Three-time Dove Award nominee Sara Groves was recently recognized by the Alumni Board from Evangel University for her significant achievements in the few years since her graduation. Honored with the “Outstanding Young Alumnus Award” Groves received the award as an alumni who has made contributions to society within a short period after her graduation. In 1994, Sara received her Bachelors of Science in History and English from this private Christian university in Springfield, Missouri. Groves performed for the Evangel University Homecoming event on October 9, 2004. Along with her performance, the keynote speaker was United States Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Joining successful label mates Big Daddy Weave, BarlowGirl and By The Tree, newly signed pop/rock band Exit East will release its self-titled label debut January 18.
10/28/04 Singer/songwriter Russ Lee is slated to return to Iraq next week to minister to troops stationed with the United States Army¹s 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He is scheduled to perform for armed forces personnel in the cities of Balad, Mosul and Bagdad. Lee made a similar trip to Iraq in the Fall of 2003, upon an invitation from the 101st Airborne Division. Following his return to the U.S., Lee will headline the multi-city “A Night Of Christmas” Tour in November and December.
Floodgate Records is pleased to announce the addition of Kate Miner to their family of artists. With seven albums already under her belt, Kate will enter the studio in January to record a yet unnamed project slated for a May 2005 release. This CD will be Kate’s label debut as her previous albums have all been independent.
In support of their brand new project, I CHOOSE YOU, Point of Grace hit the Big Apple, New York City, to perform a live, one-hour concert, broadcast on over 170 Christian radio stations nationwide including Star 99 New York City, FISH Atlanta, KXOJ Tulsa, KTIS Minneapolis, FISH Nashville, HIS Radio Network Greenville and the American Family Radio Network. The album’s debut single “I Choose You” is currently at #11 on the R&R Christian AC chart with a bullet. The concert was broadcast from Theater 315 in Times Square and co-sponsored by the Salvation Army’s Times Square Ministry. Point of Grace performed songs from the new album before a studio audience of contest winners from the New York City area.More POG below!
10/27/4 Fervent Records artist By The Tree secures their first career No.1 single by topping four charts with “Beautiful One” from By The Tree’s first worship project Hold You High.
One of the premier songwriters of today, sixsteps/Sparrow Records’ Chris Tomlin, known for writing “Forever,” “We Fall Down,” “The Wonderful Cross,” “Famous One” and more anthems sung by millions of people each week in churches around the world, receives his first No. 1 radio hit with “Indescribable,” the debut single from his widely acclaimed, Sept. 21 release, Arriving. More Chris Tomlin below!
https://www.christianactivities.com/artistspotlight/story.asp?ID=4044
10/26/4 Randy Travis’s new single, “Four Walls”, from his upcoming album, Passing Through, went to radio on October 18th
Stellar Award-winning and Dove Award-nominated vocal/songwriting duo Ted Winn and Sheri Jones-Moffett, collectively known as Ted and Sheri, are known for their extraordinary vocal blend, electrifying stage performances and much more. Their album, Celebrate hits stores tomorrow and the duo is out doing radio and retail visits as well as a couple of church performances in Memphis, Atlanta, and Baltimore.
10/25/4 Building 429 will be a part of a faith based political story on ABC’s Nightline with Ted Koppel (Tuesday, 10/26 @ 11:30pm), CNN’s Inside Politics (Wednesday, 10/27 @ 2pm) and CNN’s Paula Zahn Now (Wednesday, 10/27 @ 7pm). Building 429 is participating in the Redeem The Vote campaign and has been encouraging Christians to vote in the upcoming election on radio, on TV and at concerts over the past few months. Both ABC and CNN came out to one of their shows this weekend and taped them in action performing and giving this pitch from stage. Tune in to check it out.
10/22/4 Critically acclaimed rock band Switchfoot on November 2 is releasing The Early Years: 1997-2000, a double-jewel-case, three-CD set featuring the band’s complete original albums, The Legend Of Chin, New Way To Be Human and Learning to Breathe. Switchfoot’s The Early Years: 1997-2000 features 32 song
Timeless Christmas, the first full-length holiday recording from Christian music¹s premier Big Band, Denver & The Mile High Orchestra, released this week.
