Feed aggregator

18-time GRAMMY® Award-winning icon CeCe Winans is bringing her acclaimed Christmas tour to the West Coast for the first time in over a decade. Joined by special guests and her sisters Angie Winans and Debbie Winans, Christmas with CeCe Winans will visit six cities this December for an evening of beloved Christmas classics, worship favorites, and songs from throughout CeCe’s celebrated career.

Motown Gospel, a division of Capitol Christian Music Group, Capitol Records and Universal Music Group, announces the signing of GRAMMY-nominated artist Koryn Hawthorne, marking an exciting new chapter for one of Gospel music’s most dynamic contemporary voices. Read more about in Billboard exclusive here.

Tim Tebow has another faith-based project in the works. This week, Tebow's Studio316 co-founder Edward Tommasi shared the launch of Lighthouse Verticals, a new microdrama platform focused on uplifting entertainment.

By the time Michael Cochren walked into our studio, I’d already spent a week with, Cochren & Co’s new release, Runs In The Blood on repeat. This is Cochren & Co.’s third album, but it feels like a creative leap. It’s soulful without losing its country roots, nostalgic without sounding dated, and full of the kind of hooks that stick with you.

Michael laughed as he explained that none of it happened overnight. “It’s been a long process… almost three years. When an album comes out, I immediately start working on the next one.”

Instead of trying to recreate what had worked before, he picked the song “The Lows” and decided to see where it could lead.

“It’s got this grooving bass line… almost like a funk thing. I said, ‘Let’s start there and jump off into the deep end.'”

The deeper he went, the more the album began sounding like… well, Michael.

Country from growing up in southern Indiana, soul music from his dad. soft rock from his mom’s nightly Delilah radio listens. Southern Gospel from his grandparents and, as he happily admitted with a laugh, a healthy dose of NSYNC* and Britney Spears.

“There was a boy bander in your heart,” I joked.

“There is,” he laughed. That’s what makes Runs In The Blood so enjoyable. It doesn’t chase one style. It simply embraces everything that shaped him. “I wanted all my influences to bleed into this album.” Mission accomplished.

The music may be bigger this time around, but the heart behind it remains familiar. Many of the songs grew out of a season of change. Michael and his wife recently welcomed their first child after praying for eight years, and life looks a little different than it did when the last record was released.

“I’m in my 30s now… I’m an actual adult. I have a little baby now. So who am I? What’s made me what I am? Where have I come from? Where am I going?”

Those questions became songs, but not in a way that feels heavy. Instead, the record moves naturally between celebration, reflection, gratitude and joy. Michael realized he wasn’t simply writing about himself anymore.

“These are not just my stories. These are a lot of people’s stories.”

That idea became the heartbeat of Runs In The Blood.

“I wanted to invite everybody into that… talking about heritage and family… where I’ve been, but also where I’m going as a result of what runs in the blood of Jesus.”

One of my favorite moments came when we started talking about fatherhood. Michael was refreshingly honest. “My wife and I prayed for eight years for a baby. It’s so crazy how you can get your prayer answered and then go, ‘Is this the right thing?’ Because this is really hard. But God is showing us some amazing things in this season.”

It’s that last sentence that seems to define where he is today. There’s gratitude woven through this entire record, and you hear it just as clearly in conversation as you do in the music.

Of course, we also spent plenty of time talking about what’s next.

Festival season is in full swing, a fall tour with Zach Williams is on the calendar, and if our conversation is any indication, Michael is enjoying every minute of it. “I just try to approach every day with this of like, ‘What a gift it is to do this.'”

That joy carries into the performances he recorded for us at CCM Studios.

The full conversation is full of laughter, great stories, and plenty of behind-the-scenes moments that didn’t fit here. If Runs In The Blood is already on your playlist, you’re going to love hearing how it came together. And if you haven’t heard it yet… our CCM Spotlight is a pretty great place to start.

Willie and Korie Robertson have spent decades creating television, films, books, podcasts, and businesses that point families toward faith. Now, they’re bringing those worlds together in one place.

During a quick convo with CCM Magazine, the Robertsons made a big announcement. “We are launching a streaming platform called EKKL,” Korie Robertson told me. “It’s this amazing space that brings together film, podcasting, television series, daily devotionals, even a little travel perks thing and a connect area where there’s news articles and everything. We were hoping to just kind of be this one-stop trusted home for your family’s entertainment.”

They, along with Michael Scott (former Pureflix CEO), have launched their new faith-and-family platform designed to be more than just another streaming service.

Pronounced “EK-uhl,” EKKL takes its name from the Greek word ekklesia, meaning a gathering of people brought together around what matters most. Fittingly, the platform brings together movies, television series, podcasts, daily devotionals, community content, travel perks, and more into what the Robertsons hope becomes a trusted destination for families looking for entertainment with heart, hope, humor, and meaning.

For Willie, the launch reflects how audiences consume entertainment today.

“People are at platforms now. That’s where the people have congregated,” he said. “That’s what they like. We thought, ‘What if we brought all this together—with podcasting, with stuff that’s faith-friendly, stuff that we like—and put that together?'”

The vision extends beyond serving audiences. Having produced films and television themselves, the Robertsons also hope EKKL becomes a place where creators can thrive.

“We wanted to make it easier for producers, for directors… We know how hard it is to get past the gatekeepers,” Willie explained. “We want to make it as easy as possible for them—not only to make money, but for creators to come up with these kinds of projects.”

Korie said the inspiration also became deeply personal as their family entered a new season of life.

“Entertainment is shaping our culture in powerful ways, for good or bad,” she said. “We’re sitting here with grandchildren now… and realizing, where do you find it? How do you have a trusted space—a safe space—that you know is going to have wholesome values? Not just the one show that you choose to watch, but what about the advertisements they’re going to see? What’s the algorithm going to show them next? We’re experiencing that within our own family and realizing people are looking for something like this. So why don’t we create it?”

The announcement also included the first theatrical release under the EKKL banner, Elijah Peel, arriving exclusively in theaters on August 14 before making its way to the platform. Executive produced by Willie and Korie Robertson, the film follows a stadium-filling rock star whose life is interrupted by a near-fatal heart attack and whose unexpected friendship with a young girl begins a journey toward healing, reconciliation, and faith.

“It’s just a great story of redemption,” Korie said. “It has those same themes of hope, redemption and forgiveness. It’s a rock star who’s at the height of his success and fame—what the world would say is he has it all—but you realize he actually doesn’t have it all.”

Willie added that the film represents exactly the kind of storytelling EKKL hopes to champion.

“It’s one of those movies where you’re watching it and you’re like, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize this was a faith movie.’ Those are the ones I like. It just feels like a normal movie… and then you realize it has a message.”

As the Robertsons continue expanding beyond Duck Dynasty into film, television, and digital media, EKKL represents their biggest step yet—a platform built to gather families, creators, and stories around values they believe are worth sharing.

Watch my full conversation with Willie and Korie Robertson below as they announce EKKL Entertainment, discuss the vision behind the platform, and preview Elijah Peel, coming to theaters August 14.

Curb Records band Big Daddy Weave announces their fall 2026 “My Hope Is Jesus Tour,” named for the inspirational life anthem that has provided hope to millions from the group’s most recent album, Let It Begin. Joined by breakout artists Caleb & John and Carly Ann Taylor, the tour begins October 1 in Aiken, SC and wraps in Northfield, IL on November 22. Tickets can be purchased now at bigdaddyweave.com/tour.