TobyMac Drops “I just need U. [REMIX]”
Feb 25, 2018 Artist Updates
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Trace Adkins “Jammin’ To Beat The Blues” with Jason Crabb
Feb 25, 2018 Artist Updates
JASON CRABB JOINS TRACE ADKINS FOR ‘JAMMIN’ TO BEAT THE BLUES’ TO BENEFIT MENTAL HEALTH AMERICA OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE
Trace Adkins & Friends Will Perform at Ryman Auditorium on March 21 at 7:30 PM
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—In recent years, country icon Trace Adkins has made it his mission through his music to give back to those who need it most. The singer/songwriter was a spokesperson for both the Wounded Warrior Project and the American Red Cross and has participated in 12 USO Tours for our service men and women. On March 21 at the historic Ryman Auditorium, Adkins will be teaming up with a handful of musical friends to benefit Mental Health America of Middle Tennessee.
“Jammin’ to Beat the Blues” with Trace Adkins & Friends will feature an exciting lineup of some of today’s best artists. The first artist announced for this special evening is one of the most celebrated vocalists in Christian music, Jason Crabb. The GRAMMY Award winner and recipient of 21 GMA Dove Awards has performed on some of the most prestigious stages across the world and is known for his powerful, emotive voice.
“Jason’s career highlights, with multiple Dove Awards and a GRAMMY will impress you but his incredible voice will move you,” shares Adkins.
More special guests will be announced in the coming weeks.
For more information on “Jammin’ to Beat the Blues,” visit http://tadkins.co/tanashville.
About Mental Health America of Middle Tennessee
Mental Health America of Middle Tennessee (formerly known as Mental Health Association of Middle Tennessee) was founded in 1946 by Vanderbilt’s first Chair of Psychiatry, Dr. Frank Luton with underwriting by the Junior League of Nashville. Our mission is to connect the community with specialized mental health and wellness resources, provide services that improve the quality of life, and promote effective services where mental health needs exist. Over the years, the MHAMT has worked diligently to educate all members of our community about how to attain good mental health. We share our message of hope for mental wellness to thousands of individuals annually.
By being a front-line resource for the community for so many decades, MHAMT is in a position to identify important mental health needs in Middle Tennessee, and we often facilitate the development of programs to meet those needs or enhance resources to address service gaps.
VISIBLE MUSIC COLLEGE PRESIDENT KEN STEORTS PRESENTS AT 6TH ANNUAL WE LOVE CHRISTIAN MUSIC AWARDS
Feb 25, 2018 Artist Updates
Steorts Joined by Visible Alum Marci Coleman as Innovative Christian Music College Supports Unique Music Awards Program Celebrating Christian Music
Visible Music College served as the headline sponsor of the 6th annual WE LOVE Christian Music Awards’ Together WE LOVE results show, streamed via Facebook Live from Nashville, Tennessee, on February 13, 2018. Pictured (L to R): Dr. Ken Steorts, President of Visible Music College, joined forces with Visible Music College alum & Madison Line Records recording artist Marci Coleman to present recording artist Spencer Kane with the award for Best Music Video for “This is the Intro.” (WE LOVE Christian Music Awards photo)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (February 23, 2018) – Visible Music College, one of the most innovative bachelor’s degree-granting music colleges in the country, was the exclusive sponsor of the 6th Annual WE LOVE Christian Music Awards, and its results show, dubbed Together WE LOVE, which was broadcast via Facebook Live from Nashville, Tennessee on Tuesday, February 13, 2018.
Hosted by Ben Calhoun of Citizen Way and produced by the largest Christian music site online, NewReleaseToday (NRT), the exclusive two-hour Together WE LOVE event was held at Nashville’s Full Circle Music studios and was attended by tens of thousands of Christian music fans via the Facebook Live broadcast. In addition, fans were given the opportunity to show their love by giving to relief organization Convoy Of Hope.
As the awards were being presented to some of the top Christian artists in the world, Visible Music College president, Dr. Ken Steorts (one of the original founding members of the award-winning, Double Platinum-selling Christian rock band Skillet), and Visible Music College alum and Madison Line Records recording artist Marci Coleman were on hand to help with the festivities. Among other duties at the show, the pair presented the award for Best Music Video to Spencer Kane for “This is the Intro.”
