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The Talleys announce new series,Messages To Treasure: A Live Anthology

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SPECIAL: CROSSROADS RECORDS

Arden, North Carolina (January 27, 2023) — With the success of a monthly series of live performance recordings by The Talleys released by Horizon Records in the wake of Debra and Roger Talley’s 2020 retirement, it became clear that fans were still hungry for the beloved gospel trio’s musical message of hope and salvation. Now, the group has returned to the vaults once more to bring listeners a new series under the title, Messages To Treasure: A Live Anthology from The Talleys. Featuring live versions of their biggest and best-loved hit songs, the series will be available exclusively on streaming platforms.

To launch Messages To Treasure, The Talleys have chosen a song that reflects on the universal essence of the Christian gospel: “Jesus Saves.”  

“When we were traveling as part of the Gaither Homecoming tour,” Roger recalls, “one of our favorite artists on the tour was the funny and supremely talented Stephen Hill. One afternoon he climbed up on our bus and said, ‘I want you to hear a song I just finished’ and he played and sang ‘Jesus Saves.’ We immediately loved the music and lyrics. We recorded it, and it quickly became a favorite in our concerts because it simply states the main tenet of our salvation: Redemption through the blood of Jesus. It rose to #1 on the Singing News chart in both April and May of 2004.”

Starting with Debra’s emotive opening verse, the song’s arrangement unfolds to support the simplicity of the lyric, which uses the title as a joyously insistent refrain, adding Roger’s and Lauren’s voices in turn as the full trio delivers the inspirational chorus:

Hallelujah, I’m redeemed
I’ve been pardoned full and free
All because the Blood still sings
Jesus saves, Jesus saves

As it proceeds, the arrangement diversifies, shifting rhythms and vocal arrangements to alternate between moments of majesty and meditation before reaching its final distillation, repeating the first and last lines of the chorus. It’s an inspiring performance that listeners will not only appreciate on its own terms, but as a harbinger of more music still to come from The Talleys.

Triumphant Quartet Releases New Hymns and Worship Album With StowTown Records

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SPECIAL STOWTOWN RECORDS

Nashville, TN (January 20, 2023) â€“ As the new year kicks off, StowTown Records has released a brand new recording from multi-award winning group Triumphant Quartet. Hymns and Worship includes thirteen familiar songs ranging from beloved hymns to current CCM and Praise & Worship songs.

Continuing their path as musical trailblazers, Triumphant Quartet stays true to their traditional roots while also embracing songs and stylings more commonly heard in churches across America and in the CCM space. As with their previous releases, Hymns and Worship seeks to appeal to musical preferences for both their long-time gospel music fans as well as the younger generation more familiar with current popular music. The simplicity of hymns like “My Jesus, I Love Thee” and “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” brings subtle, personal worship moments to the album. Recent CCM and Praise & Worship covers include Zach Williams’ “Less Like Me,”“The Blessing” (Cody Carnes and Kari Jobe), “Help is on the Way (Maybe Midnight)” by Toby Mac, and the current hit “My Jesus” by Anne Wilson. The brilliant arrangements of each of these songs create a masterpiece of worship where the focus is truly on the One worthy of our praise.

“We love the Church,” founding group member Eric Bennett states. “We believe music plays such a vital part in the worship service. With this recording, our desire was to bring together a collection of songs that are sung each Sunday in churches nationwide.”

Hymns and Worship reunites Triumphant Quartet with veteran multi-award winning producer Wayne Haun, and the result is a masterful collection of songs that captures the spirit of Sunday worship while staying true to the Triumphant Quartet sound fans know and love. “It’s fun working with Triumphant Quartet because they’re always thinking outside the box and progressing,” shares Haun. “There’s really something for everyone on this album: the modern, the traditional, the acoustic, the groove, the contemporary and the stately. And yet somehow it’s the perfect blend of music without sounding forced or arduous.”

Throughout the past two decades, Triumphant Quartet has been honored with numerous accolades, including the 2019 Gospel Music Association Dove Award for Southern Gospel Album of the Year for the album Yes and a 2021 GMA Dove Award nomination for the same category with their release Bigger Than Sunday. The latter release featured the song “Eye of the Storm” which was voted as the 2021 Singing News Fan Award Favorite Song of the Year. The radio and concert success of songs like “Goodness of God” and “Waymaker” leads Triumphant Quartet to believe that they are following God’s unique musical plan for them with Hymns and Worship.

Hymns and Worship is distributed by Provident/Sony and is available on all digital platforms worldwide HERE and wherever Christian music is sold, including christianbook.com, barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com.

Emily Ann Roberts debuts The Building

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SPECIAL STARSTRUCK RECORDS

Following the release of her viral TikTok hit, “Whole Lotta Little,” which has over 2M streams and has reached 12M cumulative views on TikTok, Emily Ann Roberts released “The Building” – in November 2022 after demand from fans on social media.

Written by Roberts and Michael Farren, and produced by Trent Willmon, “The Building” is a song that paints the picture of Emily Ann’s hometown church that she grew up in. Celebrating its 100 year anniversary this past October, and also where her great grandfather pastored, Emily describes the building as a place that laid the foundation of her life and raised her up – the place that always brings her home.

“I grew up in East TN and every Sunday and Wednesday night of my life I was at church. My great grandfather was the pastor of the church and every Sunday felt like a family reunion. My grandmother was the church secretary and my mom and dad met there at vacation Bible school when they were kids. It was the first place I ever sang publicly. Even more than the home I grew up in, that little church raised me up. It taught me right from wrong and laid a foundation for my life. It’s the place where I met Jesus and everything changed. No matter where this life takes me, that place will always bring me home.

