Rocketown recording artist Shaun Groves recently launched a solo, headlining Fall 2004 tour based around the song “Blank Page” from his current album, Twilight. The “Blank Stage Tour” is expected to hit 25-30 college markets in the South and Midwest before wrapping up in late November.
Groves explains the concept behind the song and the tour is to take his music back to a simpler time, before it was a full-time career. “It’s a tour about what drew me to music and this business in the first place: the songs. I know who I am. I’m the guy with a guitar and a song—I’m no rock star,” says Groves. “It’s just a blank stage with only a microphone and a piano cluttering it up. No lights or screens or band. We’re focusing on the heart of what God made me to do: play music and be with people.”
On this tour Groves will be introducing his new partnership with Campus Crusade for Christ as a means to further reach out to the many college students who attend his concerts. “For years now I’ve been asking young adults to worship God by doing more than singing. I’ve explained every night that worship never means music when used in the Bible—it often means work and service. Hundreds of people have written me and talked with me after shows about how motivated and moved to action they were by that message. The problem has been that many of these people had no church to serve or serve others with. They had no campus ministers or access to a local database of service opportunities. So I’ve asked Campus Crusade to connect young people without a church to discipleship training, local service opportunities, global missions projects and hopefully to a local church that can care for them in ways that Campus Crusade cannot. The dream is that young adults at every show are sent out from the shows as worshippers who work and serve around the world and at home.
“Campus Crusade is a reputable worldwide organization founded by Bill Bright that has discipled and sent out thousands of people over the years. I am honored that they have allowed me to be the first artist to represent them in this way and hope that it allows more students and young adults to make God visible around the world by meeting physical and spiritual needs.”
Dates and cities for the “Blank Stage Tour” are listed below:
September 4: Rutherfordton, NC
September 5: Simpsonville, SC
September 10: Grand Rapids, MI
September 11: Noblesville, IN
September 17: Canton, OH
September 18: Owosso, MI
September 23: Marion, AL
September 25: Columbia, SC
September 30: Indianapolis, IN
October 9: Corpus Christi, TX
October 15: Atlanta, GA
October 16: Decatur, GA
October 17: Tallahassee, FL
October 22: Dubuque, IA
October 23: Green Bay, WI
October 24: Madison, WI
November 3: Waco, TX
November 4: Houston, TX
November 6: Dallas, TX
November 7: Sugarland, TX
November 12: Slidell, LA
November 13: Blue Mountain, MS
November 14: Memphis, TN
November 19: Central, SC
November 21: Port St. Lucie, FL
*All dates subject to change.
Groves, who recently completed a run on Summer Jam, will also be spending December with his labelmates on the Gloria Christmas tour. In between dates, he’s writing songs in preparation for his upcoming third album, due in Spring 2005. “I hope to play songs as I write them on the road,” Groves says. “I’ve always been quick to share new music with strangers. Their feedback means more than my own opinions and is as important as those of a label so I’ll test out the new songs on unsuspecting audiences on this tour just to see what happens.”
After filling Groves’ fall calendar, The Hummingbird Agency is already booking dates for a Spring 2005 leg of the “Blank Stage Tour.” For more information, contact Brian Seay at 615-566-3232 or brian@thehummingbirdagency.com. For more information on Shaun Groves, visit www.rocketownrecords.com or www.shaungroves.com.
Grammy Award-winner Michael W. Smith and former Reunion Records A&R chief Don Donahue started Rocketown Records in 1996 with the goal of building a label around a foundation of great songs and a family atmosphere. Since its launch, Rocketown has garnered commercial and critical acclaim with more than 2.5 million units sold, more than two dozen No. 1 songs and nearly 50 Dove Award nominations.