“The WE LOVE Christian Music Awards program is unique in its focus on fan input and multiple categories of music and content,” says Steorts. “We decided to sponsor the WE LOVE Christian Music Awards because we are an unashamedly Christian and modern music college. While we teach, create and perform all styles of music in the church and mainstream music industry, we love Christians making music and we love the music they make! We love NewReleaseToday being the source for Christian music globally, and we work together to train and equip musicians to bring the gospel and good life message to people across all genres and cultures.”
The Together WE LOVE show featured a record breaking 86 nominees in 24 categories in what proved to be the WE LOVE Christian Music Awards’ most diverse year to date. Big winners included Jamie Grace, who took home The PopLITE Award (Pop Contemporary Album of the Year), Female Artist of the Year, and Fan Impact Award; and Tauren Wells, who walked away with The Hook Award (Pop Album of the Year), Best Cover Song, and Male Artist of the Year. Other winners included Matthew West, As We Ascend, MercyMe, Natalie Grant, Travis Greene, Kari Jobe, Lecrae and a host of others. Nominees in each category were determined by the editorial staff at NewReleaseToday, and winners were chosen by the fans.
Together WE LOVE also featured a number of never-before-seen performances, mash-ups and team-ups, including Marc Martel covering Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now,” Iron Bell Music covering Travis Greene’s “You Waited,” Jamie Grace performing The PopLITE Award Medley, Todd Smith of Selah and Natasha Owens performing The Encounter Award Medley, Matthew West performing “Broken Things,” and many others.
“We’re so excited to have found a partner that is so invested in equipping and training the next generation of worship leaders, artists and music industry professionals,” says NewReleaseToday president Kevin McNeese. “Visible Music College is the perfect partner as we continue to showcase the full world of Christian music.”
“This event really was all about love,” adds Marcus Hathcock, NRT Executive Editor and Co-Producer of the show. “The artists showed love for one another and the community of musicians. We got to show love for the winners by recognizing them. The fans got to show love by giving to Convoy of Hope. And we all got to encounter the love of Jesus through these songs, and the whole night, really.”
“The team at NewReleaseToday has hit a nerve that needed touching–the multi-ethnic world of Christians making music for the church and the world,” notes Steorts. “Every genre and focus of Christians making music is represented in the WE LOVE Christian Music Awards, and the global voting is a new reach for the music industry and for Christians making music.”
Fans who missed the live event can still access the full broadcast of the 6th Annual WE LOVE Christian Music Awards’ Together WE LOVE show on demand at NRT.cc/WeLoveBroadcast. For more information about the WE LOVE Christian Music Awards, visit WeLoveAwards.com.
For more information about Visible Music College, visit visible.edu.
AUDREY ASSAD RELEASES EVERGREEN ALBUM TODAY
Feb 25, 2018 New Release
AUDREY ASSAD RELEASES EVERGREEN ALBUM TODAY
AMIDST 5-STAR ACCLAIM
“One of the richest musical experiences of the year” – NewReleaseToday.com
Chips away at “bad ideas about God” – RELEVANT Magazine
One of the top “albums to know” – CCM Magazine
“New and Noteworthy” – Sojourners Magazine
“Masterpiece” – Aleteia
Acclaimed singer, songwriter and author Audrey Assad releases amidst 5-star acclaim today (Feb. 23) her first album of all new songs in four years, Evergreen, from Fortunate Fall Records with Tone Tree Music distribution. The album is available at digital and streaming outlets globally, with iTunes, Spotify, Amazon.com and Apple Music accessible now through the link https://rma.lnk.to/evergreen.
Forging through the flames of personal pain in the deepest corners of her broken heart, Assad’s Evergreen features songs of rebirth, identity, the rebuilding of trust and discovery of joy and love. The album was conceptualized in the summer of 2016 when Assad reignited her musical friendship with “I Shall Not Want” co-writer Bryan Brown, who co-wrote and co-produced “Evergreen,” the first song from the sessions that cemented the album’s title.
