The Death of An Era

Dana Key - Founding partner of DeGarmo & Key (One of the pioneer rock duos of early Contemporary Christian Music) died today at age fifty-six. For me this is more than just the loss of a fellow Christ-follower or artist, this is the death of an era: An era of my faith when everything about it was brand new - Including the music! I became a Christ-follower when I was twenty years old - The year was 1982. I felt that it was important to leave everything about my former life behind including the music I had always listened to. I burned it all in a big heap. The problem was that, at that time, there wasn't a lot of Christian music available that was the style of music I enjoyed. Those CCM artists that did exist became very close companions. They weren't just singers and songwriters, they were teachers. Their lyrics helped shape my doctrine. DeGarmo and Key was one of those bands that God used to help shape what I believe today.

Now I don't want to give you the wrong idea, not everything these guys did met with my artistic approval. It was the eighties and they were trying to compete with bands who were creating what we now know as eighties music. It was horrible! And sometimes D&K's offerings fit that same description. However, it was all we had and we were glad to have it! Thank God they also gave us some really good music and their CDs stayed in our CD players, our boom-boxes and our walkmans! I only saw DeGarmo & Key in concert once, but it was quite a show!

They gave the world one of the first Christian music videos - A song called Six, Six, Six that MTV refused to play because it was too graphic (what a laugh!). Dana was the cool front man of the group. He had true swagga! He and Eddie DeGarmo wrote the band's music, and I'm sure no one was surprised by his songwriting abilities as he was a direct descendant of Francis Scott Key who wrote the Star Spangled Banner.

Christian music has drastically changed since those early days. There's so much variety and so many options now. More and more Christian artists are crossing over to the main stream and MP3's have made the purchase of albums a thing of the past for many of us. So the death of Dana Key, in my opinion marks the passing of a way of life, a way of artistry and ministry that God used in those days when I was just starting out as a follower of Christ. God has new ways of doing things now and that's okay because, in the words of the old Billy Preston song that DeGarmo and Key covered on their 1983 album Mission of Mercy, that's the way God planned it.

Here's one of my favorite D&K songs. We used to sing it as a worship song. The words of the chorus say, "I don't want to be a casual Christian." I'm so glad Dana wasn't a casual Christian. I'm so glad he let God use him in a very special way in a past era. It was my era, and I'll miss you Dana!