The Way was a

Jesus music Jesus music, known as gospel beat music in the United Kingdom, is a style of Christian music that originated on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This musical genre developed in parallel to the Jesus movemen ...

band who were active from 1971 to 1976. They released two albums on Maranatha! Records and contributed four non-LP tracks to their label's compilation series and one LP track was pulled for the first label retrospective.

History

The first recordings by The Way appeared on the Maranatha! compilation albums, ''The Everlastin' Living Jesus Music Concert'' with the song "If You Will Believe", and ''Maranatha! 2'' with "Jesus Is the One" and "Jesus Is All that We Need". Their self-titled debut album was recorded at Buddy King Studios in Huntington Beach. It was self-produced and had a smooth mixture of folk and country rock that reminds the listener of

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. With their second album the band took a giant step by adding more of a rock edge to many of the songs while staying true to their country roots. It was recorded at

Mama Jo's Dave's Room, previously known as Mama Jo's Recording Studio, is a recording studio in North Hollywood, California. History Dave's Room was built in the late 1960s by producer, and engineer Freddie Piro. Originally called Mama Jo's, the studio wa ...

in North Hollywood and produced by

Al Perkins Al Perkins (born January 18, 1944) is an American guitarist known primarily for his steel guitar work. The Gibson guitar company called Perkins "the world's most influential dobro player" and began producing an "Al Perkins Signature" Dobro in ...

. It was recorded in the nighttime and early-morning hours, because of

Ambrosia In the ancient Greek myths, ''ambrosia'' (, grc, ἀμβροσία 'immortality'), the food or drink of the Greek gods, is often depicted as conferring longevity or immortality upon whoever consumed it. It was brought to the gods in Olympus ...

's daytime sessions. In 1974 they also recorded a song for the ''Maranatha! 4'' compilation entitled "Have You Ever Heard". In 1979, the song "He's the Reason to Go On", off their debut album, was used by the label on ''Best of Maranatha, Volume 1''.''Best of Maranatha, Volume 1'' 1979 Maranatha! Music. MM0053A

Band members

* Ric Latendresse—(founding member), acoustic guitar (1971) * John Wickham—lead guitar, bass, acoustic guitar, background vocals * Gary Arthur—(founding member) bass, acoustic guitar, piano, percussion, vocals * Dana Angle—(founding member) lead & slide guitar, banjo, acoustic guitar, flute, vocals * Bruce Herring—(founding member) guitar, bass, vocals *

Alex MacDougall Alex MacDougall is an American record producer, and percussionist. MacDougall is best known for being a member of the Christian rock band Daniel Amos in the late-1970s in addition to his production and recording session credits. He was also a memb ...

—drums, congas & timbales, percussion (1975) * Micheal Fickling—drums (1976) *

Jim Stipech Jim Stipech is a Christian musician and record producer who has released recordings under his own name as well as contributing to the work of other artists such as Nancy Honeytree and Roby Duke. He has also provided music for films such as ''The ...

(also known as James Gabriel)—guitar, piano, vocals (1976)

Discography

* '' The Way''—(1973) * '' Can It Be?''—(1975)

References

External links

* American Christian musical groups Musical groups established in 1971 {{Christian-music-stub