“I remember looking up the tree of life and finding out that it was believed in some Jewish traditions to be a sycamore fig tree, which is evergreen,” recalls Assad. “I loved the idea that the tree of life, which I had always naively imagined to be some little backyard fruit tree, was actually a towering, season-less one. It is also said to be the sort of tree that Zacchaeus climbed to see Jesus, and that story has been a great comfort to me…”
The lead single from Evergreen, “Deliverer,” hearkens back to Assad’s hit-making streak on Sparrow Records, beginning with self-restrained beauty that eventually blossoms into a wall of sound as it speaks of Assad’s attempt to look at the term from fresh angles. “All along I had thought Jesus was my deliverer from God—it turns out that, among other things, Jesus actually delivers me from my worst ideas about God.”
Another standout on the album named a “masterpiece” by Aleteia is the sublime gentleness of the piano ballad “Drawn to You,” which includes a chorus co-written with Matt Maher while the verses were written after Assad’s first connection with her trauma therapist. “I wanted to compose something that honored my grief, and the pain in every human heart that might find a refuge in the song.”
There’s also the Celtic-flavored stomp “Wounded Healer,” which was co-produced with Ben Shive (Andrew Peterson, Brandon Heath, Colony House) and inspired in part by a book by Henri Nouwen of the same name. “I heard the term first from him and fell in love with the idea that Jesus rose from the dead still bearing his wounds and went to heaven with a wounded body. It’s something I try to meditate on frequently, to seek out what mysteries God might be revealing about himself in it. I hoped to achieve an Irish sense of melody without a lot of traditional Irish sounds—layering and editing synth samples and pianos to create the sound for the opening line was one of my favorite things I did on the whole project.”
Receiving Apple Music / iTunes “Hot Tracks” and “Pre-Orders” features, adds to Spotify playlists such as “WorshipNow” and “New Music Friday Christian,” and placement on Amazon Music “Fresh Christian,” “Top Worship Songs” and more, Assad’s Evergreen is also gathering recent or upcoming covers, features and reviews in such diverse and significant media outlets as Charisma Magazine, Catholic Digest, HomeLife Magazine, Simple Grace, CatholicTV, JesusFreakHideout.com, HollywoodJesus.com, Worship Musician and many others.
Relevant Magazine says Evergreen is “chipping away at bad ideas about God” while Sojourners Magazine names the album “new and noteworthy.”
Highlighted as one of the top “albums to know,” CCM Magazine says the album mixes “courage, vulnerability, and hope in her poetic lyricism, lovely piano melodies and pristine voice” as The Christian Beat echoes that Evergreen is “a compilation of stirring and moving melodic songs” and Today’s Christian Entertainment adds that it’s “certain to be one of this year’s most memorable releases.”
“Trying to process all of the themes on Evergreen feels a little like excavating gems from marble: the treasures are deep and manifold, but even the process of handling such a quality encasement for them is a pleasure in and of itself,” writes NewReleaseToday.com’s Mary Nikkel in her first 5-star review in four years. “If you are a mourner, a worshipper, a skeptic or in any desperate want of spiritual shelter, Evergreen will feel like home to you…Evergreen will be one of the richest musical experiences of the year.”
“I hope that Evergreen is a healing oil in the wounds of whoever comes across it. I am stumbling towards health and wholeness and I desire that for anyone who hears this music,” shares Assad. “I recognize that some of the themes and stylistic choices are perhaps slightly different than where I have been camping as an artist for the past few years—but I am hopeful that it will be a solace and sanctuary for anyone who needs peace and joy in their lives. It has been a labor of hard-won love and emerged from the deepest parts of my spirit.”
For more information on Audrey Assad and Evergreen, go to www.audreyassad.com, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.com.
About Audrey Assad:
Lauded by the New York Times, multiple Dove Award nominee and iTunes Christian Breakthrough Album of the Year recipient (The House You’re Building, 2010) Assad releases music she calls “soundtracks for prayer” on Fortunate Fall Records. In addition to her top-charting albums, Audrey speaks about art, faith, womanhood, justice and pornography addiction at Catholic and evangelical events such as Q Ideas, Focus Conferences and more. She has written songs for Matt Maher, Christy Nockels, Brett Younker, Sarah Hart, Meredith Andrews and others, is featured on Chris Tomlin’s RIAA certified Gold record, Glory in the Highest (2009), and her cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” is heard in the fall 2016 season opener of NBC’s Timeless.
