The Beginning:
Charlie Lowell and Dan Haseltine met at Greenville College and as sophomores wanted to start a band. Charlie, whose major was CCM, had studied II Cor 4:7 in high school, and he liked the Jars of Clay title as a name for a band. As this came together, it evolved into a four-piece group with Charlie on keys, Dan Haseltine on vocals, Steve Mason on guitar and Matt Bronleewe on guitar. They performed on campus and surrounding areas and were very well received. In April they submitted a demo tape to the judges of the Gospel Music Association, and they were selected to be one of ten bands slated to compete in the Association's Spotlight '94 talent competition, attended by a number of Music Industry people. Jars of Clay ended up taking the competition by storm - essentially, GMA was naming them the best unsigned band in the country. Their achievement naturally led to a flurry of attention: many of the top record companies in the Christian music industry wanted to sign this talented foursome.
The group's members decided to put their college educations on hold, and they began to explore the possibility of moving to Nashville and committing themselves full-time to the band and its potential ministry. Matt Bronleewee decided to leave the group at this time to pursue his business degree, and Charlie thought of his friend Matt Odmark as a new guitarist (they had played in a Christian band from 1987 to 1990 called Simple Truth). Matt had just completed his second year at the University of Rochester. He was serving the Church as an active volunteer youth leader and he also gave himself away to the kids as a leader with the Gates-Chili Young Life Club. After praying for 2 months over Charlie's offer, Matt decided to accept and move to Nashville.
