HM | The Hard Music Magazine

I just heard some sad news – that Dana Key just passed away.
Although he was an “old-timer” in rock and roll standards, he was still so young!
This guy was part of CCM early Christian rock pioneers Degarmo & Key.
While they got a little commercial and pop-oriented with their rock at the later stage of their career, some of their early albums (and their double LP live album) were really good and a staple of this scene.

I’m disappointed that I couldn’t have encouraged the guy one more time by telling him of the inclusion of the band’s Straight On album in our “Top 100 Christian Rock Albums of All Time” list. It’s coming out with our July/August issue in just a couple weeks. Not that it’s really that big of a deal, but praise and encouragement is a positive thing and it’s nice to be recognized for the hard work and creative work you’ve done. I know he heard a lot of people tell him that his music encouraged him. I was able to tell him about their early album, This Ain’t Hollywood, and how it played a pivotal role in my life.

My story is a “prodigal son” story. I accepted Christ at a young age (11) back in 1974. The Lord’s Holy Spirit had sort of invaded our family through my grandad’s influence, my oldest sister, then my dad and the rest of the family. We got to experience real life in the midst of the Jesus Movement revival of the early ’70s. My conversion was real. My life was changed. I learned about worship, read the Word, prayed, saw God use me to lead two friends to Christ … but, for some reason or another, I slowly but surely started slipping away, putting my self on the throne and living for my self instead of for the Lord. After moving to California and slowly embracing a life of pure hedonism I became a fairly wild party boy. In the summertime between my sophomore and junior year of college I was at home with my parents in Florida. A friend there, named Greg Taylor, had recently gotten right with God in his own little prodigal son story and began praying for me to come to the Lord. He would fast and pray for me and weep over the condition of my soul in prayer. After seeing Mylon LeFevre play a beach concert on Ft. Walton Beach, FL a couple days prior, I was at my friend’s house and we were talking about the Lord. I knew there was a cost to pay (my old lifestyle would have to die) and it was a sobering moment. He put on a song by DeGarmo & Key and said, “This song was written several hundred miles away in Tennessee, but it was written for you,” and he put on “You Gave Me All,” which had a line that said, “I knew your rules, I read your book, but my heart was cold as steel…”

That was the night I surrendered to the Lord and I haven’t regretted that decision one bit. It’s neat how that song made a profound impact on me that night. It described the condition of my heart, which broke and I wept before the Lord for the first time in 9 years. I’m grateful for Dana Key and his faithfulness and his creativity.

I’ll always remember his little sermonette on the live album, where he talked about the story of Jesus walking on the water. I’ll paraphrase him here: “…we’ve all heard the story: about how Peter said, if it’s You, Lord, tell me and I’ll come to you. He jumped out of the boat and started walking towards him. We’ve all heard about how he saw the waves and began to doubt and he sunk and Jesus had to reach out to save him. But (and here’s the point he so eloquently made) Peter is the only one that got out of the dry boat.” It was an encouragement to jump in, to take a chance and do something for the Lord.

Seeing how this news is still fresh, let me state that it could be unconfirmed at this point. For our sake, I hope it is a false report, but I am trusting that it’s accurate. Here’s the link we got.

I knew from the beginning of this list idea I had two years ago that the D&K album Straight On would probably end up on it. There’s a gritty rock and roll passion that they tapped into with that album. The song “Livin’ on the Edge of Dyin’” sounded like it could have been an outtake from Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run album. It wasn’t a copy. I mean, the only way to copy Bruce from that era is to just wear your heart on your sleeve and let it all come rockin’ out, which is what they did. It’s a high point in the history of Christian rock, to be sure.

Our hearts go out to Dana Key’s family and his church family and community. We have temporarily lost a good man, but our family in Heaven is no doubt enjoying his face-to-face company now.