[Jonular]

Christian music sensation Casting Crowns announces their first headlining "Lifesong Tour" in support of the band's upcoming new project, Lifesong, to be released on August 30th. This certain-to-be record-breaking Fall 2005 tour will visit 38 cities from September 29th through December 4th. The "Lifesong Tour" will feature GMA's reigning New Artist of the Year, Building 429 and Guest Speaker/Emcee for the night, Tony Nolan.

In an unprecedented effort to make the show affordable for everyone, the band has desired that ticket prices remain very reasonable and will make them available to fans at www.castingcrowns.com. Additionally driven by a desire to connect with and encourage local youth pastors, Casting Crown's Mark Hall will be leading youth-worker clinics in several cities visited on the tour (to be determined). Some markets will hold an afternoon clinic on Saturdays and all others will have an intermission meeting with youth pastors.

As the Gospel Music Association's reigning Group of the Year, Casting Crowns has just wrapped the extremely successful "All Things New" tour with Steven Curtis Chapman and Chris Tomlin, having hit 72 cities with multiple sellouts, and reaching a combined audience of more than 350,000. Including their Group of the Year win, Casting Crowns and Mark Hall were honored with seven total Dove Awards at the 2005 Gospel Music Awards, including Song of the Year ("Who Am I") and Songwriter of the Year for Hall.

Recently, the band appeared on the cover of the May 23 issue of Pollstar magazine, the music industry tradepaper for concert touring, this after racing the February 2005 cover of CCM magazine's "Reader's Choice Awards," having been voted "Favorite Band," "Favorite New Artist" and "Favorite Album" (Casting Crowns).

With their self-titled debut album having reached RIAA Platinum status (for sales of one million copies), and the platinum certification of their Live From Atlanta DVD release, Casting Crowns continues to notch up remarkable achievements for a new artist. The project's first three radio singles, "If We Are The Body," "Who Am I," and "Voice of Truth," have all spent multiple weeks atop numerous charts, including a record-breaking 13 weeks at number one for their hit, "Voice of Truth" on R&R's Christian AC Monitored chart. When their debut CD was released in September 2003, it quickly earned the highest first-week sales of any debut artist on Nielsen SoundScan Christian market sales chart for the year. For the year 2004, Casting Crowns was the most played artist on all Christian radio formats combined, and performed to more than one million people in concert.

Opening act, Building 429 set multiple radio records with their debut single "Glory Defined," having hit the number one position on eight different radio charts. The song climbed to number one on Christian Radio Weekly's (CRW) AC chart faster than any other single in the publication's history, and remained in the chart's top spot for ten consecutive weeks. On Radio & Records (R&R), "Glory Defined" was the first single from a debut artist to ever hold 100% of the AC panel all at the same time, and only the second time for any artist, debut or veteran. They have most recently toured with Jeremy Camp, Barlow Girl, Todd Agnew and Starfield.

Building 429 is also involved with the Redeem The Vote Campaign with member Jason Roy acting as spokesperson for the organization, garnering support through appearances on Fox News Live, CNN, Nightline, and all major network affiliates. Special guest speaker and emcee for the evening, Tony Nolan, is no stranger to Christian audiences. With his evangelistic focus and
relevant speaking style, Tony speaks to over 800,000+ students through radio, television, festivals, concerts and conferences every year. Tony is also the founder and leader of UPGRADE, a "salvation awakening" insurrection, with a core mission to facilitate corporate encounters with God through prayer, concerts of worship, and biblical teaching that supernaturally transforms hearts, resulting in a resurgence of First Century outreach. He lives in Woodstock, Georgia with his wife Tammy, and their three children.

Based in Franklin, Tenn., Provident Music Group operates under the umbrella of RCA Label Group-Nashville, a unit of SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, and comprises Provident-Integrity Distribution and Provident Label Group. The label group entity includes Brentwood, Benson, Essential, Beach Street and Reunion Records and is distributed to Christian retail by Provident-Integrity Distribution and to general market retail through BMG Distribution.

Lifesong Tour Dates
*all dates and cities subject to change

Date Venue
City

Sep 29 Municipal Auditorium
San Antonio, TX

Sep 30 El Paso County Coliseum
El Paso, TX

Oct 1 Phoenix First Assembly
Phoenix , AZ

Oct 2 U.C. Irvine-Bren Center
Irvine, CA

Oct 3 Visalia Convention Center
Visalia, CA

Oct 4 Adventure Christian Church
Rocklin, CA

Oct 7 Salem Armory
Salem, OR

Oct 8 Overlake Christian Church
Redmond, WA

Oct 9 Spokane Arena
Spokane, WA

Oct 10 BSU Pavilion
Boise, ID

Oct 13 San Jacinto Baptist Church
Amarillo, TX

Oct 14 Alltel Arena
North Little Rock, AR

Oct 15 Bancorp Southcenter
Tupelo, MS

Oct 21 Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
The Woodlands, TX

Oct 22 Oil Palace
Tyler, TX

Oct 23 Bicentennial Center
Salina, KS

Oct 27 Prairie Capital Convention Center
Springfield, IL

Oct 28 St. Charles Family Arena
St. Charles, MO

Oct 29 Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center
Birmingham, AL

Nov 3 Lake Charles Civic Center
Lake Charles, LA

Nov 4 First Baptist Church
Jackson, MS

Nov 5 Wild Adventures Theme Park
Valdosta, GA

Nov 10 Florence Civic Center
Florence, SC

Nov 11 Rock Church
Virginia Beach, VA

Nov 12 Stabler Arena
Allentown, PA

Nov 13 Hylton Memorial Chapel
Woodbridge, VA

Nov 17 Von Braun Center
Huntsville, AL

Nov 18 Olive Baptist Church
Pensacola, FL

Nov 19 First Baptist Church of Woodstock
Woodstock, GA

Nov 26 Frankfort Convention Center
Frankfort, KY

Nov 29 Dow Event Center
Saginaw, MI

Dec 1 Grand Wayne Convention Center Fort
Wayne, IN

Dec 4 Elmbrook Church
Brookfield, WI

For more information on Casting Crowns, click here.