7thgeneration

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	Will Bartz Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
	Reid Clagett Bass Guitar, Vocals
	Shea Kruger Soprano Sax
	Marena Bartz Tenor Sax, Keyboards, Vocals
	Lisa Hulshizer Vocals
	Travis Kruger Alto Sax
	A. J. Wilder Drums
	Merlin Bartz Acoustic Guitar, Vocals

 

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A new North Iowa Christian Contemporary/Rock band released their first recorded album on Saturday, December 8th, 2008.  The eight-member band is named for four members who have the same seventh generation ancestor.

The CD, entitled “Raise the Dead,” was recorded and mixed summer of 2007 at Rancho Bizarro Studios and contains sixteen original songs, including the title track “Raise the Dead”, a rock ballad featuring Will Bartz on lead vocals and electric guitar, and Travis Kruger on alto saxophone. Other songs include “Two Jericho’s Won,” a hard driving and vocabulary stretching commentary about the Biblical Battle of Jericho, and the contemplative “Remarkable Things”. The band’s median age is 16, and includes members of three North Iowa Lutheran congregations; Emmanuel Lutheran in Grafton, Bethany Lutheran in Kensett, and Deer Creek Lutheran near Carpenter.

Two of the compositions were written by Will, a junior at St. Ansgar Community Schools.  The balance of the music was written by Merlin Bartz, a North Iowa farmer who is Will’s father.

Other members of the band include Shea Kruger; Travis’s younger sister, Marena Bartz; Will’s younger sister, Reid Clagett, and A. J. Wilder, all who attend St. Ansgar Community Schools, and Lisa Hulshizer; a NIACC freshman. Travis, mentioned earlier, is a sophomore at Wartburg College in Waverly.

The CD is priced at $10.00, a great deal, considering it contains almost 80 minutes of music. The CD is available for purchase by contacting individual band members or at the Grafton J-Mart in Grafton.