Word Records is a Christian faith-based entertainment company based in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. It is owned by Curb Records, and is a part of Word Entertainment. It is distributed by

Warner Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

(the former Warner Bros. Records).

History

In 1951, Word Records was established in

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...

by Jarrell McCracken, Baylor business major Henry SoRelle and radio/television executive Ted Snider. The label's name is based on a 16-minute

spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

recording written and narrated by McCracken, the first recording released by the label, entitled "The Game of Life". The 23-year-old KWTX sportscaster in Waco had read an article by Jimmy Allen, a former athlete who became a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

preacher, and based his recording on the article which is also called "The Game of Life". The event is based on a full-length match, between the forces of good and evil, with Jesus Christ and Satan coaching the two teams. McCracken was familiar with play-by-play broadcasting, having created virtual baseball games for radio broadcast based on wire reports. McCracken originally presented "The Game of Life" on Sunday nights, at various churches around the central Texas area. Everywhere he presented "The Game of Life", he got requests for copies. Eventually, he had a short run of records pressed to offer at churches where he spoke. The fictional radio station in the recording has the call letters "WORD", which was printed on the label of the custom record. After being asked by a friend when he was going to release a follow-up, McCracken then decided to pursue the label on a more serious level.Based on an interview with Jarrell McCracken, May 1997, Waco, TX Subsequent records focused on other spoken word recordings, but Word soon branched out into southern gospel music. Early employees for the label included Tom Norfleet, Kurt Kaiser and Ralph Carmichael. The label struggled initially until Marvin Norcross became an equity partner. By 1954, Word had become a publishing house as well. Several subsidiary labels were started over the years: Canaan Records in the 1960s, Myrrh Records in 1972, DaySpring Records in 1977, and Rejoice Records in the 1980s. Two of these labels no longer exist in their original form. The Myrrh label was resurrected in 2005, as a praise and worship record label, Myrrh Worship. Canaan Records was also re-opened in early 2007, with Dave Clark at the helm. Larry Norman's Solid Rock Records had a distribution deal with Word, from 1975 to 1980. Artists on Solid Rock included Norman, Randy Stonehill, Daniel Amos, Tom Howard and Mark Heard. In 1983, Chris Christian signed a distribution deal, to move his label Home Sweet Home Records from Benson Records to Word Records. It is still active, and remains under the independent ownership of Chris Christian. Light Records was distributed in the 1970s by Word Records, before being sold to Ralph Carmichael in the 1980s. Reunion Records signed a distribution and promotion contract in the 1980s. The agreement lasted well into the 1990s. Today, Reunion Records is distributed through

Provident Label Group Provident Entertainment is a division of Sony Music headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee and focused primarily on Christian music. The group handles its own physical distribution through its Provident-Integrity service. Provident Label Group ...

. Star Song Communications was distributed by Word Records, but left their distribution deal in the late 1980s to sign with Sparrow Records, which was taken over by Chordant Distribution and then by EMI. Distribution deals with other labels in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s allowed Word Records to rise to the top, virtually housing a who's-who in Christian music. They distributed, promoted and advertised the biggest names in

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

. Artists included:

Amy Grant Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She began her music career in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the mid-1980s. Grant has been referred to as "Honorific ...

Michael W. Smith Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian music, contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when "Place in This Worl ...

Rich Mullins Richard Wayne Mullins (October 21, 1955 – September 19, 1997) was an American contemporary Christian music singer and songwriter best known for his contemporary worship music, worship songs "Awesome God" and "Sometimes by Step". Some of his ...

, Russ and Tori Taff, Benny Hester, Paul Smith,

the Imperials The Imperials is an American contemporary Christian music group that has been active for over 60 years. Originating as a southern gospel quartet, the innovative group would become pioneers of contemporary Christian music in the 1960s. There ...

Petra Petra (; "Rock"), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu (Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: or , *''Raqēmō''), is an ancient city and archaeological site in southern Jordan. Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit systems, P ...

, Helen Baylor, Sandi Patti, Kenny Marks, Wayne Watson, Carman,

the Archers ''The Archers'' is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word Radio broadcasting, channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now pr ...

featuring Steve Archer, White Heart, Gaither Vocal Band, Bill Gaither Trio, Point of Grace,

Love Song A love song is a song about love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring. Love songs can be found in a variety of different music genres. They can come in various formats, from sad and emotion ...

