MATT BRONLEEWE: GRAMMY NOMINATIONS, COMPASSIONART PRODUCTION MARK START OF AN EXCITING 2009

(Nashville, Tennessee)—January 26, 2009—Producer Matt Bronleewe finds himself competing with ‘himself’ in this year’s Grammy Awards®. The Nashville based Bronleewe holds production credits on two of the five final album nominees in the Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album catagory for his production of both Steven Curtis Chapman’s highly acclaimed This Moment and Leeland’s groundbreaking Opposite Way. The awards will be presented, Sunday, February 8th at the 51st Annual Grammy Award ceremony at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

On a personal level, Bronleewe found the opportunity of working with Steven Curtis on This Moment especially poignant.

He noted in a recent interview: “In retrospect, Steven looked at all the songs after we had recorded and chose to name the project This Moment after he found the recurring theme throughout was to literally treasure each moment God gives us and utilize it to the fullest. Of course now, in the light of the tragedy that would later unfold, it’s so apparent that God’s hand was very much in the project, repeatedly underscoring through the music the timely message for all of us to’ cherish each moment that we have with those we love.”

He added: “With Leeland, they are a remarkable young band who has been able to literally eliminate the filter between their hearts and what comes out of their mouths creatively. It was a pleasure to work with a band who put passion for God so fully on display in their music.”

High too on the list of Bronleewe’s current career/production interests is the U.S. release of the highly-acclaimed multi-artist compilation CompassionArt: Creating Freedom From Poverty—an ambitious project that brought together nineteen of the biggest name artists in Christian music to create music for an album whose worldwide sales will engage in the fight against global poverty. Bronleewe produced the vocal tracks for the‘American side’ of the multi-national project which originated initially as the vision of Christian band Delirious frontman Martin Smith.

What resulted was a historic songwriter’s retreat in Scotland in ’08 that gathered internationally recognized songwriter’s—including Michael W. Smith, Matt Redman, Steven Curtis Chapman, Israel Houghton, and Darlene Zschech. The talented group cumulatively ended up producing 22 strong songs (15 of which appear on the CD) that mixed creativity, compassion, and activism to raise money for those suffering in the poorest parts of the world. All proceeds of the CompassionArt music will go directly to charity.

Notes Bronleewe: “I described my production role as the 'official U.S. Consulate' on CompassionArt. They would systematically send the songs back over from Europe for me to get a feel of what voices fit in the right places—somewhat like assembling a jigsaw puzzle as most of the time there were multiple artists singing in multiple places. Quite a bit of my task was simplying figuring out which voices fit together best in plugging everyone into the right spots. The finished project has some great, eclectic voice blends—artists who will probably never share a concert stage—brought together in the studio where you can make literally everything happen. I loved being a part of a music project with a passion for changing the world for good. I hope the end result of everyone’s creative efforts will have a great impact."

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