Things have not always been easy for Luke and Joel Smallbone, the brothers behind the Christian duo For King & Country, but it was the hard times that actually pushed the two into music that propelled them into fame.
Their father was a concert promoter in Australia, and the Smallbone children grew up with a lot of knowledge about music and its industry. However, things took a sour turn when the family moved to the United States in 1991.
"Dad lost his job," Luke told Arkansas Online. "We really had to pull together as a family."
Joel and Luke would often joke that their father needed cheap labour, and that is why he put his five preteen boys to work as stage managers and lighting directors, and to take on all sorts of jobs.
"That's when we finally learned the craft of music but fell in love with the art and the heart of music," he added.
The brothers are not complaining about the hard times, since it brought their family closer together, and they even developed a real respect and appreciation for music.
"It has a way of bypassing the head and going straight for the heart," Joel shared. "It was natural that if we were going to lean into this, that whether it was writing love songs or writing about God or writing about a friend who was struggling with depression that we were going to write purposefully."
The brothers have come a long way since their "hard times," and they have even been nominated for two Grammy Awards. But during the awards night, Joel and Luke were nowhere to be seen, since they were in Nashville for the Winter Jam Tour Spectacular.
They found out about their win while they were driving in the car. For King & Country won Best Contemporary Christian Music Album for Run Wild. Live Free. Love Strong. and Best Contemporary Christian Music/Performance Song for "Messengers."
They describe their win as "flabbergasting," and even though they really wanted to attend the ceremony, they already made a prior commitment. "We wanted to stand by that," Joel explained.
Their most recent album, Run Wild. Live Free. Love Strong, was inspired by two big events in their lives: Joel's marriage and a severe illness that threatened Luke's life.
"Those themes of love and hardship - physically, mentally, spiritually - are sort of laced into the record," shared Joel.