Having toured with Tenth Avenue North, Matt Maher, Jars of Clay and others, Audrey has further been featured at World Youth Day 2016 (Poland), Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral and during the Papal Event “World Meeting of Families.” She also writes reflective and devotional entries for the likes of Christianity Today, the Magnificat and Blessed is She.
About Tone Tree Music:
Established in 2010, Tone Tree Music offers sales, retail marketing and distribution for independent artists. Tone Tree Music has represented such acclaimed artists as The Civil Wars, Lindsey Stirling, Audrey Assad, Holly Williams, Peter Bradley Adams, Jars of Clay, Ruelle, Joy Williams, Birdtalker, HalfNoise, Marc Scibilia and more. (www.tonetreemusic.com)
MICHAEL W. SMITH RELEASES SURROUNDED THIS FRIDAY, FEB. 23
Feb 22, 2018 Artist Updates
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MICHAEL LIVE STREAMS SOLD-OUT ALBUM RELEASE CONCERT HIGHLIGHTS FROM MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE EVENT FEB. 23
PARADE PREMIERE STREAMS LIVE WORSHIP ALBUM TODAY
STUDIO ALBUM A MILLION LIGHTS DEBUTS AT NO. 1 ON SALES CHARTS
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Multi-Platinum, three-time Grammy® Award winning artist, best-selling author and acclaimed actor Michael W. Smith releases his highly anticipated live worship album, Surrounded, Feb. 23 from Rocketown Records and The Fuel Music. The acclaimed recording, featuring the declarative “Surrounded (Fight My Battles)” and “Light To You,” premiere streams today from Parade at https://parade.com/648204/laurawhitmore/exclusive-album-premiere-michael-w-smith-is-glorious-on-live-worship-album-surrounded/ and will be available Friday at digital retail and streaming outlets everywhere, including iTunes, Spotify and Amazon.com, where it became the No. 1 “Hot New Release.”
Michael also streams his “Surrounded By A Million Lights World Tour” opener and album release launch event highlights via Facebook Live from his sold-out, Feb. 23 Museum Of The Bible concert in Washington, DC. Hosted by Michael and WAVA Radio, all the latest detail on this event can be found on Michael’s Facebook.
The concept for the new worship album came into focus for Michael as he was writing the music for his USA Today, Yahoo! Music, Billboard and CCM Magazine-acclaimed studio album A Million Lights, which was released last week and quickly shot to No. 1 on iTunes and Amazon.com’s Christian music charts. Already inspired to create new music in a countercultural response to the divisive national sentiment of 2017 and the mean-spirited banter on social media, Michael was drawn to the passage in Amos 5:23-24 where God was rejecting the songs of His people, preferring justice instead.
“It floored me,” Michael confessed in Charisma Magazine, “It absolutely threw me up against the wall, and I started to reexamine everything that I did. I realized at that moment that worship and justice go side by side, and if justice is not a part of what you’re doing worship-wise, then it’s not going to work.”
Michael, who serves as a worship leader at his church, decided to gather a diverse chorus of voices and record a full-length live album in the round at The Factory / Jamison Hall in Franklin, TN Nov. 2. With the resulting album, Surrounded, his desire is to unify the Church’s diverse expressions into one passionate, joyful cry of worship.
“I feel God moving through His Church and He is calling us together to be one voice and one heart. One bride. Every nation, every tribe and every tongue. Every social class, every denomination.
“What if we bring Him the thing that pleases Him most– our unity,” implores Michael. “We may each have different stories, and skin, and songs, but we all share His same Spirit.”
Taking the music from both acclaimed new albums along with fan favorites from his extensive repertoire on the road, Michael’s “Surrounded By A Million Lights World Tour” continues following the Museum of the Bible event on March 8 in Rochester, MN and traverses the Eastern half of the US into 19-plus cities before wrapping up May 11 in Houston, TX. Presented by Compassion International, this spring leg of the tour is joined by special guest Nathan Tasker. Michael also works into this schedule his 10-day “Israel Tour 2018” beginning April 10. For all his latest tour detail, go to http://michaelwsmith.com/tour/.