, Sweet Comfort Band,

the Nelons The Nelons, formerly the Rex Nelon Singers, were an American southern gospel group based in Atlanta, Georgia. Group members included Kelly Nelon Clark, her husband Jason Clark, and Kelly's daughters Amber Nelon Kistler and Autumn Nelon Streetman. ...

, Happy Goodman Family featuring Rusty Goodman, Florida Boys, Guardian, Phil and Brenda Nicholas and other artists. In the 1976, McCracken sold part interest in his label to the

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast Television broadcaster, television and radio Radio network, network that serves as the flagship property of the Disney Entertainment division ...

. 10 years later, ABC merged with Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. and forced McCracken out of the company. From 1984 to 1990, Word was distributed in the general market by

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

, and then by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

until 2002. In 1992, Capital Cities/ABC sold Word to Thomas Nelson, Inc. for $72 million, and Nelson made two major changes—developing the present swirling "W" logo for book products which was unveiled in 1995. Headquarters moved from Waco, Texas, to its present headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. Nelson split the record label and book publishing arms in 1996, when the labels were sold to Gaylord Entertainment. In an agreement with Gaylord, Thomas Nelson continued to use the "Word Publishing" name for its book imprint until 2002, at which time it became "W Publishing Group" and retained the swirling "W" logo. A highly controversial ad campaign introduced at the CBA convention in 2002, created litigation and settled later. After Colin Reed took over Gaylord Entertainment in 2001, the hotelier made corporate changes at the company, including the ousting of longstanding president Roland Lundy. The Word Entertainment group was sold to then- AOL Time Warner in 2002. That same year, former

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

Christian division manager Barry Landis briefly took the position of president of the label group division. Word went through a period of restructuring, closing their

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

music publishing office, absorbing Myrrh Records, Squint Entertainment, and Everland Entertainment into the Word Label Group, and reducing in-house staff. Curb Records also gained a stake in the company during this time. In 2004, the company was sold again as part of Time Warner divestiture of its music division, selling it to a group of investors led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. to form a newly independent

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

. In March 2016, it was announced that Mike Curb acquired 100% of Word Entertainment (excluding the print music division) from Warner Music Group. However, WMG has continued to distribute Word's output for the general market. The print music division (Word Music and Church Resources), excluding Word Publishing, was subsequently acquired by The Lorenz Corporation in February 2017.

Artist roster

''This is a list of artists, past and present, who have recorded for Word Records over the past several decades:''

Current

* Meredith Andrews * About a Mile * Chris August * For King & Country * Francesca Battistelli *

Big Daddy Weave Big Daddy Weave is an American contemporary Christian band from Mobile, Alabama. Formed in 1998, the band is composed of Mike Weaver, Joe Shirk, Jeremy Redmon, Brian Beihl, and Raul Alfonso. Since 2021, they have been signed to Curb Records. ...

* Blanca * Jason Castro * Everfound * Family Force 5 (changed name to FF5) *

Group 1 Crew Group 1 Crew was an American Christian hip hop and R&B band signed to Fervent Records and Warner Bros. Records. They made their debut with the hit song A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song ...

* Dara Maclean * Needtobreathe * Point of Grace * Sidewalk Prophets * Stars Go Dim * We Are Messengers * Zealand Worship

Former

* 4Him * Across the Sky * The Alwyn Wall Band * Dick Anthony *

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word Radio broadcasting, channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now pr ...

* Bob Ayala * Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters * Bash-n-the-Code * Helen Baylor * Charles Billingsley * Caroline Bonnett * Dave Boyer * Calvin Bridges * Scott Wesley Brown * Anita Bryant *

Building 429 Building 429 is an American Christian rock band from Fayetteville, North Carolina. The band's name refers to Ephesians 4:29, a Biblical passage that (in the New International Version of the Bible) reads: "Do not let any unwholesome talk come ou ...

Shirley Caesar Shirley Ann Caesar-Williams (Birth name, née Caesar; born October 13, 1938), known professionally as Shirley Caesar, is an American Gospel music, gospel singer. Her career began in 1951, when she signed to Federal Records at the age of 12. Thro ...

* Steve Camp * Carman * Bruce Carroll *

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

* The Cathedrals * Patrick Ryan Clark * Ashley Cleveland * Denny Correll * Clay Crosse *

Billy Ray Cyrus William Ray Cyrus ( ; born August 25, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. Having released 16 studio albums and 53 singles since 1992, he is known for his hit single "Achy Breaky Heart", which topped the U.S. Hot Country Songs cha ...

