Maranatha! Praise Band

Emerging in 1971 from a chapel located in Costa Mesa, California, Maranatha! Music was established by Chuck Smith, Jr. specifically to champion the praise & worship singers and songwriters then starting to appear beyond conventional church music circles. Over time the imprint expanded into a dominant force as both a publishing house and recording label within the CCM field. Among its initiatives were multiple continuing praise song album collections, one of the most prominent being the Praise Band series known for its guitar-driven worship music. Between 1989 and 1996 the initial seven volumes of that series appeared under the Maranatha Praise Band name and were helmed by musician Tommy Coomes. In 1996 Coomes departed to launch his own ensemble, the Tommy Coomes Band, yet because Maranatha retained ownership of the original name and the series itself, both carried on in the absence of Coomes and the founding musicians.