In many ways, Michael is a statesman, at the fulcrum of Christian music in pivotal moments It is said that the heart of a lion never goes away, and Michael isn’t content staying with the equilibrium. At a loss for what his voice should be toward the end of 2016, this prolific artist comes roaring back with A Million Lights and Surrounded.
“Until the world ends, music is the most powerful language there is,” says Michael. “It can transform your life on every level, not just the spiritual. It can help people reconnect with why they’re here.”
For all the latest Michael W. Smith tour dates and more news, go to www.michaelwsmith.com and connect through his socials:
About Michael W. Smith: Michael has been releasing new music regularly and performing around the world to sold-out crowds for the last 30+ years. During his storied career, he’s written 32 No. 1 singles, been honored with three Grammy Awards and 45 Dove Awards, was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and has sold more than 15 million albums. He’s also given back to the global community. Michael has raised funds to battle AIDS in Africa; started Rocketown, a safe haven for young people in Tennessee to meet and find hope; and has helped more than 70,000 children through Compassion International.
About The Fuel Music: Established in 2008, The Fuel Music & Management, LLC, is a leading artist management and artist solutions company that independently distributes music internationally. Based in Nashville, TN, the Fuel team brings nearly 70 years of combined music industry experience in record label operations, major label distribution and marketing, and artist management for artists ranging from upstart bands to GRAMMY Award nominated, multi-platinum artists. More information on the company can be found at www.thefuelmusic.com.
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Newsboys United Launch History-Making Tour With String of Sellouts
Feb 22, 2018 Artist Updates
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Faith-Forward Pop Duo LOVECOLLIDE Is Tired of Basic
Feb 13, 2018 Artist Updates
Faith-Forward Pop Duo LOVECOLLIDE Is Tired of Basic
By Marcus Hathcock
In today’s culture, to be “basic” is to be someone who is driven by mainstream behaviors and attractions. It’s the essence of fitting in, living from the baseline of acceptability.
Lauren DeLeary Budnick and Brooke DeLeary aren’t having it.
The sisters, known collectively as the faith-forward pop duo LOVECOLLIDE, have spent their young lives bucking trends, shattering expectations and defying norms–in essence, being anything but basic.
“We like to think outside the box and challenge others not to live the basic life,” says Lauren, “but to step out into the unknown and live out the life that God has called them to.”
“That’s the theme, that’s the mission–an extraordinary life,” Brooke adds. “Living in a way where you can never be labeled, like Jesus. Starting revival by being the light, being different, showing who Jesus is through us.”
Having started a band together when they were just tweens, Brooke and Lauren have watched God take something that began as a sibling side project and turned it into a poignant ministry. They’ve released several independent recordings together, toured across the U.S., done modeling and film gigs, and have shared the stage with some of Christian music’s biggest names. They’ve also been able to minister in Canada, something that’s particularly meaningful as tribal members of the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation in Muncey, Ontario.
It’s been a solid run so far. But with the release of their first major, nationally distributed album, Tired Of Basic (The Fuel Music), LOVECOLLIDE is formally making their introduction to the larger music world and is poised to vastly expand their sphere of influence.
With their 10 new tracks, the sisters have crafted a soundtrack for the revolution–a revolution against boredom, mediocrity and status quo living. It’s a message that isn’t just for the band’s audience; it’s for the band, too.
Sonically, Tired Of Basic finds LOVECOLLIDE at their musical peak, experimenting with new, cutting edge sounds that stand up to the best Top 40 radio has to offer. Armed with the prowess of new producers Riley Friesen (Family Force 5, Group 1 Crew) and Matt Dally (Superchick, Jamie Grace), LOVECOLLIDE has found its perfect match to achieve the sound they want to accompany their lyrics.
“We’ve always wanted to be current,” says Lauren. “It’s always been a journey for us, and always will be. I think our biggest goal with this new music and this new album was to create something that truly sounded like what we listen to on a daily basis, and what gets us going, and that’s dancy pop.”
Lyrically, the themes of Tired Of Basic pull from some seismic ups and downs of the past two years.
Lauren, for one, dealt with the devastation of having to break off an engagement.
“I thought I was supposed to settle for that mediocre love, that my dreams for marrying my best friend and the love of my life were for someone else,” she says. “I’d just given up in a sense, but God radically changed my life when I broke off that relationship. Then God gave me Adam.”