10/20/4 Coming up on October 25th from 8-9 pm EST …..Point of Grace will be LIVE FROM TIMES SQUARE at Theater 315 in NEW YORK CITY! During this intimate, live radio broadcast, Denise, Shelley, Heather, and Leigh will perform brand new songs from their new album I CHOOSE YOU. As an added treat, they’ll perform many of their career-spanning signature songs and radio favorites too, laced with personal thoughts and stories. This broadcast will be available on The Salem Radio Network Satellite. On Tuesday, October 26th at catch the girls on CNN Headline News at 8:54 am EST talking about REDEEM THE VOTE and I CHOOSE YOU!More POG below!
10/19/4 Over the past 10 years, Sixpence None The Richer has left its indelible mark not only on Christian music, but also the culture at large. On October 26th, The Best of Sixpence None The Richer brings together out-of-print fan favorites from their early years, well-known songs from many compilation projects and soundtracks, and their recent breakthrough radio hits, plus 3 new songs never heard before!
TobyMac’s song “Diverse City” (from his brand new CD Welcome To Diverse City) will be featured on tonight’s (10-19) episode of “Veronica Mars” at 8:00pm CST on UPN. The song will be used as background vocal during a scene where Wallace and Veronica try to get inside the computer tech’s dorm room.More Toby below!
10/18/4 Tonight Amy Grant will be the musical guest on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”. Amy has been on the show before and was asked to appear again. She will sing “Come Be With Me” which is a song from her brand new Greatest Hits album. On Thursday, You can catch Amy visiting with the women of “The View”. Amy will again perform as the musical guest so check your local daytime listings for times. More Amy below!
10/16/4 Sandi Patty is part of a four-part TV series with Dr. Charles Stanley airing on PAX the next four Sunday mornings. Be sure to check out the TV ads for the series, featuring Sandi, in USA Today and TV Guide!!
10/13/4 TobyMac’s Welcome To Diverse City takes over the #1 spot on the Christian Soundscan charts, selling 20,987 units in its first week. Likewise, the CD was also the #1 selling project at Family Christian Stores as well as the Berean chain. “Gone” has proven to be TobyMac’s biggest radio success yet, simultaneously hitting #1 on both R&R’s CHR and ROCK charts this week!
Today marks the release of the new album “I Choose You” from Point Of Grace. The foursome has spent its career building people up in their faith and now with a new album, a new hit single, and a new member, the group is challenging people to represent their faith in a much more visible way. More POG below!
Word Records artist Salvador anticipates the launch of its third studio project, So Natural, Nov. 9. Described as the band’s most compelling work to date, So Natural represents a collaborative effort and claims the hit song “Heaven” as its debut radio single which was most added this week with six adds at R&R AC. Salvador plans to support the release with tour dates in select cities this fall.
Mute Math hit the ground running when their debut EP, Reset, hit stores. The band has been building an online fan base at sites like Myspace.com and Purevolume.com and is beginning to play spot dates around the country and even in Europe. Several upcoming dates include shows with Switchfoot and Chevelle. Their debut single, “Control” currently resides on the R&R rock radio chart at #17.
10/11/4 Following the release of his powerful solo debut She Must and Shall Go Free, comes the next solo venture from one of Christian music’s prophetic voices. Derek Webb has returned with an equally impressive offering, I See Things Upside Down, to be released November 9, 2004 on INO Records. As a member of the Houston, Texas-based Caedmon’s Call, Webb has seen career sales approaching 1 million records.
10/10/4 On tour with Forever Changed & Cool Hand Luke both bands teamed up to write and record a rap album and had the first annual Cool Hand Luke/Forever Changed Triathlon. An example of one of the events was the “Highway to the Danger Zone” competition; each band had to use the phrase “Highway to the Danger Zone” in a sentence from stage. The final results of the triathlon were too close to call, so the judges went to a bonus round… which band consumed the most parking tickets? Cool Hand Luke were the winners, beating Forever Changed by a hair with $90 in parking tickets vs. FC’s $60 – thanks to a lovely meter cop in Ybor City, Florida.
