The 55th Dove Awards from the red carpet

The Gospel Music Association’s Dove Awards filled Lipscomb’s Allen Arena with music and joy on Tuesday, October first. The theme was “Unite the Song.” Tauren Wells, hosting the Awards for his second consecutive year, said, “We are united by one God… singing one song, and though we may have different inflections and different tones, we all have one voice.”

The atmosphere was electric throughout the entire event as friends reconnected, incredible artists took the stage, and awards were handed out. Both the artists and the audience members kept the energy level high throughout the night.

Herd Media members were present on the red carpet and during the performance, and had the chance to speak to many artists. Each of the artists had different things they were looking forward to, but the main message from all of them was one of love and hope.

Forrest Frank was at the Dove Awards, nominated for his “first award of any kind.” He said he was most excited to see his wife dressed up, but also really excited to perform. “Our band is killer. I’m excited for everyone to hear the live version of these songs. [I’m] just excited to celebrate and worship with everybody.” Later that night, he wound up winning the New Artist of the Year Award.

Adia Andrews, a singer-songwriter with gospel roots, was also excited for the performances. “This year in particular I’m most looking forward to performing with Anike on the main stage. Last year I got the amazing opportunity to perform with Pastor Mike Jr. and this year I’m performing as a solo artist with Anike and I am super excited about that.”

“One of my favorite things about singing and songwriting is being able to perform it for other people and then see how they respond to it and how it affects them,” Adia said. “I’ve used music to go through some of the happiest moments of my life and some of the darkest moments of my life, and it’s a very powerful tool. We get to use Jesus and music to get our message across. Pastor Mike would say,

“‘Music is the only thing where the message plus the melody equals a miracle.’

“And so that’s what I’m believing God for tonight,” Adia smiled.

Speaking with Luke Smallbone from for KING & COUNTRY before the show, he shared about the process of creating a movie. “When you decide to do a movie, you never know what’s gonna happen. I think for us, the big thing I kept saying… was look, we just got to leave it all on the field. You just got to do all that you can do without killing yourself in the process. And you live with the results because at the end of the day, the film business right now is as strange as it’s ever been. But we were proud of being able to make a film that celebrates what parents do and the influence that they can have on somebody’s life.

“One of the quotes that I loved in that film was Mother Theresa says ‘if you want to change the world, go home and love your family,'” Luke continued. “I think that these days, we think to change the world, you have to have a lot of social media followers. You have to have a platform. You have to have some sort of significant influence.

“At the end of the day, my life was changed because there were two people that loved me. That was my mom and my dad.”

Later that night, the film Unsung Hero won Feature Film of the Year. During the press conference afterward, Herd Media was able to ask them about the influence of their family story on their music today and their path as musicians.

“My joke is that Dad needed cheap labor, and he had five teenage sons, and we became the road crew,” Joel Smallbone said. “That’s where we learned… those kind of bedrock principles that I think we carry out each day. And then speaking of family, what you see represented here today,” he gestured at his wife Mōriah, Luke, and his wife Courtney and son, Leo, all standing around him. “Between the five of us is a small part of the depth of family that I prayed for my whole life. I never wanted to step into the arts without a fortified family, an active team. And what you see today is just that… family of origin and active family now, you can’t put a price tag on that.”

Mogli the Iceberg from Indie Tribe said he was excited to see who would win the best rap album award. “I think it’s really cool that we’ve been nominated twice. We’re independent, so I think that’s really special… It’s cool seeing platforms like the Dove Awards being more open minded to independent music.”

“4,147 days sober” on October first, Joseph Habedank spoke about how much sharing his story meant to him and what he was excited for this Dove Awards. “This is probably my tenth or eleventh Doves, [but] this is the first time I’m performing a full song on my own. I’m pretty pumped about that.”

Speaking about sharing his story, Joseph said, “we always have somebody in our lives that’s walking through [something like] that. I always want to encourage people not to give up. Don’t lose hope. There’s always hope.” With a chuckle, Joseph added, “I just like to kick the devil in the mouth.” Later, when speaking about starting to share his story, Joseph said his wife had cried the first time he shared it on stage. “She was like, ‘I don’t want you to be the poster child for addiction.’ And what’s cool about that is now I feel like I’m kind of the poster child for recovery.”

Michael W. Smith continued with the message of hope. “This is not God’s first rodeo; we know how this story ends. Even in the midst of all the uncertainty, God’s got it.” Smith has been creating music for over four decades now, yet he said it had nothing to with him, and everything to do with God. “Just kill people with kindness and treat everybody with respect, and wake up everyday and think ‘God what’s my next assignment? And let me just permeate everything that You are to everybody I come in contact with.'”

David Crowder, known for both his unique music and unique fashion style, spoke about his song Grave Robber. Not only was Grave Robber nominated for an award that night, but he was also performing it. “We’re closing it out,” he said. “That’s the last performance of the evening, so we have to bring some fun. We get to bring the fun, but this song’s heavy at the same time. The grave is empty. Jesus is alive. That means I’m alive. And the grave’s been robbed. The whole thing is like a Lazarus moment.

“I call it a resurrection song.

“I think it’s a fitting end to a night where we’re singing about what we’re all here for, and that’s life in Christ. [He’s] conquered death, and we’re alive because of it. That’s what all these songs are about. I’m pumped. I’m ready.”

“I write songs about life lived and lessons learned,” Southern singer-songwriter Rhett Walker said, “in the hopes that it can help somebody down the line. That’s kind of my thing. And if it helps somebody with whatever they’re dealing with or remember who Jesus is, that’s awesome.” Walker also, when asked, had a piece of advice for all of the students on Lipscomb’s campus. “Study. Your mom and dad’s payin’ a lot for this.”

Christian rapper KB brought the crowd to their feet as he gave his thank-you speech after winning the Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song of the Year Award alongside Lecrae. “Something is happening in the mainstream right now. They are paying attention to what is going on in something that isn’t just music, this is a movement. People are coming to Christ, marriages are being saved, folks are finding themselves in this gospel representation.

“And as the world is watching, give them Jesus… might it be said about us, that we prioritized the Kingdom over everything! Because that is what matters most.”