I used to love the band known as Caedmon's Call, and I especially appreciated the vocals and songwriting contributions of members Danielle Young and Derek Webb. Their self-titled release Caedmon's Call was on repeat in my CD player, mostly because of the freshness and uniqueness of the arrangements and lyrics. They also did a terrific cover of the late Rich Mullins' "Hope to Carry On," and I hate most covers of anything. I own most of their albums but noticed the uniqueness and freshness gave way to the usual forced Christianesque stylings and canned themes with each new release. Aside from the first release and their second album, 40 Acres, I rarely dust the CDs off for a listen anymore. 

I distinctly noticed a shift once Webb decided to leave the group to pursue a solo career. Excited to see how Webb's solo work would translate, I listened to a few single releases from his album and was subsequently disappointed. I compare it to The Beatles and the solo work that the individual members did after the breakup. None of the individual efforts rose to the heights or originality of the former. So I haven't listened to Webb in years, although I've heard much about his journey into deconstructing his former faith and his lyrical and personal pokes in the eye of the mainline Christian faith. This probably explains why the heart and depth in his music with Caedmon's Call never translated to his solo efforts. 

Webb's latest foray into fauxtroversy occurred on the release of his latest album called The Jesus Hypothesis, which Webb claims is his “first Christian and gospel album in a decade.” Webb promptly contradicts this statement by including on the album a song called "Boys Will Be Girls," in collaboration with a former worship leader named Matthew Blake Lovegood, who came out as a Drag Queen musician and now performs under the name "Flamy Grant."

Which book in the Bible advocates for this? How does being a "little Christ," which is what the term "Christian" means, equate to embracing and promoting a lifestyle that the majority of mainline Christians do not endorse? Too many questions that require a more nuanced and theological response than I can give here. But I can clarify that embracing the person and loving them does not include promoting a lifestyle in antithesis to the created order, which ultimately is God's order. I happened upon this incredible story about a detransitioner and how it was the embrace and love of the Christian church that turned her around to embrace her biological sex. I will link it here because it is an example of how the church of Jesus Christ must both engage and confront the culture; otherwise, Derek Webb and his form of "allyship" is the confusion and gobblygook that results from it.    

Thanks to Webb's in-your-face promotion, Matthew Blake/Flamy Grant's own album has risen to the top of the Christian music charts. This also does not compute, but this is the upside-down world that we live in.

Nashville musician Derek Webb expected the attacks from conservative Christians about his new Gospel album. But he didn't anticipate how the protest against those attacks would propel a singing-songwriting drag queen to the top of the Christian music charts.

Webb, a former Contemporary Christian music star, just released his new album, “The Jesus Hypothesis,” and as part of that, collaborated with drag musician Flamy Grant for a song and a music video. The collaboration fueled backlash from a rightwing Christian musician, creating a scenario that Grant leveraged to find new levels of success and attention to her solo work.

Though it happened a different way than Webb expected, the two artists achieved the same goal they originally sought after: to reclaim the definition of contemporary Christian music. 

“I like the idea of a Christian church staying in that space and trying to catch all the people who were being cast out of evangelical spaces,” Webb said in an interview. “The same group that was doing the hurting is now doing the healing.”

That contrarian ideal has guided both Webb and Grant in their recent careers.

Apparently, this "contrarian ideal" is what inspired Webb to then join Blake/Flamy and non-binary Christian singer Grace "Semler" Baldrige at the 54th Annual Dove Awards. In Webb's 10-year-long career with the band Caedmon's Call and his 10-plus years as a solo artist, he was nominated for 10 Dove Awards and won three. Yet, Webb never bothered to attend. He admitted this fact in one of his announcement posts on X leading up to the explanatory video, which led to a fresh fauxtroversy. 

despite having won a few over the past 20+ years, tonight will be my first ever trip to the dove awards, in the company of some very good friends (@FlamyGrant and @gracebaldridge, among others).

i hardly ever dress up, but this feels like a very special occasion. pic.twitter.com/BgWLSgnPm9

— Derek Webb (@derekwebb) October 17, 2023

So why is this particular appearance such a big deal? Webb explained in another X video post.

why did i wear a dress to the dove awards? pic.twitter.com/KdjYXHFuUa

— Derek Webb (@derekwebb) October 19, 2023

Why did I wear a dress to the Dove Awards?” As a cis, straight white man, I walk into a room like that, and any room, with an incredible amount of advantage and privilege. If I'm attending as an ally of friends and colleagues, I should do everything possible to surrender that privilege at the door. If the way you look at my loved ones isn't the way you look at me, I'm not truly standing with them. 

Webb then quoted the progressive pastor of GracePoint Church, Stan Mitchell, saying: 

'If you claim to be someone's ally but aren't getting hit by the stones thrown at them, you aren't standing close enough.'

Plus, I have amazing legs.

