My Hope;The Tommy Coomes Praise Band

	The Tommy Coomes Praise Band

MOBILE, Alabama - - Integrity Music announces the release of My Hope, a new album from the Tommy Coomes Praise Band. The album is a follow up to the 2001 release of Lift Up His Name.

The project, eclectic in style, was produced by Coomes and is filled with pop/rock renditions ("To Be Yours"), urban rhythms ("We Are Not Ashamed") and stirring ballads ("He Knows My Name").

"That's who is in front of us when we minister," Coomes says. "It's everyone from teenagers to the chairman of the local crusade committee. We have to reach all of them. The last thing Christian music should be is boring. Christian music should touch your heart and your spirit, whether you're a Christian or not."

A veteran in the praise and worship genre, The Tommy Coomes Band has recorded a diverse array of songs with refreshing new sounds. Ten of the 12 songs are new songs penned by the band, including the title track "My Hope."

Written by Annie Barbour, a vocalist with Coomes' band, "My Hope" was inspired by a young girl, daughter of one of the band's keyboard players, named Aria Lams who had been diagnosed with leukemia.

"We realized there were no guarantees," Coomes says. "She went through a bone marrow transplant, went into remission, then back to being very sick. I'm happy to say that now she's doing fine and back in school. It's really tested our faith, and made us hold on to hope in a God Who is bigger than everything we face.

Although written before the national tragedy of September 11, the lyrics of "My Hope" continue also to speak to a hurting world. "Everywhere we travel, I've noticed that people's 'antennas' are up." Coomes says. "We're all reanalyzing our lives."

Coomes says the song seems to have universal appeal that crosses borders and cultures. "The lyrics connect with real people who are going through real problems," he says. "We've sung it in Spanish and Portuguese, and no matter where we do it, it hits a home run."

Now its official theme song for 2002/2003, the Billy Graham Evangelical Association recently commissioned the band to record a music video of "My Hope" in three languages. My Hope is now available at Christian retail outlets within the U.S. and abroad.

November Home