Rejoice and Sing
Once upon a time, Jim married Sue...Sue's brother, Dave, married Jim's sister, Karen... and the "Vatral-Hammer Singers" were born. The group began traveling in 1987, as a public relations singing group for Eastern Nazarene College. Since then, they have appeared in concert at many churches, church camp meetings (including Douglas Campmeeting in Douglas, MA, Portsmouth Campmeeting in Portsmouth RI, etc.) and other venues, sometimes appearing as "Rejoice." In 2011, the group was officially renamed to "Rejoice and Sing", and their long-awaited album, "Offering of Praise", was released.
The members of Rejoice and Sing grew up listening to the great hymns of the church. They were influenced early on by many of the original contemporary Christian artists of the 70's...groups like Second Chapter of Acts, Dallas Holm and Praise, Andre Crouch and the Imperials, as well as many of the other popular secular artists of the time...the Carpenters, Barry Manilow and the Beatles. You can hear the influences of many of these groups in the style of their music.
As times changed, the members of Rejoice and Sing became actively involved leading worship in their local churches, singing traditional hymns and popular worship choruses by artists like Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Michael W. Smith and many others.
In creating "Offering of Praise", Rejoice and Sing wanted to produce a recording that would not only be fun and easy to listen to, but which would convey a spirit of encouragement, peace and love...something that would speak to the hearts of people going through difficult times in life. They wanted it to be a mixture of recognizable songs that would appeal to a wide range of ages, and a variety of musical tastes. The result is a great collection of uplifting worship and praise songs, including cover versions of popular contemporary Christian songs by Chris Tomlin, Ray Boltz, Newsong, brand new arrangements of some older classics, and a couple original worship songs as well.
This recording features Jim and Sue Hammer (you might also recognize Jim as the singer/guitarist/keyboard player with CCM artists "CrossWalk"), Dave and Karen Vatral (Dave is the pastor of the Bethany Church of the Nazarene in Rumford,RI), with a few vocal appearances by Rebecca Hammer and Lauren Hammer, too. Produced by Jim Hammer.
Contact us today to find out more about scheduling a Rejoice and Sing concert!
