Melanie Tierce’s Debut Album City Of God
“Once we finally decided on the song sequence for the album, we were amazed how it naturally divided into two sections,” said Melanie. “So we decided to release it in two chapters—two parts of the story.”
CITY OF GOD
Melanie Tierce
Melanie Tierce’s Debut Album, City Of God
City Of God, Chapter 1
Sing (feat. People & Songs)
City Of God
What Love Is Like (feat. Kaden Slay)
Simple
Hallelujah My Soul Sings (feat. People & Songs)
So Close (feat. Kaden Slay)
City of God was written by Mark Benjamin, Michael Lawson, Melanie Tierce, Mark Swayze, and Daniel Riddle. It was A&R and executive produced by Jennie Lee Riddle, and produced by film score composer Bradford Nyght. Bradford brings an epic, cinematic quality to each breathtaking song.
Melanie says, “Once we heard Bradford’s work on the first track, we found it astounding. It was a joy and honor to get to choose him to work with.”
She continues, “Throughout the production process I did wonder how we would express such a huge sound, and yet still keep the closeness of the lyric and the vocal. The heart and the humanness of these songs of worship are incredibly important to me. I am amazed at how this project has accomplished both. A beautiful, huge backdrop of stunning arrangements supporting a very close and intimate experience of worship.”
Jennie Lee Riddle, the PEOPLE & SONGS label head, Executive Producer and A&R for Melanie Tierce, reflects on the album, “This record tells the epic tale of redemption in every lyric and every note. It is stunningly imaginative and fills your spirit to the brim with the Truth-filled tapestry of our life with God. The Gospel goes forth through story and song in an unforgettable, state-altering way that easily becomes a part of you. Each song is a journey into the heart of God.”
“Of all the works I’ve been privileged to touch, by far, this holds my heart. I’ve had the joy of walking with Melanie since she was 17. What a powerful woman of God she has become! She’s so in love with Jesus, and I am thankful for the way she helps me to see Him.”
“The lyrics and beauty of this record begged for a physical keepsake that one could have forever. We went to the time and expense to put together a gorgeous 6-panel cover captured in the ruins of Gary, Indiana, and an 8-page book containing every life-giving lyric. Not customary in today’s digital world, but it had to be done. I had to hold it in my hands, behold the the faith-filled art that promises resurrection, and read each hopeful word with my own eyes!”
Andrew Riddle was Melanie’s choice of photographer, videographer and editor. The layout and design were brought further to life by Daniel Riddle. Together they created a work of art.
City Of God, Chapter 2
Don’t Ever Let Me Go
I Am Your God
One More Step
Give Us Your Heart (feat. Kaden Slay)
Compelled (feat. People & Songs)
When The Stars Burn Down (feat. People & Songs)
O Death
“Compelled” was written by Melanie, Mary Grace and Wesley Nilsen for the first-ever gathering of Assemblies Of God World Mission missionaries from all around the globe. PEOPLE & SONGS had the holy privilege of joining the gathering and leading worship. See full story. Charts are available here.
Autographed Physical CD Album
You can purchase the full album (personally autographed by Melanie) here.
For more information, contact hello@peopleandsongs.com
"O Death" - Stephen Marti
What the early disciples were too naive to understand was that God was using death on Friday to bring life on Sunday. To the benefit of future generations, God was working death for good.
O DEATH by Stephen Marti.
When I was a kid, my family had a big alder tree in the backyard. I loved that tree.
There was something mesmerizing to young me about the way it interacted with the wind. The captivating whisper of the leaves stirring with every breeze gave the tree a personality. It felt like it was communicating with me. I spent a lot of time in that tree, just listening. We were friends.
But unfailingly, every year with the onset of fall, the leaves would turn colors. And then, lamentably drop. By winter, as far as I was concerned, my favorite tree was dead.
I have distinct young memories of fearing that was it. That it had died and was not coming back. Judging on looks alone, I don’t think I can be faulted for that. Bare and desolate, void of the green life that had populated it’s branches mere weeks prior, it was hard to understand how it would ever be the same again. My dad tried valiantly to explain the life cycle of a deciduous tree, but I had trouble comprehending it.
I wonder if that’s how the early disciples might have felt that first Holy Saturday. As Jesus lay lifeless behind a tombstone, they must have ached in the irreconcilable tension between what they knew to be true about Jesus and what they knew to be true about the grave he lay dead in.
They had witnessed the miraculous. They had heard the heralding of a coming kingdom. They had joined him on the triumphal entry. And then, they watched him die.
That Saturday, they found themselves in the winter between belief and new reality.
Enduring the winter between belief and new reality is what this song is all about.
The very wrestle those early Jesus followers contended with that Saturday finds its parallels in the modern Church. While we have the fortunate privilege of perspective and know how that ancient weekend gloriously resolved, the enemy wants us to forget it. To live in the gap. To fear the implications of being wrong about it it rather than taking courage in light of it.
