels | Sparrow |
| Website | bethanybarnard |
Barnard's work has appeared on the soundtrack albums of several feature films, including the single "Hero" in Dreamer (2005, from her second album, Imagination of that year), as well as singles for the Music Inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) and Bridge to Terabithia (2007). Dillon wed Shane Barnard of Shane & Shane on March 29, 2008, and began producing her music as Bethany Barnard from that date.
Childhood and early education
editThis section needs expansion with: standard content for this section, taken from reliable sources, fully presented. You can help by adding to it. (February 2022) |
Bethany Barnard was born Bethany Joy Adelsberger[citation needed] on September 22, 1988, in Bellefontaine, Ohio.[1] She has said that she started playing guitar at age 10, with Jennifer Knapp serving as an early influence.[2]
Music career
edit
Dillon's musical career began at age 13, ca. 2001, with the recording an independent album, Vulnerable, that ended up in the hands of EMI executive Brad O'Donnell.[citation needed] Reporting from the time says that audiences connected with her first record almost immediately, and result being several hit singles, and multiple Dove nomination.[citation needed] As well, the album received critical acclaim,[citation needed] and "an exponentially increasing grassroots fan base that propelled her career forward in great leaps".[This quote needs a citation] Her self-titled debut album, released in 2004, was the highest selling female solo debut album for the year, and attracted GMA nominations for both Female Vocalist and New Artist of the Year.[citation needed] The radio single All I Need reached the number one position on the U.S. charts.[3]
She released her second album, Imagination, in August 2005.[4][better source needed] The CD prompted CCM Magazine[full citation needed] to label her as "the future of Christian music".[4][5][better source needed]
Dillon appears on the Music Inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe soundtrack of 2005, singing "Hero".[citation needed] One track from Imagination, entitled "Dreamer", is featured in the end credits for the 2005 film of the same name, starring Kurt Russell and Dakota Fanning).[citation needed] A music video was created for this song, using clips from the film.[citation needed]
GMA's 2005 Producer of the Year, Ed Cash,[6] teamed up with Dillon to co-produce an eleven-track album, all of which were written or co-written by Dillon; the result was her 2007 album, Waking Up released on April 3.[citation needed] As described by Dillon,
Waking Up is the most joyful record I’ve made... even though it revolves around themes of brokenness and this feeling of being really, really small in the presence of God. When the Lord is growing something in me, it feels like a lot of things are dying—because they really are. And when the Lord is making things soft and vulnerable in me, it's really painful. But even so, I think this is the freest sounding project I’ve created.[6][7]
Joining Ed Cash in the co-production of Waking Up were Will Hunt and John Alagia (an associate of John Mayer and Dave Matthews Band).[6] As CBN.com explains,
Influenced for years by penetrating and poetic writers like Rich Mullins, Keith Green, and Sara Groves, Bethany has tended to gravitate toward themes that require a measure of courage and open-heartedness to explore... Waking Up embraces big questions of suffering, barrenness, vulnerability, romance, and faithfulness. Like the writers Bethany has modeled herself after, she proves herself willing to live and create in that place of ambivalent tension that inevitably comes from refusing to settle for easy, feel-good answers. And yet, like the psalmist, Bethany has a penchant for finding the redemption in the midst of the pain.[6]
Dillon's "When You Love Someone" appears as a track on the film soundtrack album, Music from and Inspired by Bridge to Terabithia.[8] In late 2007, Dillon and Sanctus Real opened with Steven Curtis Chapman on his Live in the Moment Tour.[citation needed]
On March 29, 2008, Dillon wed Shane Barnard of Shane & Shane in Xenia, Ohio.[9] In 2016, Dillon and Barnard released the song "Covenant", alongside a fundraising campaign to support a new, independent studio effort and recording to appear in 2017 under her new stage name, Bethany Barnard.[citation needed] [10] On February 10, 2017, she independently released A Better Word.[11][12]
Discography
editAlbums
edit- Bethany Dillon (2004)
- Imagination (2005)
- Waking Up (2007)
- So Far: The Acoustic Sessions (2008)
- In Christ Alone: Modern Hymns of Worship (with Matt Hammitt) (2008)
- Stop & Listen (2009)
- A Better Word (2017)
- All My Questions (2021)
EPs
edit| The Beautiful Sessions (released February 11, 2004)
Track listing:
|
| Connect Sets (released December 13, 2005)
Track listing:
|
| Top Five Hits: Bethany Dillon (released December 5, 2006)
Track listing:
|
| To Those Who Wait (released March 16, 2012)
Track listing:
|
Singles
edit| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Christian Songs [13] |
US AC [14] | |||
| "All I Need" | 2004 | 4 | — | Bethany Dillon |
| "Beautiful" | 7 | — | ||
| "Lead Me On" | 27 | — | ||
| "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" (digital only) | 14 | — | — | |
| "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" | 2005 | — | — | WOW Christmas: Green |
| "All That I Can Do" | 24 | — | Imagination | |
| "Hallelujah" | 28 | — | ||
| "Dreamer" | 2006 | 31 | 39 | |
| "The Kingdom" | 2007 | — | — | Waking Up |
| "Let Your Light Shine" | — | — | ||
| "When You Love Someone" | 28 | — | Music from and Inspired by Bridge to Terabithia | |
| "Everyone to Know" | 2009 | 44 | — | Stop & Listen |
Contributions
