Fans of local Christian rocker Matthew Eldridge don’t have to wait any longer.  Just in time for the Christmas season, Eldridge’s latest creation, “Wide Awake,” has just been released.  

“People kept asking me, ‘It’s been five years. When is your next CD coming out?” said Eldridge. The album is a mix of soul-searching, spirituality and hope. Eldridge performed and produced all of the vocals and instrumentals on the first five tracks. 

“Originally, I was writing a movie. The theme was about one man’s struggle,” said Eldridge. As he developed the story line, he wrote accompanying songs.  

“Kind of a Pink Floyd-feel,” said Eldridge. “But, unlike Floyd and the song, ‘The Wall,’ I wanted to include the hope that comes from Jesus.”

Lyric and script writing came to a screeching halt when Eldridge’s computer crashed. It took months to rebuild it.  

Meanwhile, Eldridge worked as a stand-in and body double for actors such as Jason Bateman, Adam Goldberg, Billy Burke and Carey Elwes. Song writing resumed and Eldridge even started writing a video for one of the songs. Royalties from his historical fiction fantasy, “Saint Nicholas, the Christmas Story,” came in. But, costs for creating the master CD and copies were expensive.

A mutual friend contacted Eldridge and told him, “God put it on his heart” to create the master for free. Another friend helped him with duplications. 

The limited edition will be his last rock album as Matthew Eldridge.  His next plan is to create a CD of country songs under his new name Matthew Hawk. “Wide Awake” is available for digital download on cdbaby.com, from amazon and iTunes. Eldridge can be contacted through his Facebook fan page at reverbnation.com/mattheweldridge.