* Dakota Motor Co * Dana *

Dion Dimucci Dion Francis DiMucci (born July 18, 1939), better known Mononym, mononymously as Dion, is an American singer and songwriter. His music incorporates elements of doo-wop, Pop music, pop, Rock music, rock, Rhythm and blues, R&B, folk music, folk an ...

Dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

* Downhere * Bryan Duncan * O'landa Draper and the Associates * John Elefante * Joe English (musician) * Evie *

Fireworks Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

* John Fischer * The Florida Boys * Richie Furay * Gaither Vocal Band * John Gimenez * Terri Gibbs * Happy Goodman Family *

* Lilly Green * Bruce Greer * Guardian * The Hawaiians * Benny Hester * Bruce Hibbard * Dallas Holm * Holm, Sheppard, & Johnson *

Holy Soldier Holy Soldier was a Christian metal, Christian hard rock/glam metal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1985. They released three studio albums. History The band was originally formed in early 1985 by bassist Andy Robbins and guitarist Jamie Cra ...

* Honeytree * The Hoppers *

The Imperials The Imperials is an American contemporary Christian music group that has been active for over 60 years. Originating as a southern gospel quartet, the innovative group would become pioneers of contemporary Christian music in the 1960s. There ...

Wanda Jackson Wanda LaVonne Jackson (born October 20, 1937) is an American retired singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of Rock music, rock, Country music, country and Gospel music, gospel. She was among th ...

* JC & the Boyz * J.C. Crew * Troy Johnson *

Anita Kerr Anita Jean Kerr (''née'' Grilli; October 13, 1927 – October 10, 2022) was an American singer, arranger, composer, conductor, pianist, and music producer. She recorded and performed with her vocal harmony groups in Nashville, Los Angeles, and ...

* Wes King * The Kingsmen * Rachael Lampa * The Lefevres *

Mylon LeFevre Mylon Rae LeFevre (October 6, 1944 – September 8, 2023) was an American Christian rock singer known for his work with his band Mylon and Broken Heart. He was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and traveled around the United States, mi ...

& Broken Heart * Solveig Leithaug * The Lewis Family * Liberation Suite * Love & the Outcome * LoveWar * Mark Lowry * Kenny Marks * Sarah Masen * Babbie Mason * Ken Medema *

David Meece David Meece (born May 26, 1952) is an American contemporary Christian musician who enjoyed success in the mid-1980s and into the early 2010s, with more than thirty Top 10 hits, including several No. 1 songs. Education Meece grew up in Humble ...

* Bobby Michaels *

Mighty Clouds of Joy The Mighty Clouds of Joy were an American traditional gospel music quartet. Career The Mighty Clouds of Joy was formed in 1959 in Los Angeles as a tradition-based style group. It wasn't until 1961 as the group became famous, they added bass, ...

* Julie Miller *

Cindy Morgan (singer) Cindy Lavonne Morgan (born June 4, 1968) is an American contemporary Christian music singer and songwriter. Morgan's 1992 debut album, ''Real Life'', earned her six Dove Award nominations. Her follow-up, ''A Reason to Live (album), A Reason ...

* The Mercy River Boys * Morning Chapel Hour Choir * David Mullen (singer) *

The Nelons The Nelons, formerly the Rex Nelon Singers, were an American southern gospel group based in Atlanta, Georgia. Group members included Kelly Nelon Clark, her husband Jason Clark, and Kelly's daughters Amber Nelon Kistler and Autumn Nelon Streetman. ...

* Tom Netherton * Newsong * Michael Omartian * The Pat Terry Group * Sandi Patti * Leon Patillo *

* David Phelps * Leslie Phillips * Don Potter * pureNRG * Rachel Rachel * Kelli Reisen * Remedy Drive * Salvador * Mark Schultz * Servant (band) * George Beverly Shea *

Sixpence None the Richer Sixpence None the Richer is an American Christian alternative rock band that formed in New Braunfels, Texas, and eventually settled in Nashville, Tennessee. They are best known for their songs " Kiss Me" and " Breathe Your Name" and their cover ...

* Janet Lynn Skinner *

Chris Sligh Charles Christopher Sligh (; born April 13, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and pastor who was a finalist on the sixth season of '' American Idol'', finishing in tenth place. He has released 14 albums since 2001 as a solo artist, ...

* Paul Smith *

* Stellar Kart * Joni Eareckson Tada * Russ Taff * Randy Travis * Jaci Velasquez * Veridia * Greg X. Volz * Sheila Walsh * Mike Warnke * Wayne Watson * Scott Wenzel * Kelli Williams * Daniel Winans (Rejoice Records/Word)

References

External links