Nightvision Artists 2023


Kurt Neuswanger • June 2, 2023

Here is a snapshot of the ten artists who will be appearing at Nightvision in Grand Junction on June 9 & 10. Several of them have appeared frequently on the West Slope, but five artists are making their first appearance.

 

FRIDAY

 

Tasha Layton got a Master of Divinity degree in California, where she became a professional vocalist and spent four years singing background vocals for pop singer Katy Perry. Since 2019, she has recorded several popular songs including “Love Lifting Me” and “Look What You’ve Done.”


           Previous appearances:

           none


Ryan Stevenson grew up in Bonanza (not the TV show!), Oregon. He attended Bible school, worked as a paramedic, and launched his music career in 2003.


           Previous appearances:

           2013   with Audio Adrenaline in Grand Junction

           2017   with Newsboys at Las Colonias amphitheatre


Unspoken says their name has two meanings: “First, we want our lives to be unspoken testimonies to God’s love and power. But we realize, also, the need to speak what oftentimes goes unspoken.”


           Previous appearances:

           none


Newsboys have become regular visitors to the West Slope. This visit marks the debut of Adam Agee, who shares lead vocals with Michael Tait. Agee was formerly lead singer with Stellar Kart and Audio Adrenaline.


           Previous appearances:

           2007   Nightvision

           2016   Nightvision

           2017   Las Colonias

           2019   Nightvision


Phil Wickham comes from a musical family. His parents were members of 1970's Christian group Parable. His older brother, Evan Wickham, is also a worship leader.


           Previous appearances:

           2012   Nightvision

           2017   Canyon View Vineyard Church


SATURDAY


Jon Reddick is the son of a pastor and a church pianist from Memphis. He currently leads worship along with Chris McClarney at Church Of The City in Nashville, home to a number of Christian artists.


           Previous appearances:

           none


Katy Nichole developed congenital scoliosis at a youth and could barely sing. Spinal fusion surgery left her bedridden in constant pain until she had the rods removed in 2019. Her pain and depression disappeared, to the glory of God!


           Previous appearances:

           none


Jordan Feliz used to be the lead singer of an obscure Christian heavy metal band. He quit that to become a worship leader in his church, and now lives in Nashville. He has been a regular visitor in recent years.


           Previous appearances:

           2016   Nightvision

           2018   Avalon

           2019   Nightvision

           2021   with Chris Tomlin at Las Colonias

           

Big Daddy Weave was founded by brothers Mike and Jay Weaver in 1998 while attending college in Alabama. Sadly, Jay died in 2022 from COVID. This year Big Daddy Weave recorded a duet with Katy Nichole called “God Is In This Story.” We are hoping Katy will join Big Daddy on stage to sing their song together!


           Previous appearances:

           2009   Rally in the Rockies, Rifle

           2013   Nightvision

           2018   Nightvision


TobyMac was a founding member of the 1990s group DCTalk. He continued as a solo artist since 2000. In 2019, his son Truitt was found dead in his home of an accidental drug overdose, causing TobyMac to go on hiatus. In 2022, he released his first album in four years, called “Life After Death.”


           Previous appearances:

