Randall Goodgame

Randall Goodgame is the son of surgeon John T. Goodgame, Jr. and his wife, Beth Goodgame, of Clearwater, Florida.[2][3] When he was nine years old, he began taking piano lessons along with his older brother and younger sister.[3] At age 15, he began studying under blind Brazilian pianist Manfredo Fest.[3] He began performing for local charity events, including fundraisers for Clearwater's Morton Plant Hospital.[4] While in high school, he performed with the Clearwater High Jazz Band, was captain of the swim team, and participated in the Student Government Association.[3][4] He graduated from Clearwater High School in 1992.[4]

As a freshman studying music and biology at Birmingham-Southern College, Goodgame won the Jazz Holiday scholarship, awarded by the Clearwater Jazz Holiday festival.[2] He later changed his major to English, reasoning that the exposure to various literary genres would improve his songwriting.[3] On weekends and vacations from college, Goodgame was the keyboardist for the Southern rock Black Creek Band, which released an album entitled Live from Gainesville during his tenure.[3] From February to August 1995, he toured the Southeastern United States with the band before returning to Birmingham-Southern to finish his degree.[3][4] A paper about his experience on the road became part of his senior project.[3]

In December 1995, Goodgame released his eponymous first album, Randall Goodgame.[4] Except for one track – a cover of Bob Dylan's I'll Be Your Baby Tonight – Goodgame composed the music and lyrics to all ten songs on the album.[3] In addition to performing the lead vocals, Goodgame also played the piano, acoustic guitar, harmonica, accordion and mandolin on the album.[4] Other performers accompanied him on the bass guitar and percussion instruments.[4] Released on Goodgame's own label, Redfish Records, much of the recording was done at Cliff Downs' studio in Nashville, Tennessee, but portions were recorded at Panda Studios in Clearwater.[3][4] Writing in MusicRow, Robert K. Oermann called Goodgame the "folkie find of the day" and called his debut album "a superb self-made CD that's full of memorable melodies, stirring production, ear-catching lyrics and personable vocal".[5]

After graduating from Birmingham-Southern in May 1996, Goodgame moved to Nashville.[6] Goodgame's cousin brought a copy of Randall Goodgame to a disc jockey at WCHZ-FM in Augusta, Georgia.[6] After receiving positive listener responses to the song "Momma Louise", the DJ invited Goodgame and his newly formed Randall Goodgame Band to play at a South by Southwest Music Festival in Augusta in October 1996.[6] Goodgame released his second album, Arkadelphia, in 2000, the same year he performed his first show in his hometown of Clearwater.[7]

Goodgame eventually began writing songs for contemporary Christian artists such as Caedmon's Call, Jason Gray, and The Midtown Project.[8] In 2001, he opened for Andrew Peterson, and in 2003, he joined Caedmon's Call and Jars of Clay on tour.[9][10][11] He wrote seven of the songs on Caedmon's Call's 2004 album Share the Well.[12] Also in 2004, Goodgame opened for Dove Award winner Ginny Owens' 15-state tour.[13]

In 2007, Goodgame collaborated with Peterson to release a children's album, Slugs & Bugs & Lullabies.[8] The album's popularity led to him being invited to compose songs for the Christian-themed cartoon series VeggieTales.[8] Goodgame continued the Slugs & Bugs brand with A Slugs & Bugs Christmas in 2010 and Slugs & Bugs Under Where? in 2011.[14] He has also released a Slugs & Bugs-themed curriculum for Vacation Bible School and does live performances as part of the Slugs and Bugs LIVE series.[14] An April 2015 Parents Life review of Goodgame's Sing the Bible with Slugs & Bugs – which features 18 tracks of direct Bible quotations set to music, said the album "possesses a high-quality artistic sensibility that few children's CDs maintain", adding that the songs would "have kids memorizing Scripture in no time".[15] The album was one of five nominees for Children's Music Album of the Year at the 47th Annual Dove Awards in 2015.[16]