nick Schrader Music
nick schrader
A Holy Fool for Christ
Nick Schrader’s first Full-length album, “Holy Fool”
Focus tracks: Joy; Thunder Love; Notice
“I wasn’t always such a holy fool
but You are so good”
songs i released a few years back…
Live Performance of my song,“Truth”
What if a Christian album could sound like queen meets keith green?
Nick Schrader was born and raised in a large family. Nick came to develop a deep passion for music through things like piano lessons and church children’s choir. A musical theatre kid, he grew up around showtunes and soundtracks to plays like 'Prince of Egypt’ and ‘West Side Story’. So when he started writing songs from his prayer times with Jesus, what came out were dramatic, theatrical numbers about walking with God. Nick’s music naturally embodies a whimsical kind of feel--some have said his songs are like "Pixar and the Holy Spirit". Given how piano-driven and ‘rock-opera’ his music can get, Nick likes to think he’s trying to be like his heroes Queen or Keith Green. He calls is “Keith Queen”.
Regardless of classification, though, Nick's highest hope is that his music would encourage the Body of Christ--that it would resonate with all the saints in the room, the joyful and the jaded. In all honesty, he has found himself being both on his own journey with Jesus. Nick hopes all of his music reminds those listening that following the Lord can be confusing, but His company is worth every penny we spend.
His new album, “Holy Fool”, is his first full-length effort.
Nick’s First Full Length Record
so i made a record and I am pretty proud of it.
(more truthfully, I made a record with the help of a crowd of talented individuals. But the second part still stands: I am pretty proud of it.)
I want to call the project “Holy Fool”; its heartbeat is to celebrate wonder & childlike faith...
…Which might feel strange coming from a guy like me—I can be a bit jaded at times. A recovering church kid from a fundamental evangelical background, I know what it’s like to be disillusioned by religion & Christian culture—to be the ‘bruised reed’ that Jesus talks about. I am comfortable being cynical.
but this album is anti-cynical.
Each song tumbled out of a personal prayer time with Jesus, over many years and seasons throughout my walk with Him.
My hope is that every listener will hear this message:
“no matter how confusing life gets—jesus is consistently good and worth chasing after.”
Production for Holy Fool started in the summer of 2023; for the past several months I have been working on putting all my time and energy into making this record. My prayer and desire is that God will use these songs to reach listeners who want to believe in Jesus, but can’t shake their cynicism. Or folks who want to say that God is good, but have trouble ignoring the headlines or their personal doubts.
I believe your unanswered questions don’t have to stop you from giving your fullest passion to God. Your fears or suspicions don’t need to interrupt your worship from being completely and totally undignified.
This project was brought to life by a multitude of talented people—My producer Daniel Ely being one of them!
the “team captain”, daniel brought so much enthusiasm, imagination, and organization to the table. this record wouldn’t have been possible without him.
Live Band Recording Days
throughout the production of holy fool, we scheduled three full days in Gray Matters Studios (hosted and engineered by the legend Matt Odmark of Jars of Clay).
Session Musician Credits:
Drums:
Jonathan Truman (Judah & the Lion; Stephen Day; Jordy Searcy)
Electric Guitar:
Darrick Strauss (Colton Dixon; Jason Crabb; Kate Cosentino)
Evan Redwine (Chris Renzema; Indelible Grace VII; Maisen)
Bass:
Kevin Gift Jr (Lauren Daigle, CeCe Winans, Ricky Skaggs)
Jacob Lowery (Michael W. Smith; Matt Maher; Cece Winans; Brandon Lake)
live string recording sessions
Production of the record included three live string studio sessions with the incredible Fox Den Quartet—a team of strings players that is led by Kara and Jared Fox.
The Fox Den credits:
Carly Rae Jepsen
Cody Fry
Jon Foreman
Audrey Assaud
These live strings became one of the most important elements of the project. holy fool wouldn’t sound the same without them.
here is the fox den tracking one of my favorite strings moments on the record, the climax of the song “Notice”
some favorite moments in my music journey:
opening shows for inspiring Christian artists such as Sara Groves, Skye Peterson, & Jimmy Needham
performing shows in homes, churches, bars, coffee shops, and community centers around the country
mentoring younger, newer artists and songwriters through the arts fellowship in orlando