           none



By Kurt Neuswanger October 9, 2025
Forrest Frank has been everywhere this year. He even broke his back and wrote a song about it ( God's Got My Back ) while lying on his back! But one place Forrest Frank won't be this year is the Dove Awards . He announced that he will no longer attend any of the awards shows, including the Doves and the Grammys. “As Christians, it’s hard to know where the line in the sand is between being in the world and not of the world,” he said . Pondering where to draw the line between being in the world but not of the world, he said, “I’m convicted, personally, that a line that I can draw is that I will not receive a trophy for something that is from Jesus and for Jesus.” Frank added, “I was wrestling with this last year. I even said that on stage at the Dove Awards. I said, ‘I’m still struggling with the concept of receiving this award, but all glory to Jesus, every name will fade away, including mine, except for one name.’” So he decided "to go even a step further and say, ‘I don’t know if I even want to step on the stage. I don’t know if I want to step in the room.’ So I will not be attending the Doves and the Grammys.” “I hope to be an example to the youth that the trophy is our salvation ,” he added. “The trophy is that my name is listed in the Book of Life and I get to have eternal life . What good is a piece of metal going to do compared to that?” His absence at the Dove awards will no doubt be a problem for them. He’s nominated for four major awards: Song of the Year (Composer): Good Day Recorded Song of the Year: Your Way's Better Album of the Year: Child Of God Artist of the Year He is almost certain to win at least one of those awards. UPDATE : The Dove ceremony was broadcast Friday, October 10. Forrest Frank won three major awards! Artist of the Year Album of the Year (Child of God) Recorded Song of the Year (Your Way's Better)
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Laura Story never set out to be a songwriter . She didn’t even know she could sing until she was in college. In 1996, while a student at Columbia International University in South Carolina, she met Shane Williams from the band “Silers Bald.” (Silers Bald is a mountain peak in Tennessee. It’s called a “bald” because it is not covered in trees.) Shane recruited Laura to join the band – as the band’s bass player! Then she began writing songs, and in 2002, she recorded her first album, Indescribable . But it was Chris Tomlin who made the song “ Indescribable ” a huge hit when he recorded it in 2004. Laura remained largely unknown until she released Great God Who Saves in 2008. Besides the title track, it included “ Mighty to Save ,” “ Bless The Lord ” and “ Immortal Invisible .” In 2011, she released the album “ Blessings .” The title song was born out of the difficult circumstances surrounding her husband Martin’s brain tumor (a story for another time). “Blessings” won a Grammy and a Dove for Best Contemporary Song. Most recently, Laura Story joined the Keith & Kristyn Getty Worship Conference, where she performed her latest song, “ Psalm 27 (The Lord Is My Light) ”.
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Big Daddy Weave released their new album “Let It Begin” in May. It was their first album in six years. There’s a reason for that. Most bands release new albums every two or three years, but on January 2, 2022, Jay Weaver died from COVID. He was Mike Weaver’s younger brother (hence the “Weave” in the band’s name). They spent the next three years processing the loss and putting their grief into song. In 2023, they released the duet with Katy Nichole, “ God Is In This Story .” God is in this story, God is in the details Even in the broken parts, He holds my heart, He never fails Later that year, Big Daddy Weave released “ Heaven Changes Everything .” In the light of eternity I have this hope Thank You, Jesus, Heaven changes everything In 2024, they released “ Let It Begin .” Mike Weaver said he had been intensely grieving the death of his brother and would cry every time he told the story on stage, until one night the healing began. Meanwhile, Matt Maher had written this song without knowing that Weaver's healing that had started. Mike remembered, “He reached out to me and was just like, ‘Man, I’ve had this song that has been on my heart for you guys.’ I read the lyrics, and it’s what I couldn’t say.” If my wounds could tell one story, Let it be a testimony That You don’t leave me where I’ve been. If this is healing, let it begin Their new single is “ I’ve Just Seen Too Much .” Listen for it on KJOL. Some days it feels like I’ve been losing more than I have found I won’t tell you that I’ve got it all together, If you know me, then You know my faith has wavered If you ask me why I trust Him When it feels like everything has come undone All I can tell you is, I’ve just seen too much
By Kurt Neuswanger August 15, 2025
Chuck Girard of Love Song dies Chuck Girard , the co-founder of the band Love Song, died on Monday, August 11. He had been diagnosed with cancer which spread to his lungs. He was 81. Chuck Girard was one of the founding members of the iconic Jesus music band Love Song , which had its birth at Chuck Smith’s Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa in 1970. (The band was briefly featured in Greg Laurie’s movie “The Jesus Revolution.”) After Love Song, Chuck had a solo career marked by his worship anthem, “ Sometimes Alleluia .” He gave concerts several times in western Colorado during the 1990s. Around 1976, Girard gave his testimony of how he and his friends had formed Love Song around 1968, before any of them actually knew Jesus. “We felt that drugs and psychedelics were part of God’s plan to reach men who could be reached by no other means. We thought that LSD was the key to spiritual knowledge. I thought the Beatles were Second Messiahs. I really thought they had discovered something and they were trying to convey it to us in little doses. “And when their White Album came out, I felt ripped off. I felt the Beatles had copped out, that if they did know anything spiritual, they were afraid to tell it, and perhaps they didn’t know. “So we got obsessed with this idea of having a band that could communicate God to people. And we started--in the middle of our psychedelic period--a God band that was called Love Song, and we would go into nightclubs and throw in our God songs in the middle of our music, and a lot of the songs would have Jesus’ name in it, and people were just not used to hearing Jesus’ name in a rock ‘n’ roll band in a bar! “And we would go out and evangelize people on our breaks. We would go out and say, ‘Hey why don’t you come out with us on Sunday. We’re gonna drop acid and get into God.’ It’s a classic example of the blind leaving the blind, of people who were sincerely deceived, sincerely wrong. “And 2½ years later, after we started that first band, the Lord was faithful to draw us up to a place called Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California, and for the first time in my life, the gospel was communicated to me. And for the first time in my life, lights went off and I went: That’s what it’s all about! And I really discovered that what I’d been looking for my whole life was Jesus Christ, the victorious Son of God who died on a cross and three days later, rose again from the dead!” ( transcribed from audio of an unknown source. Here is a similar testimony from 1971 at Calvary Chapel, when Chuck was just 28 .) Postscript: in 1971, a copy of the original Love Song record made its way to a small Colorado town called Wray, where a 14 year old boy listened to that album over and over after becoming a Christian. It was the first, and only, contemporary Christian music we had ever heard. And 54 years later, that boy is still playing Christian music for anyone who will listen!
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