Ohio Valley Christian Music Association

The is a group of independent Christian musicians, singers, songwriters, bands, and performers of various genres in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky, and Michigan. The OVCMA is a forum in which these independent artists can share their music with the general public and with each other, as well as network each other's services. For example, a music composer can collaborate with a lyricist to create songs, or a band which has no original material can obtain songs from one of the OVCMA's independent songwriters.

The OVCMA hosts several public events throughout the year, all of which are free to the general public. These events include a SpringFest in Washington County, OH and an all-day PraiseFest in the fall at the Noble County, OH Fairgrounds in Caldwell, OH. As of October 2007, the OVCMA is planning events for 2008 in Carroll County, OH and Belmont County, OH.

The OVCMA has members in many genres of Christian music, including Country, Bluegrass, Southern Gospel, CCM, Christian Rock, Alternative, Metal, Rap, R&B, Urban Gospel, Folk, and more.

History

SpringFest 2006

The first official event hosted by the OVCMA was the SpringFest in 2006. Independent Christian artists , , , and provided free live music at Riverfront Park in Marietta, Ohio.

PraiseFest 2006

The OVCMA hosted the first annual OVCMA PraiseFest on October 14, 2006 at the Noble County Fairgrounds in Caldwell, Ohio. The all-day event featured , , , , , , the , , , and .

The PraiseFest (originally called the Praise the Lord Day) was started in Noble County in 1980 by the Noble County Men's Prayer Fellowship and was organized by Pastor John Irvin for 25 years. In 2006, the OVCMA took over responsibility for the Praise The Lord Day and changed the name to PraiseFest. The Noble County PraiseFest continues to be a notable

PraiseFest 2007

The second annual PraiseFest took place on October 13, 2007 at the Noble County Fairgrounds in Caldwell, Ohio, and featured , , , , , , , , , , Clarence Rauleigh Wells, Jr.,, , , and .

OVCMA Awards 2007

The OVCMA also presented the first at the 2007 Noble County PraiseFest. Each ministry that participated (listed in the previous paragraph) were given a 2007 Golden Voice Award.

Winners of the Golden Voice Awards from 2006 were 1point25, The Believers, the Friendship Four, the Gable Brothers Band, Jim Blair and the Southern Gospelaires, Krusade, Shannon Lauer, Danny LeMasters, The Real Life Band, Tim Thomas, Touch of Grace, Under The Son, and Clarence Rauleigh Wells, Jr.

, , , and all went home with two awards each. In addition to the Golden Voice Award, Set Free was named CCM Artist of the Year and Delivered was named Country Gospel Artist of the Year. Although they were unable to attend the event, the Peacemakers received awards for Bluegrass Gospel Artist of the Year and the Angel Award for overall excellence in musical ministry. One Accord, also not in attendance, received awards for Southern Gospel Artist of the Year and Southern Gospel Album of the Year for "He Carried Me."

received three awards: a 2007 Golden Voice Award and Christian Rock Artist of the Year, and frontman Nathan Davis took Christian Rock Song of the Year for "At The End" from their soon-to-be-released debut album, "We Just Wanna Dance."

were awarded Bluegrass Gospel Album of the Year for "Sweet Jordan", received Christian Country Album of the Year for their new self-titled CD, took home the CCM Album of the Year for "Word of Mouth", and received Christian Rock Album of the Year for "Deeper Reason."

Marvin Clark was named winner of Country Gospel Song of the Year for his original song, "Thanks" from the album of the same name by , as well as Bluegrass Song of the Year for "Jesus is Always There" recorded by on their album, "Through The Clouds." Southern Gospel Song of the Year went to Tony C. Petry for "I See Him" from the album, "Everlasting" by , and Travis Wells took home CCM Song of the Year for "Inside" from album, "Contact."

Louise Berry received the only award given to a recipient who is not a Christian music artist: the Hands-and-Feet Award for her "invaluable support" of the PraiseFest.

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