Austins Bridge – The New Southern Gospel Group Closing the Generation Gap

Austins Bridge is the latest addition to Southern Gospel music’s Daywind Records imprint. Austins Bridge’s self-titled debut project is creating a lot of excitement in the world of southern gospel music. The group consists of three young men, Mike Kofahl, Jason Baird and Justin Rivers.

According to Jason, Austins Bridge was chosen as the name because Jason and Mike have their roots in the Austin, Texas area. The “Puente” part expresses his desire to cross borders to attract new listeners to southern gospel music. Jason continues, “Austin Bridge’s desire is to bridge the generation gaps between the young, the old, and the new, and just spread the (Gospel) message to a wide audience. We’re just trying to bridge some gaps and do some things outside from the box.

The sound of Austins Bridge is unique in Christian music. When asked to describe the style of Christian music that Austins Bridge makes, Justin replied, “Kind of a Country-rock-bluegrass-country-blues-Christian pop sound.” “It’s pretty eclectic,” Mike chimes in, “I don’t know if you can boil it down to a specific genre category. We’d like to be kind of a pioneering point to branch out into a new form of Christian music.” the music itself.

“We put a little bit of everything in there, so if you like country music you’ll find stuff you like. If you like rock and roll, you’ll have a little bit of everything in there…bluegrass, a little bit of everything,” says Jason. “A concert at Austins Bridge is like the weather in Chicago, if you don’t like something, it will change in five minutes.” Mike laughs.

One of the unique tracks on the Austins Bridge project is titled “Native American Prayer”, which features Bill Miller playing the Native American double flute and a Mohican chant. The effect is tremendous and nicely sets up the next song, “History Turned The Page”, written by Gerald Crabb.

The project’s first single, “He’s In Control”, was co-written by Justin Rivers and Mike Kofahl. It has a slow country, bluesy feel to it. Like all the songs on this project, they are lyrically strong. You will not miss the fact that this is a Christian band that plays Christian music.

Austins Bridge was produced by Bubba Smith and the production is excellent. The album is strong throughout. It’s a perfect CD to give to someone who enjoys current country music. Will everyone like it? I doubt it, but I think it will help introduce a new generation to the sounds of southern gospel music.

You can learn more about Austins Bridge by visiting www.southern-gospel-music-lyrics.com