That’s Adam Budnick, LOVECOLLIDE’s drummer, whom Lauren married January 6, 2018. The couple’s engagement and wedding story, along with photos, can be seen at The Knot.
Meanwhile, as hatred, racism and division have been at the forefront of public consciousness, the negativity took a very personal toll on Brooke, sending her into a suffocating depression.
“I lost myself for a long time,” she recalls. “I lost my connection with the world because I couldn’t handle all the negativity. I spent a lot of time in bed, detached.”
Tired, out of options and feeling the pit of despair getting deeper, Brooke decided to fast for the first time in her life. In that process, God began to speak.
“He said to me, ‘I can’t begin a new thing in your life when you still have old things,’” Brooke remembers. “‘I can’t fill you up when you’re still full with what was left over.’ That kind of turned things around.”
New music emerged. New partners surfaced. A new sound rose up. And the name LOVECOLLIDE took on a whole new dimension.
“We want to unite, love people, love each other, giving without expectation,” Brooke adds. “With how we live our life, with our music, with everything–we want to slap people in the face with love!”
And LOVECOLLIDE primarily seeks to do that through their songwriting, which has grown and deepened on Tired Of Basic.
Powerhouse album opener “Awake” uses earworm hooks to address the concept that many people are alive in Christ, but are, as the sisters say, essentially sleepwalking through life. Fun crowd-pleaser “I Believe In Loud” is a declaration of boldly declaring the hope of Jesus to a hopeless world.
One song, “Breaking My Heart,” is a love song written about humanity from God’s perspective. Lauren and Brooke were able to draw emotions and language from their broken past relationships to bring language to the longing expressed in this downtempo pop jam.
On the emotional first radio single, “I Don’t Want It,” LOVECOLLIDE shares about the things they learned as they questioned the band’s future.
“We were debating, kind of at the point of do or don’t with LOVECOLLIDE,” Brooke says. “We were calling out to God, saying, ‘I don’t want this if it’s without you.’ That song is about holding our dreams up to God.”
And the ethereal and introspective “Maybe” is perhaps the most vulnerable track on the new record as it presents a raw, yet hopeful cry out to God about difficult times.
“It’s basically asking God if He’s gone away,” says Lauren. “It’s this questioning, telling God, ‘Maybe you didn’t leave, maybe You won’t go away, maybe You are on the other side of this. Maybe You won’t let go.”
Armed with a perspective and a confidence that comes from their all-in, risky faith and the stories it produced, LOVECOLLIDE is poised to make more of an impact than ever.
“We want our music to be an experience, not just something to listen to,” says Lauren. “We want the vibe, the style, the feels we give people and the love they receive to be something they remember, something that changes them.”
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YPER TO RELEASE NEW STUDIO ALBUM, “GOD DAMN EVIL,” APRIL 20T
Feb 11, 2018 Artist Updates, New Release
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Andrew Peterson Releases Resurrection Letters, One Album, Three Parts, Ten Years In The Making – Prologue – Vol. I – Vol. II
Feb 9, 2018 Artist Updates
| ANDREW PETERSON RELEASES RESURRECTION LETTERS,
ONE ALBUM, THREE PARTS, TEN YEARS IN THE MAKING PROLOGUE – VOL. I – VOL. II
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Dove Award-nominated recording artist, songwriter and award-winning author Andrew Peterson announces the long-awaited album Resurrection Letters, Vol. I, which will release March 30 and will be preceded by this week’s (Feb. 9) launch of Resurrection Letters: Prologue. Both recordings will release globally from Centricity Music, and Prologue will be available Friday, Feb. 9 from digital retailers everywhere and through https://AndrewPeterson.lnk.to/Prologue.
Produced by Ben Shive, Resurrection Letters, Vol. I is the prequel (think Star Wars) to the highly acclaimed album Peterson released and Shive produced in 2008, Resurrection Letters, Vol. II. While Vol. II is more about the implications of Christ’s resurrection victory over sin and death in our own lives two thousand years later, Vol. I begins with the heartbeat of the resurrected Christ while exploring the resurrection itself and its centrality to Christianity. Ten years in the making, the celebratory new volume is meant to move listeners to a greater gratitude, awe and love for God.