This diatribe is pure psychobabble nonsense. So, is Webb going to paint his face with charcoal and start talking in Ebonics to show his allyship with his Black friends? How about throwing a Rasta wig over that bald head? While the Dove Awards is not high on my list of award-show viewing, it's watchable for the mere fact that you get pure music without the theatrics and virtue-signaling from the usual circles. Why is Webb pushing to change that, and why does he want us to care? There are some who are condemning the Dove Awards for allowing them entrance, but this Baptist News Global article was written a few days prior to the October 17 awards show telecast and revealed that this publicity stunt was engineered by Blake/Flamy and Grace "Semler" Baldrige in order to garner attention and promote "awareness."  

Although recording artists Flamy Grant and Semler both had No. 1 songs on the Christian music charts in 2023, neither artist was asked to participate in the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Awards, Contemporary Christian Music’s premier event recognizing achievement within the genre in nearly 40 categories.

But neither of the openly queer artists expected a call from the GMA. In 2022, Semler put themselves up for best new artist after having two albums go No. 1 and was deemed ineligible, so Flamy Grant and Semler took to social media and invited their friends, fans and supporters to join them in the nosebleed section at the award show, which will be held at Lipscomb University in Nashville Oct. 17.

“Think of our attendance at the Dove Awards as a sort of banner-wielding, exploratory scouting expedition,” said Matthew Lovegood, the singer-songwriter who performs as Flamy Grant, in an interview with BNG. “We’re not going to stir up trouble or demand a single thing. We’re simply going to be present, to express our queer joy, and to celebrate in our little corner of the room.”

So, Blake/Flamy, Semler, nor Webb were neither invited guests or nominees. They were simply bodies among the hoi polloi attempting to be seen as relevant and brave <insert *eyeroll* emoji>.

After 10 years playing with Caedmon’s Call, an evangelical Christian band, Webb embarked on a solo career that allowed him to make music that challenged religious traditions. Grant, also drawing from her evangelical background, released her 2022 album “Bible Belt Baby,” which she calls “the world’s first contemporary Christian music record by a drag performer.”

Inspired by a small group church discussion, Grant wrote a track on her 2022 album called “Good Day” about reconciling one’s faith and their identity as an LGBTQ person. Grant’s offstage name is Matthew Blake.

“I want to place myself squarely in the (religious) space and take up the space so that other people know they’re not alone,” Grant said in an interview.

Critical words here are "take up the space." Without actually singing it, Blake/Flamy is screaming Effie's song from the musical DreamGirls, "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going."

I don't want to be free! And you, and YOU! You're GONNA LOVE MEEEEEEE...

This is no different from the tactics used by drag queen and transgender activists in the secular space: It's not good enough for me to be in my subcultural corner. I am going to force myself into your spaces and shove it down your throat until you accept me and give me an honored place. Just as in the secular realm, there are now allies in the previously sacred realm that are assisting insisting upon this, and Webb has aligned himself in this way. He has been doing it for a while, as have several of his CCM peers, like Tiffany Arbuckle Lee (the artist known as "Plumb"), Lauren Daigle, and Amy Grant. 

Webb has had some major cracks in his glass house of certitude. In 2013, his first marriage to fellow singer/songwriter Sandra McCracken blew up, and McCracken alleged it was because of Webb's infidelity. In addressing the disappointment of his fanbase, Webb reportedly said:

Webb has urged his fans to see him as a musician who is Christian rather than a Christian who is a musician — a departure from earlier years of catering to a Christian audience. He is considered to be an edgier artist among some evangelicals, “a truth-teller kind of guy or a prophetic voice among his fans,” Smith said.

Webb is neither a truth-teller nor a prophetic voice. He's just a showman who keeps these fauxtroversies going in order to build and maintain his audience. I would have more respect for him if he simply admitted to this rather than pretending he is earnest in his fight for truth, justice, and being a friend and ally to the so-called marginalized. One writer who reviewed Webb's 2013 album I Was Wrong, I'm Sorry, and I Love You had this to say about Webb and his antics.

I wonder if there isn’t just a bit of P. T. Barnum-inspired showmanship and calculation in the way these scandals erupt. “I don’t care what you say about me,” Barnum once remarked, “just spell my name right.” Webb enjoys being a provocateur and an agitator, and I’d guess it’s good for business too. 

Mission accomplished, Derek Webb. Caedmon's Call, the band, has recently come back together (with Webb) and started a crowdfunding campaign to record their seminal first release. Not because they want to honor Jesus in their worship or encourage believers with this music, but because the release is now out of print and they have no rights or access to it. They would have to re-record it in order to garner publishing rights and royalties.

The thing that led [Caedmon’s Call] to working together again last year was that it was the 25-year anniversary of our self-titled record … and it was out of print. We couldn’t re-release it anywhere because we don’t own it. And we thought, “Could we pull a Taylor Swift and rerecord the whole thing now and just release it again?” And it turns out we could do that. All of a sudden, it looks like I’m active in the Christian music world! 

Except for that first release, it may be time for me to toss the rest of those Caedmon's Call CDs. Like Webb's fauxtroversies, this self-seeking attitude existent among those who once claimed to be Christian is as tarnishing as it is tiresome.