But fear isn’t from God. No, fear is a weapon formed in hell that Satan wields in an effort to convince us that the Gospel isn’t real.
From a deception in a garden, to a temptation in a desert, to a death on a cross, Satan has forever been madly fixated upon subverting God’s ways. But God’s way has always been about working every ounce of that evil for good.
What I was too naive as a child to understand about the leaves I was so heartbroken to see fall was that, when they fell, they hadn’t yet finished their assignment. As they decomposed, their nutrients would percolate into the ground to the benefit of future generations of plant life. Nature works its own death for good.
What the early disciples were too naive to understand was that God was using death on Friday to bring life on Sunday. To the benefit of future generations, God was working death for good.
When Jesus triumphantly roared back to life that first Easter, it was the greatest twist of fate the world has ever known. And that’s just the way God would have it. Death thought it had won, but God used death for life and death died instead!
I wrote this song in a winter season iced over with fear and doubt. Though it was beginning to look like spring outside, my heart hadn’t thawed with it. I was struggling to grapple with my own mortality and that of those I so dearly love. Knowing that Jesus is risen and that His very resurrected life resident in me rendered death dead was one thing. Feeling at peace with death was another.
Anxiety had claimed me. It had convinced me to abdicate my Gospel authority.
So I wrote ‘O Death.’ Like a lifeline to my future self, I penned the words I knew I would need to sing at my fears time and again.
Thankfully, I’m much more ecologically enlightened these days and know not to worry about the fate of the deciduous trees anymore. They’ll be just fine. But I know I will, now and then, find myself in the winter between what I know to be true about who Jesus is and what’s sometimes hard to understand about the still in-process new reality of my resurrected eternity. I’ve been and will continue to be grateful to be able to sing this song that reminds Satan of his failure and reminds my heart of the Gospel.
My prayer is that this song gives you the resolution you need to take back what the enemy tries to steal from you. He can’t walk back the defeat he’s already suffered at the hands of the resurrection, but that’s not going to stop him from trying to cause you to lose sight of the truth.
Remind him of his place. And remind your heart of what Jesus has done.
Here’s to fall, and to all of the unseen ways death brings life. Winter isn’t the end. It’s in the design. God isn’t finished. It’s all part of the process.
Fear not. Death is dead. Jesus is alive. And we’ll live on forever.
Stephen Marti is an artist and songwriter based in Seattle, WA. As a writer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, he has a penchant for bringing songs to life that narrate glimpses of the wonder of the Gospel and provide voice to those hoping to find their place in it all. He is passionate about crafting songs that help the Church respond in increasing faith to who God is, all He has done, and all He has yet to do.
Stephen resides in Seattle with his wife Tayla.
TURN UP THE LIGHTS - Live from La Porte- November 2nd - 3rd
The community of People & Songs are bringing in a large roster of artists from around the nation for this day-long event. A wide variety of music will be offered as individual sets from critically acclaimed and award winning acts…
November 2nd-3rd, 2018
Turn Up The Lights, hosted by People & Songs
Get The Album Now!
LIVE FROM LA PORTE HAS EVEN MORE THIS YEAR!
Nov. 2nd - Friday Night of Worship | 6:30 - 9:30 pm // $15
---Join PEOPLE & SONGS and the church of La Porte as we gather for a Night Of Worship to kick-off Turn Up The Lights. This Night Of Worship will feature all the PEOPLE & SONGS artist as a super group and will be recorded live.---
Nov. 3rd - Featured Performaces | 10:30 am - 3 pm // $15
--- Featuring Crystal Yates, Joshua Sherman, Sean Carter, Ryan Kennedy, Charity Gayle, Steven Musso, Melanie Tierce, May Angeles, David Gentiles & Kevin Jones ---
Nov. 3rd - A Night Of Ministry | 6:30 - 9:30 pm // FREE
--- Encounter God: We invite you to come and encounter God with us. We believe that when we encounter the very presence of God, we leave changed. So, whether you're in need of healing, comfort, freedom, joy, provision, refuge, strength, restoration, or a very present help in time of trouble - Jesus will be with us and we will not leave the way we came. ---
Invite your friends and family to this acoustic night of ministry and let's encounter God together.
The community of People & Songs is bringing in a large roster of artists from around the nation for this two-day event. A wide variety of music will be offered as individual sets from critically acclaimed and award winning acts. Enjoy varying genres that range across country, folk, singer/songwriter, gospel, and contemporary worship.
Frontline Foundations will be bringing a live gallery of client artwork from their Art Recovery program, print-on-demand apparel of client artwork, a smoothie and coffee cafe, and live music performed my their Music Recovery program collaborative group, The Salt Exchange. La Porte’s own ARTS IN THE PARK will be hosting a silent auction (proceeds go towards ARTS IN THE PARK). Food will be available in the food court from TOP SKILLET , HEROES HOT DOGS, and TIN ROOF. We’ll have food trucks like SMOQ TRUQ, COOL RUNNING’S JAMAICAN, and FIREBRICK ROAD PIZZA.