By BARBARA GREEN
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A group of local musicians raise their voices to God each week as part of the Lighthouse Worship Live Band.
Four songwriters of this band will travel to Tennessee this week to accepted the SongStar grand prize in the fall 2018 songwriting contest. Thousands of songs from all genres were submitted from around the world with the Bowie team’s song, “Forever (Now I Sing),” selected the winner.
Foxhedge Music sponsors the contest with the awards ceremony taking place on April 13 in Franklin, TN at Leiper’s Fork Distillery. The grand prize brings with its a $5,000 cash award and a vintage Bluesman guitar.
Jeff Livsey, worship pastor for Lighthouse Assembly in Bowie is the front man for the band and he says there is a group of about 24 going to the ceremony. The church membership has been ecstatic since the song was named a semi-finalist back in February with the winners named in mid-March.
The top four winners have been invited to perform two songs. Livsey was disappointed to learn the show allows only one person to perform at the showcase because he had hoped to include everyone.
“Forever (Now I Sing),” is the first single out of a new album released by the band in fall 2018. It contains seven original songs all mixed by Livsey in his “technical dungeon” of an office.
Writers for the winning song include Livsey, Chris Boyet, Krista Hunt, Jennifer Harris, all from Bowie, and Chet Bennetts, a fellow songwriter, Livsey met at a writing retreat. All but Bennetts are members of the church band. Trace Finn is the band drummer.
Read the full feature in your weekend Bowie News.