Releasing in time for Easter, Resurrection Letters, Vol. I features songs like “Is He Worthy,” “I’ve seen Too Much” and “His Heart Beats,” the latter track being heard on Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God tour last year. The song is about that glorious moment in the tomb when Jesus, who was dead, came back to life.
“My dream for Resurrection Letters, Vol. I is that it would be the kind of record people turned up to eleven on Easter Sunday, when Christians all over the world celebrate something that happened—it really happened—two millennia ago,” says Peterson.
“But it felt odd writing about Christ’s victory over death without spending at least some time on his death itself,” he continues. “That led to the idea of Resurrection Letters: Prologue… In the spirit of Lent, the season of fasting that precedes Easter, we put together Prologue, a collection of five songs that take us from the last words of Jesus on the cross to his interment in the tomb. And then comes the long wait for Sunday morning.”
These “waiting songs” on Prologue are meant to remind listeners of the gravity of the crucifixion and to pique longing for the moment when morning breaks and Christ triumphs over the grave.
“The hope proclaimed by Scripture is that Jesus, now at the right hand of the Father, is making all things new—and that includes you and me and all of creation,” says Peterson. “My hope is that these songs would wake up a bright longing in peoples’ hearts for the coming kingdom, for our resurrection, prefigured in Christ’s.”
See more of Peterson’s explanation of how the three-part Resurrection Letters came about, including why Vol. II came first and why the new volume was so long in the making, in a blog post at The Rabbit Room.
The most congregational songs that Peterson has ever recorded, Resurrection Letters, Vol. I and Resurrection Letters: Prologue will be available as digital-only releases along with a physical-only Deluxe Edition that will combine the music of both projects.
The full Resurrection Letters, Vol. I and Resurrection Letters: Prologue track listings follow:
Resurrection Letters: Prologue 1) Last Words (Tenebrae) 2) Well Done Good and Faithful 3) The Ninth Hour 4) Always Good 5) God Rested
Resurrection Letters, Vol. I 1) His Heart Beats 2) Risen Indeed 3) Remember Me 4) I’ve Seen Too Much 5) Remember and Proclaim 6) Maybe Next Year 7) Rise Up 8) Is He Worthy 9) All Things Together
For more information about Peterson, including tour dates and more, visit www.andrew-peterson.com, www.facebook.com/andrewpetersonmusic or www.Twitter.com/AndrewPeterson.
About Andrew Peterson: Recording artist, songwriter, producer, filmmaker, publisher and award-winning author of The Wingfeather Saga series, Andrew Peterson is also host of the popular creative community known as The Rabbit Room (www.RabbitRoom.com) and recently launched a film and TV production company, Shining Isle Productions to produce the animated film based on his bestselling books. Peterson’s latest studio album, The Burning Edge of Dawn (2015), debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Current Contemporary Christian Top Albums Chart becoming his highest charting record to date. Known for songs like “Dancing In The Minefields,” “Be Kind To Yourself,” “The Reckoning,” “Don’t You Want To Thank Someone,” “The Silence Of God,” “Nothing To Say,” “You’ll Find Your Way” and more, Peterson has also been named “one of the foremost singer/songwriters around” and has received multiple “best album of the year” nods from critics along with two Dove Award nominations. Taking his hits and fan favorites on the road, Peterson’s touring draws capacity crowds at venues around the world, including several sold-out events at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
About Centricity Music: Centricity is an independent Christian music company based in Franklin, Tenn. Founded in 2005 with a commitment to artist development and stylistic diversity, its artist roster includes Aaron Shust, Andrew Peterson, Carrollton, For All Seasons, Jason Gray, JJ Weeks Band, Jonny Diaz, Jordan Feliz, Lauren Daigle, Neon Feather, North Point InsideOut and Unspoken. Providing label and publishing services, Centricity is a family-owned organization, and they like it that way. The committed work of its staff and artists has yielded successes such as Grammy nominations, Billboard Awards, Dove Awards, K-Love Fan Awards, a Gold Album and Gold Singles. For more information on Centricity Music, visitwww.centricitymusic.com.
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Hitmaker Kathy Troccoli Brings “Comfort By Candlelight” with Hope-Inspired Release and Concert Events
Feb 8, 2018 Artist Updates
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