10/8/4 Austin City Limits brings the unique sounds of pedal steel guitar phenomenon Robert Randolph & The Family Band to PBS on Saturday, October 9th. This group has been getting national attention and gaining fans for their high-energy music that fuses gospel, rock and more
10/7/4 Step back in time to 1965 with Tooth and Nail Records’ band, Hawk Nelson, who will be appearing on
the hit NBC show American Dreams
this Sunday night, October 10th, at 7 pm CST
The guys will be portraying The Who singing “My Generation.”
10/6/4 Phillips, Craig & Dean’s tenth studio project, Let the Worshippers Arise (INO Records), debuts in the Top 5 on the Contemporary Christian Albums’ Soundscan chart and at No. 7 on the Billboard “Heatseekers” chart during its first week of release. The trio is currently on the road promoting their release in major cities across the nation visiting such markets as Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Seattle and Houston. The first single from this project, “You Are God Alone,” is making its mark on the Adult Contemporary (AC) and Inspirational charts currently in the Top 10 on CRW ( No. 7 AC) and R&R (No. 9 Inspo).
10/5/4 EMI Gospel recording artist Smokie Norful has been busy in the studio this year. His new album, Nothing Without You, which released today, features the fruit of his labor — songs handcrafted by Norful along with a host of legendary producers including the multiple award winner George Duke, who lends his celebrated touch to the CD¹s title track, “Nothing Without You.” Other producers contributing to the CD include gospel music producer brothers, Cedric & Victor Caldwell (“Power” and “God Is Able”), Alex Asaph Ward (“I Know The Lord Will Make A Way” and “Continuous Grace”), Myron Butler (“Healing In His Tears”), Grammy Award winner Tommy Sims (“In The Middle”), The Underdogs¹ Antonio Dixon (“I Know Too Much About Him”), Percy Bady (“I Understand” and “Worthy”) and Josiah Bell (“Can’t Nobody”). Norful also lent his production skills to the CD, co-producing the tracks “I Know Too Much About Him” (Antonio Dixon), “Can’t Nobody” (Josiah Bell), “Healing in His Tears” (Myron Butler) and “Worthy” (Percy Bady).
Creative Trust Workshop’s Warren Barfield is preparing for his first headlining tour since releasing his self-titled debut CD last year. The 15-city West Coast tour will feature special guests’ new artists CTW label-mates BDA and Wrinkle Free Records’ Ever Stays Red.
10/3/4 One of the premier songwriters of today, sixsteps/Sparrow Records’ Chris Tomlin released his critically acclaimed, third studio album, Arriving, Sept. 21. In its first week at retail, SoundScan® reported 22,349 copies of the recording sold, landing the album at No. 1 on the Praise & Worship chart, No. 3 on the Top Current Contemporary Christian chart and No. 39 on the Billboard Top 200. Tomlin’s fastest selling recording to date, Arriving more than quadrupled the debut sales of his lauded sophomore release, Not To Us.
10/1/4 Following their recent nomination for an American Music Award in the Category of Favorite Contemporary Inspirational Arist, MercyMe has officially been confirmed as a presenter for the show, which will be presented during a three-hour special on the ABC Television Network, Sunday November 14, 2004, 8-11 PM (ET and PT). The special will emanate from the Shrine Auditorium on Los Angeles, California and be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
The best selling Christian hip-hop artist Grits is hitting the road in support of their June and November releases, Dichotomy A and B. Grits is headlining their very on tour with special guests LA SYMPHONY, VERBS, PETTIDEE and comedian COY LASONE. The tour will be starting in the northeast, cruisin’ through the heartland on the way to the “left coast” at the end of October.
Amy Grant’s 19th project, due out October 12th, is a collection of her greatest, most loved hits from albums since The Collection (released in 1986). Amy Grant’s greatest hits collection contains songs encompassing both Christian and mainstream pop hits that explore our faith in God as well as our relationships with one another. This greatest hits follow-up is a long-awaited milestone marking almost 20 years worth of music-making excellence from Amy Grant.
Point Of Grace – Heather, Denise, Shelley and Leigh are looking forward to October 12th as their new album, I Choose You, will hit stores. Be watching for further details on events surrounding the release of the new album.
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