Grace College to Host Nationally Acclaimed Recording Artist Liz Vice

Grace College will host nationally acclaimed recording artist and musician Liz Vice for its annual Sibs Weekend concert on Friday, September 9, at 7 p.m. Opening for Vice is the Indiana-based solo act Former Ruins (Levi Dylan Sikes). The concert will take place on Grace College’s campus on the lawn in front of Indy Hall (the corner of Wooster Road and King’s Highway). The free event is open to the public.

“I became familiar with Liz Vice through her solo recordings and her work with Porter’s Gate,” said Dr. Wally Brath, assistant professor of worship arts at Grace College. “I love the way she incorporates jazz, blues and soul music into her original songs and arrangements of hymns.”

A Portland native who currently resides in Brooklyn, Vice started her career working behind the scenes in the world of film and video only to accidentally find herself behind the mic. Vice’s sound is a fusion of gospel and R&B, with soulful vocals and lyrics deeply rooted in spirituality.

Vice’s music and live performances have put her on the map. She has been praised and featured by Oregon Public Broadcasts’ One Song, NPR’s World Cafe, Mountain Stage, eTown and NPR’s Weekend Edition. The title track for her first album “There’s a Light” received over one million streams on Spotify. The success of the record has led to Vice performing with artists such as The Temptations, Lecrae, John Mark McMillan, Sandra McCracken,  Josh Garrels and many more.

Opening for Vice is Former Ruins, an artist that, according to Brath, the Grace College worship arts program has followed and admired for some time.

“We appreciate how Former Ruins processes the complexities of living life as Christ followers in our current cultural context through their music,” said Brath.

Former Ruins has gained a local reputation for “hear-a-pin-drop” live performances. With arrangements punctured by atmospheric guitar work and a lyrical directness by way of an unvarnished baritone, Former Ruins carves deep angles into the familiar singer-songwriter genre and blurs the lines between 80s post-punk and salt-of-the-earth balladry, inviting listeners into a world of difficulty, mercy and wonder.

Former Ruins produced an eight-song debut titled “Large Startling,” with mixing assistance from Jon Class (Josh Garrels, Strahan and Silicone Boone). The album was officially released in March 2020.

“This concert is always an exciting event for the campus, but it is especially exciting for the students in the worship arts program,” said Brath. “Our students look forward to meeting the artists and interacting with them throughout the day of the concert.”

To learn more about the worship arts program at Grace College, visit www.grace.edu/programs/worship-arts/.