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Jars of Clay is one very busy band! Not letting up since its debut Essential Records project in 1995, Jars is touring to support Where We Are Instead, with many surprises.

Surprises?

Trevor Morgan is the first. Morgan delivers a three-song short and sweet set, including a tune immediately impacting radio, "Fall Down." Morgan is far more than a warm-up act, as the audience at the Anderson County Fair was not just warmed up--it was hungry for more good music. There are many good things to come from Trevor Morgan, and this prelude is just the first surprise.

Surprise number two is two-fold: flawless performances from and incredibly positive audience reaction to Sarah Kelly, who is supporting her Take Me Away Gotee Records project. Kelly has a voice that listeners I spoke with noted is reminiscent of Janis Joplin, and the songs she performs on this tour are all praise and worship. Attendees of this venue of the _Where We Are Instead_ tour were hungry for praise and worship music, and the flow from Trevor Morgan to Sarah Kelly to Jars worked well. Kelly indeed has a rock 'n' roll voice, and it fits well within the realms of the Jars of Clay audience numbering from a few babies to a few listeners well into their 80s.

Sarah Kelly's Take Me Away is an excellent nationally-released debut project which I will review soon for The Phantom Tollbooth. Her work on-stage mirrored exactly what she has done for several years already: rendering top-notch praise music.

Surprise number three is three-fold: solid performances, incredibly positive reaction to Jars of Clay, and an upcoming new project. New project? Jars teased the audience with this one, and please stand by (there's some peppering of the last surprise, so please be patient!).

Jars of Clay has always delivered high energy performances, and the Anderson County Fair venue is an excellent example. After beginning the concert with two fast-paced tunes, Dan Haseltine explained that the band was including some tinges of bluegrass and steel guitar. And as the music unfolds in this and future concerts, the audience will see a mesh of Jars of Clay from its beginnings to the present--and in the scope of this particular concert with the supporting artists.

From Trevor Morgan's "Fall Down" to Sarah Kelly's "Take Me Away" and "Matter of Time," the concert does indeed mesh into an audience (which I saw) which was receptive to a worship experience in "Love Song For a Savior," inviting and invoking interaction from folks from the front row to the farthest reaches of the Anderson County Fair venue. Haseltine told (perhaps teased) the audience with the final surprise, noting that Jars had added its own re-working of "Amazing Grace," merging the gist of the classic hymn with new words and music.

Okay, without giving away the final part of the surprise, what is Jars doing differently this time around for audiences who are either brand new or one decade-old (or one decade-young!)? Jars of Clay is varying its show to intersperse its older and newer tunes, as well as the musical pace of its performance. The audience at the Anderson County Fair venue never tired and seemed just as fresh as Jars of Clay. The band threw in (off the set list) a version of "Lonely People" that would make Dan Peek and the band America proud. And believe it or not, "Flood" was not the encore song! What was next?

The final surprise! Jars has completed its studio recording of a hymns project which will be tentatively released in March 2005. The band's final song was "I'll Fly Away," for which they brought Sarah Kelly back on stage (Kelly sings backup vocals on the studio recording of this hymn).

Of course, be aware that with county fairs, there will be a glitch or two. The lighting and sound system wasn't perfect at the Anderson, South Carolina venue, and it enhanced instead of detracted from the concert, since the glitches allowed humor, perhaps a much-needed ingredient for any very good concert.

There may be more surprises before the Where We Are Instead tour is completed,  scheduled through November 19, 2004.

Olin Jenkins    October 27, 2004