Five things you need to know about Maverick City Music

What started as a group of songwriters working together in a room has grown into one of the most revolutionary music collectives in contemporary Christian/gospel music: Maverick City Music.

The group – which fluctuates between seven and nine members including Naomi Raine, Chandler Moore and Brandon Lake – started in 2018. It has since recorded hits including “Jireh” and "Kingdom" and won a Grammy in 2022 for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album.

Here are five things to know about Maverick City Music.

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Maverick City Music never meant to start a band

Maverick City Music founders Tony Brown and Jonathan Jay never planned to start a full-on music group. Both men were already songwriters for Housefires, another worship music group.

But within the sphere of Christian writing, Brown and Jay – both African Americans – found few like themselves.

“Tony realized he was in a room with people who didn't look like anybody but white men,” said Naomi Raine, one of Maverick City Music’s first members. “He wanted to see what it would look like to get some other people in the room because the church looks like more than that one thing.”

While Raine was singing in Redding, California, Brown invited her along with other musicians and now-members Dante Bowe and Chandler Moore to come together and write songs for other artists to sing.

Things changed quickly, Raine said.

“We got together in a room, sang the songs and recorded it to send out to artists for if they wanted to sing them,” Raine said. “It ended up being this really beautiful music.

"A week later, I got a text from Tony with the name Maverick. 'What do you think of Maverick City Music? Why do we need to get someone else to sing when we are already singing for it?'"

Those recordings became "Maverick City Vol. 1," the group’s first album, in 2019. Since then, they have recorded more than 10 albums and 100 songs, including "Kingdom Book One" and "Old Church Basement," which won a Grammy Award in 2022.

"We always say we built the plane while it was flying,” member Lizzie Morgan said. “It was not intentional, none of this was planned to happen, but God had better plans.”

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Songs are written and recorded in intense weekend sessions

Maverick City Music members don’t live in the same city or spend months preparing their music for release. Their music is raw, created during weekend-long writing workshops.

More than 100 people fly into Atlanta, Maverick City's headquarters, for the workshops. The weekend starts with prayer and worship, followed by two-hour songwriting sessions in which the artists rotate rooms to work on different music. The next day – after a few more writing sessions – the group gathers in a studio, stands in a circle and records the songs.

“It’s always been more about community and getting to know people,” member Lizzie Morgan said. “There’s hundreds of writers that are a part of this."

All Maverick City Music songs – with the exception of "Most Beautiful," which Moore had written prior to the songwriting sessions, Raine said – are written during the workshop weekends. Their YouTube videos show raw footage of the group recording the music.

“After those days of writing, you do that recording session and fly out and go home to wherever you belong,” Raine said.

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Maverick City Music never expected to win a Grammy

Maverick City Music won its first Grammy this year for Best Contemporary Christian Album with its album "Old Church Basement."

The group was nominated in three other categories: Best Gospel Performance/Song, Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song and Best Gospel Album.

Winning was surreal, Raine and Morgan said, and not just because Christian music is often less recognized in wider circles.

The real shock was this: The collective had never expected to create as many albums as they did, let alone earn one of the most prestigious accolades in music.

“We started in such small spaces, so to see something small that we had no idea was going to be as big as it was really, really special to celebrate all together,” Morgan said.

"It’s also evidence of the effect that worship music has had on the world in the past few years and what God is doing through Maverick City Music and in the church,” Raine said.

“When we speak to people, they say, ‘Wow, your music helped me to pray again,’ or ‘I was going to kill myself and your song got me through,’ or ‘my dad passed away from COVID, and your music was there when we couldn’t bury him,’" Rain said. "It’s evidence of God using our music to show them that he loves them, and he cares for them. It’s an honor to be recognized for that too. Christian and gospel music has been helping people for years and years and years and it’s beautiful that it’s being recognized as such.”

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They recorded 'Kingdom Book One' in a prison

Maverick City Music's current tour highlights their latest album, “Kingdom Book One,” which they recorded at Everglades Correctional Institution in Miami over the course of seven days.

Prison ministry isn’t novel for the group, Raine said. Its Maverick City Music Initiative  helps kids with incarcerated parents. Founder Tony Brown grew up with his mom incarcerated.

In songs on the new album, including “Kingdom"  and "Bless Me," listeners can hear a chorus of inmates singing with Maverick City Music.

“It has just been our desire and passion to visit the prisons and just really minister and work with residents there and bring the love, joy and worship of Jesus Christ into those spaces,” Raine said. ”It’s so important to us that they know we love them.”

What to expect at a Maverick City Music concert

Joining the band on tour is Kirk Franklin, a choir director, gospel singer and songwriter who has won more than 16 Grammy awards.

Franklin chose to collaborate with Maverick City after he saw them reaching new audiences and the work they had done through the COVID-19 pandemic. He started writing songs with the group, which resulted in his collaboration on "Kingdom Book One."

"He's an actual legend," Morgan said. "And a lot of us grew up on this music. When you’re at this specific concert, it’s probably one of the most diverse crowds you will ever see, even in age groups. There’s old, there’s young, there’s all different sorts of people. Kirk is fun, his songs are hype. He bring an element of joy that is so special."

The concert will feature collaborations by Maverick City Music members as well as songs written and performed by Franklin.

Above all, Morgan said, the show is not just a concert but a time of worship.

"It’s not just about music but that change happens. It is a show, but it’s also a worship service. We want people to feel closer to Jesus after the show and to walk away feeling that his presence was there above anything else."

Reach the reporter at sofia.krusmark@gannett.com. Follow her on Instagram @sofia.krusmark.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How Maverick City Music recorded in a prison, then won a Grammy