[Mickey]

Nashville, Tenn., February 6, 2002 - As multi-platinum, multi-GRAMMY and Dove Award winning band Jars of Clay readies for a March 3 international pay-per-view debut, the March 5 launch of its critically acclaimed and self-produced recording, The Eleventh Hour, and a 50-plus city tour that kicks off March 14, the band will be featured in two significant motion pictures and on one star-studded film soundtrack.

Well known for their songs featured in such major studio films as Hard Rain, The Chamber, Jack Frost, The Prince of Egypt and many others, Jars of Clay members were selected to attend an exclusive screening of Mel Gibson’s We Were Soldiers. Encouraged to write a song based on their emotional response to the film, Jars of Clay wrote “The Widowing Field.” The song was chosen to be featured on a 14-track CD set to release February 20 on Sony/Combustion Music and titled An Album Of Music Inspired by We Were Soldiers.

Other artists included on the album are Dave Matthews, Johnny Cash, India.Arie, Five For Fighting, Michael McDonald, Jamie O’Neal, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Carolyn Dawn Johnson and Tammy Cochran, among others. (The full track listing is below.)
We Were Soldiers, coming from Paramount Pictures and Icon International, hits theatres March 1 and is based on a battle that took place November 14, 1965 in the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam, in a small clearing called Landing Zone X-Ray where Lt. Col. Hal Moore (Mel Gibson), 400 young fathers, husbands, brothers and sons - all troopers from the U.S. 7th “Air” Cavalry - were surrounded by 2000 enemy soldiers. The ensuing battle was one of the most savage in U.S. history.

The movie is a tribute to the nobility of those men under fire, their common acts of uncommon valor and their loyalty to and love for one another. Starring alongside Gibson are Madeline Stowe (Last of the Mohicans, The General’s Daughter), Sam Elliott (The Contender, Gettysburg, Tombstone), Academy Award nominee Greg Kinnear (As Good As It Gets), Chris Klein (American Pie, Election), Golden Globe winner Keri Russell (Felicity) and Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile).

Written for the screen and directed by Randall Wallace, the film was produced by Bruce Davey, Steve McEveety and Randall Wallace and is based on the New York Times Bestseller, We Were Soldiers Once...And Young, by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (Ret.) and Joseph L. Galloway.

In addition to its involvement with We Were Soldiers, Jars of Clay’s hugely successful radio hit “Flood” from the band’s RIAA certified double-platinum, self-titled debut is featured prominently in the Warner Bros. Pictures film, A Walk To Remember. The film stars Mandy Moore in her first feature film role and was released nationally January 25.

Jars of Clay’s No. 1 radio hit, “Unforgetful You,” from the band’s RIAA Certified Gold and GRAMMY-winning recording, If I Left The Zoo, will also be showcased in the upcoming feature film Crossroads. Starring Britney Spears, the film is slated for national impact through Zomba Films/MTV Films/Paramount Pictures February 15.

Having produced their double-Platinum breakthrough and self-titled debut recording in 1995 that spawned the mega-hit “Flood,” Jars of Clay returns to their roots with The Eleventh Hour. Band members wrote, produced, conceptualized, designed, directed and filmed for the project, as well as built their own recording studio in Nashville, Sputnik Studios, to record the album. The recording also features the mixing talents of Jack Joseph Puig (Black Crowes, Green Day, No Doubt, Barbra Streisand), and has already sparked the No. 1 radio hit “I Need You.”

To help launch the new album, as well as the upcoming tour, Jars of Clay has recorded a concert that is set to broadcast on pay-per-view Sunday, March 3 at 8:00 p.m. EST. Entitled Jars of Clay - The Eleventh Hour Concert, the exclusive two-hour special will be a ONE NIGHT ONLY SM series pay-per-view event. Encore performances of the concert will be available for at least 30-days following its March 3 debut. Reaching 45 million households on pay-per-view services throughout North America, the special will be featured on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV, EchoStar, TVN, Cablevision and Canada.

In addition to this televised event, fans will be able to see Jars of Clay live in concert for the first time in nearly a year-and-a-half on its 50+city The Eleventh Hour Tour launching March 14 in Nashville. In addition to playing the hits that have helped sell more than 5 million albums, Jars of Clay will perform songs from the new album, its first new project in nearly two-and-a-half years. Unveiling brand new staging and its first multi-media presentation, the tour will also feature special guest artists Jennifer Knapp and Shaun Groves. The complete tour itinerary can be found at www.jarsofclay.com, www.essentialrecords.com and www.jiverecords.com.

Nashville-based Essential Records was founded in 1992 and specializes in providing relevant pop, alternative and modern music. In addition to Jars of Clay, the label’s artist roster includes Third Day, FFH, Caedmon’s Call and True Vibe. Essential Records, and its affiliated label, Watershed Records, are distributed through Provident Music Distribution and through partnerships with parent company Zomba Music Group.

We Were Soldiers track listing:
1. “For You” - Johnny Cash & Dave Matthews
2. “Some Mother’s Son” - Carolyn Dawn Johnson
3. “Fall Out” - Train
4. “”Soldier” - Steven Curtis Chapman
5. “Good Man” - India.Arie
6. “The Beautiful” - Five for Fighting
7. “My Dear Old Friend” - Mary Chapin Carpenter
8. “I Believe” - Tammy Cochran
9. “The Widowing Field” - Jars of Clay
10. “Not So Distant Day” - Jamie O’Neal & Michael McDonald
11. “Didn’t I” - Montgomery Gentry
12. “The Glory of Life” - Rascal Flatts
13. “Sgt. MacKenzie” - Joseph Kilna MacKenzie (this Scottish Hymn plays throughout the movie)
14. “The Mansions of the Lord (Suite)” - United States Military Academy Cadet Glee Club and Metro Voices