‘Mr. Piano Man’ plays at Hope Music Festival
When Gospel music artist Jeff Stice books a gig, it isn’t always a ‘local’ venue. This week, he flew to Japan to be part of the Hope Music Festival in Tokyo. That’s around 6,600 miles from Edmonson County High School that he and I attended in Brownsville, KY, er, let’s say, ‘a few years ago!’
Jeff, a Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductee, took the Gospel to the people of Japan. As a part of the Hope Music Festival, Jeff participated in an event intended to draw people together through the magic of music in hopes that Christianity can be shared to those in attendance.
“Pastor Yurika Mitsui and his family reached out to me some time ago after I had met them at Louisiana Baptist University where I had performed at their Alumni breakfast,” Jeff said before he left on the trip. “They asked if I would come and be a part of the event, and I quickly replied ‘Arigato’ (which means ‘Thank you’ in Japanese).”
Jeff and his wife traveled to Tokyo, Japan on October 5, 2017, returning to the United States on the following Thursday. The Hope Music Festival was held on Monday, October 9, 2017 in Tokyo.
Music: the universal language
“Stacey and I are both excited and a bit nervous. Other than two or three words, we have no clue how to communicate with the people of Japan. They say music is the universal language, so I’m going to rely on that,” mentioned Jeff. “Only 2% of the country know anything about Christianity. I don’t believe this opportunity just happened. There is a divine reason, and we’re praying God will just use us so that He will get the glory from it.”
Jeff recently released his debut album for Daywind Instrumental, the Andrae Crouch tribute recording, I’M GONNA KEEP ON. The project was released earlier this summer to much critical acclaim. Jeff is an accomplished musician, known as “Mr. Piano Man,” and for twelve years was a member of the Triumphant Quartet.
He was voted ‘Musician of the Year’ in 2007 by the Southern Gospel Music Guild, and received the ‘Favorite Musician of the Year’ award in 2009 and 2012 at the Southern Gospel Fanfare. In 2007, he was voted into the Edmonson County, KY, Music Hall of Fame and has received numerous other awards and recognitions, including Grammy and Dove Award nominations.
For more about Jeff Stice click here.