I wrote this song with Michael Farren and he read this post I had made about my church before we wrote together:

‘My home church. The place my great grandfather pastored. The place my nana sang in the choir. The place my dad was raised. The place me and my sister were raised. The first place I sang on a stage. The place where I learned who Jesus was and what he did for me. This place means the world to me, but at the end of the day, it’s not the place that changed my life. It was the God of love that was shared with me there that made all the difference.'” – Emily Ann Roberts

She first debuted “The Building” at the Grand Ole Opry and received a standing ovation without a dry eye in the house. Emily may be singing about a specific part in her story, but when she sings it, it’s clear how it’s touched others as if it’s their story. It’s proven the magic of music.

Emily Ann and Starstruck Records have and are continuing to support “The Building” with a Dolby Atmos version mixed by Derek Bason (Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan), video content (including an Official Music Video – directed by Jeff Johnson in part at The Ryman Auditorium, Lyric Video, BTS, Behind The Song series, and a to be released live performance from The Opry), digital and physical ads, as well as a detailed social media plan which included a pre-save campaign, and PR (Zach Farnum – 117 Entertainment Group.) Currently, “The Building” official music video is in rotation on CMT Music and The Country Network.

Endless Highway declaresThis Is The Moment on upcoming album

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SPECIAL CROSSROADS RECORDS

Arden, North Carolina (January 17, 2023) — For Sonlite Records artist Endless Highway, “This Is The Moment” is more than just the title of their upcoming album’s opening song. Following the warm reception given to 2021’s Come Home, which kept the quartet on the charts throughout 2021 and 2022 with songs such as “Every Valley Has A Promise” and “About The Business,”This Is The Moment â€” now available for pre-order, add or save ahead of its March 10 release — promises to carry the Griggs family’s musical ministry to a new level with a full-length set of songs revealing the breadth of their talent and the depth of their faith.

Produced by Wayne Haun, This Is The Moment demands attention from the very first notes, with a bold orchestral introduction that underlines the title track’s triumphant announcement, “This is the moment the Lord has made.” Ally Griggs leads the ensemble through the anthemic opening chorus, and the joyous energy of the song’s invitation (“We’re in His presence, Let’s come together, And lavish Him with praise”) never flags as the celebratory lyric unwinds. And though the arrangements and tempos cover the gamut, the gospel messages Endless Highway delivers are single-minded in their affirmation of God’s love and encouragement to persevere in faith.

Each member of the family quartet — Jason and Vanessa Griggs and their children, Ally and Jay â€” has an opportunity to take the lead in the album’s course, whether it’s Ally on “This Is The Moment”; Vanessa on the country swing-flavored description of a “Secret Place of Prayer”; Jason on a meditative Gaithers classic, “I Am Loved,” that also features a guest vocal from Endless Highway friend Mark Lowry; or Jay, whose muscular reading of “The End” is a perfect match for the song’s confident declaration of belief in “a kingdom that starts at the end of the darkness…I know that we win in the end.” And fittingly, Endless Highway’s vocal diversity is embodied in their first single from the project, “Love Carried The Cross.” Written by Haun, Ernie Haas and Joel Lindsay, it’s a majestic testimonial offered in turn by Jason, Jay and Ally that’s deeply and personally revelatory.  

Says Jason Griggs, “We are elated over the lyrical content and production of this project. These songs will speak life, hope, and encouragement into your life.”  With its expansive orchestration, uplifting songs and heartfelt, compelling artistry, Endless Highway’s This Is The Moment more than lives up to its title.

The Down East Boys’ “Celebration At The Empty Grave” paints a joyous picture

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SPECIAL: CROSSROADS RECORDS

Arden, North Carolina (January 13, 2023) — Following their chart-topping “Ready To Leave,” drawn from 2022’s The Stories We Tell, the Down East Boys jump headfirst into the new year with “Celebration At The Empty Grave,” a song that points to the promise of Easter and the miracle of the Resurrection. The single is the first from Sonlite Records to be released in Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL. 

Allowing listeners to feel as if they’re inside the song itself, Dolby Laboratories’ Dolby Atmos is familiar to many from its “surround sound” application in thousands of movie theaters. It is described by the respected sound technology innovator as “revealing depth, clarity and details like never before….a sound experience you can feel all around you.” Audio produced in Dolby Atmos adapts automatically to your Atmos-compatible device and system to give you an all-enveloping sound experience you would not expect.

Opening with an instantly memorable guitar figure that will recur throughout the song, “Celebration At The Empty Grave” wastes no time in introducing the full quartet — Ricky Carden (lead), Daryl Paschal (baritone), Doug Pittman (tenor) and Alex Utech (bass) — in its scene-setting first verse;

I hear there’s talk all over town
Something big is going down
A marvel everybody wants to see
They’ve heard about an empty tomb
They’re wondering, “Could this be true?”
And if it is, what does this really mean?

The musical tension echoing these questions persists through the second verse, building to the release of the song’s insistent, joyous chorus and its ringing affirmation:

Our Lord is great and greatly to be praised
So we stand here amazed
As we join the celebration,
The celebration at the empty grave

As the song winds through its remaining verse and choruses, shifts in key offer each of the quartet’s members a turn front and center, emphasizing the fellowship of all those celebrating Christ. As Ricky Carden puts it, “‘Celebration At The Empty Grave’ is a song that reminds all of us that we serve a Savior that is alive and well, and we can celebrate, knowing that He knows us and hears us as He is risen! So celebrate a risen Savior!”