edit- 2004 - Simply Great Music - "Great Big Mystery" (from Bethany Dillon)
- 2004 - WOW Hits 2005 - "All I Need" (from Bethany Dillon)
- 2005 - Every Young Woman's Battle - "Exodus (Faithful)" (from Bethany Dillon)
- 2005 - Music Inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - "Hero"
- 2005 - WOW Hits 2006 - "All That I Can Do" (from Imagination)
- 2005 - WOW Christmas: Green - "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"
- 2005 - Night of Joy 2005 - "Vagabond" (from Imagination)
- 2006 - Pursue Me - Jason Holdridge - "Word of Fire," "Psalm 29," "The Story"
- 2006 - Unexpected Gifts: 12 New Sounds of Christmas - "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"
- 2006 - WOW Worship: Aqua - "Holy Is The Lord"
- 2006 - Sing Over Me: Worship Songs and Lullabies - "How Great Is Our God", "Sing Over Me" (with Nichole Nordeman), "Unwavering"
- 2007 - Music Inspired by the Motion Picture Amazing Grace - "All Creatures of Our God and King" (with Shawn McDonald)
- 2007 - Music from and Inspired by Bridge to Terabithia - "When You Love Someone" (from Waking Up)
- 2007 - WOW Hymns - "All Creatures of Our God And King" (with Shawn McDonald)
- 2007 - Worship Together Favorites - "Holy is the Lord"
- 2008 - The Daraja Children's Choir of Africa - "Everlasting God"
- 2009 - You'll Be Whole - Lindsey Kane - "It Is Well" duet with Lindsey Kane
- 2009 - Glory Revealed II: The Word of God in Worship - "Never" with Shawn Lewis
- 2011 - Lift Up the Light - Oaks Worship - "I Want Your Presence"
- 2011 - The Music of a Movement (Reach Records) - "You Alone" Tedashii ft. Bethany Dillon
- 2013 - War In the Waiting - Oaks Worship - "Amazing Grace"
Awards
editGMA Dove Awards
edit| Year | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | New Artist of the Year | Nominated |
| Female Vocalist of the Year | Nominated | |
| Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year (Bethany Dillon) | Nominated | |
| 2006 | Female Vocalist of the Year | Nominated[15] |
References
edit- ^ "Bethany Dillon [Artist Profile]". ChristianMusic.com [defunct]. May 28, 2018. Retrieved May 28, 2018.
- ^ "[Bethany Dillon article]". niNe. magazine. August–October 2006. Archived from the original on June 26, 2007.[full citation needed]
- ^ "Bethany Dillon [Artist Profile]". Last.fm. September 25, 2013.[full citation needed]
- ^ a b "Bethany Dillon Graces Cover Of August '05 CCM Magazine" (marketing press release). Top40-Charts.com. January 8, 2005. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ "[Artist Channel] Bethany Dillon". Rhapsody.com. February 27, 2008. Archived from the original (artist tracklist) on February 27, 2008. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
[Annotation] The cover of the August 2005 issue of CCM magazine called Dillon 'the future of Christian music.' Before that, she was dubbed 'the next Amy Grant' based on her soft folk debut...
- ^ a b c d "Adult Contemporary / Bethany Dillon / Sparrow Records [Artist Profile]". CBN.com. Virginia Beach, Va.: The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc. February 12, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
'Waking Up is the most joyful record I've made,' Bethany explains, 'even though it revolves around themes of brokenness and this feeling of being really, really small in the presence of God. When the Lord is growing something in me, it feels like a lot of things are dying—because they really are. And when the Lord is making things soft and vulnerable in me, it's really painful. But even so, I think this is the freest sounding project I've created.' / Influenced for years by penetrating and poetic writers like Rich Mullins, Keith Green, and Sara Groves, Bethany has tended to gravitate toward themes that require a measure of courage and open-heartedness to explore. Co-produced by GMA's 2005 Producer of the Year Ed Cash, as well as Will Hunt and John Alagia (John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band), Waking Up embraces big questions of suffering, barrenness, vulnerability, romance, and faithfulness. Like the writers Bethany has modeled herself after, she proves herself willing to live and create in that place of ambivalent tension that inevitably comes from refusing to settle for easy, feel-good answers. And yet, like the psalmist, Bethany has a penchant for finding the redemption in the midst of the pain.
- ^ "The Entertainment Booking Resource: Bethany Dillon". EntertainmentRG.com. Las Vegas, Nevada: Entertainment Resource Group, Inc. February 12, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ Phares, Heather (February 13, 2007). "Original Soundtrack / Bridge to Terabithia". AllMusic. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ Jackson, Kevin (August 1, 2007). "Bethany Dillon Engaged to Shane Barnard of Shane & Shane". The Christian Post. Archived from the original on July 22, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Barnard, Bethany (September 27, 2016). "Covenant". Retrieved February 12, 2022 – via YouTube.
- ^ Tremaine, Chase (March 13, 2017). "JFH Music Review: Bethany Barnard, A Better Word". JesusFreakHideout.com. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ Smith, Christopher (March 18, 2017). "JFH Staff's Second Opinion: Bethany Barnard, A Better Word". JesusFreakHideout.com. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ "Bethany Dillon Christian Songs chart". Billboard. Archived from the original on June 23, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
- ^ "Bethany Dillon Adult Contemporary chart". Billboard. Archived from the original on June 25, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
- ^ 37th Annual GMA Awards Nominations and Winners Archived July 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine