You practically can't turn on the TV these days without hearing tobyMac.
The NFL Network, ESPN, Fox Sports Channel, the Fox series "Prison Break," even the ABC crime drama "Women's Murder Club," all feature his music.
How does a Christian rock/funk/hip-hop artist end up as a crossover hit on mainstream TV? It's a question tobyMac has heard frequently since his "Portable Sounds" CD caught the ears of TV producers.
"People often ask me, 'How did you get all that?' " he said in a recent telephone interview. "I don't know — they just heard the song. There was no magical trail to it."
His local fans have an opportunity to hear more than just snippets of his music Thursday, March 6, when tobyMac and Jeremy Camp bring their Boomin' Beyond Measure tour to Hersheypark Arena. Matthew West will open the show.
Maybe the attention to songs like "Ignition" and "Boomin'" and "The Slam" and "Feelin' So Fly" will diversify the crowd beyond the usual Christian audience, he said.
Or maybe not.
"I would hope that songs being placed on films, songs being played on radio stations, would draw people —seekers, or people who are maybe just interested in the music," he said.
"But I try my best as an artist to just write songs that I feel are moving through me. Let who comes and who distributes it take care of itself."
This week's concert will be the second time in less than a year that tobyMac — Kevin Michael "Toby" McKeehan — has performed here. In April, he played to a packed house at Lancaster County Bible Church.
What's different this time, he said, is that he's sharing top billing with Camp, who recently released "Beyond Measure."
"We're each playing a nice, full, long set," he said. "Our music is different, and we sort of communicate differently in our show. Together, it's really a powerful night, in my opinion.
"He is sort of moodier worship rock. And then we come out and we're sort of like this positive party with moments [when] all of a sudden we stop and reflect for a minute — and then the party starts again."
Either artist could have headlined his own tours. Instead, they decided to "humble ourselves and say, 'Hey, maybe one plus one equals three.'"
TobyMac talked about the new tour from a stop in Medford, Ore. What's hardest about being on the road, he said, is being away from his wife, Amanda, and five children in Franklin, Tenn.
"I try to shoot out three or four days and get home three or four days," but playing on the West Coast makes it more challenging.
His oldest son, Truett, or "TruDog," turns up on his dad's CDs and even has his own T-shirt on the Web site (
www.tobymac.com), but Truett doesn't tour.
"It's not like we're trying to market him yet."
McKeehan was one-third of the Christian music phenomenon dc Talk, a band that grew after he and Michael Tait met as students at Liberty University. Kevin Max joined later.
Following the release of the greatest-hits compilation "Intermission" in 2000 and the "Solo" EP in 2001, the members of dc Talk parted ways. TobyMac's way led to a fusion of rock and rap that propelled him to the top of the Christian music charts.
He has won seven solo Dove Awards and was nominated for two Grammy Awards this year (for "Portable Sounds" and the song "Made to Love"). He's up for five more Doves on April 23.
The interracial dc Talk was known for its emphasis on racial justice and diversity, and tobyMac has carried that theme into his solo work. It shows in the membership of his Diverse City band.
After his first album, "Momentum," in 2001, he released "Welcome to Diverse City" in 2004 and followed up with "Portable Sounds" in 2007.
One of the themes woven through "Welcome to Diverse City" and "Portable Sounds" is the challenge of balancing a life tugged between his music, touring, promoting his Gotee Records label, family and God.
"Lose My Soul," with Kirk Franklin and Mandisa, pleads, "I don't want to gain the whole world and lose my soul."
"To keep that balancing act, it takes me being in the right head space," he said. "Or if not, it takes people — my friends, my family, my wife — being honest enough with me to move me in that direction. Meaning it takes confrontation and accountability.
"Probably my most passionate prayer over the last 10 years [has been] that God would put people around me ... who tell me the truth about myself."
As his music continues to climb out of the Christian market and into the mainstream, tobyMac holds no illusions about the appeal of his songwriting.
"I'm sure they don't know what those songs are about," he said, "and it's just a big hook with a big guitar riff and somebody yelling over top of that."
But maybe people who hear the NASCAR or NFL or Fox promos will log onto iTunes and buy the songs.
"The message behind the song means a lot to me," he said, "but I'm also passionate about making music that is intense and passionate.
"If it's the music hooking them or the message, I'm about it. I'm about making great art."
TobyMac and Jeremy Camp will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 6, at Hersheypark Arena, 100 W. Hersheypark Drive, with special guest Matthew West. For ticket information, call 534-3911.
Helen Colwell Adams is a Sunday News staff writer. E-mail her at hcolwell@lnpnews.com, or phone 291-4962. 
