2010 launched in a big way for indie label, Centricity Music. Jason Gray had just released his biggest single to date, “More Like Falling In Love,” Me In Motion was introduced to the Christian music scene with high-profile tours and good chart positions, Andrew Peterson released the highest debuting CD of his career and Sixteen Cities received major features in support of their new project.
Jason Gray started off the year with the highest charting single of his career, “More Like Falling In Love.” The song peaked at #4 and Gray has followed up with another hit, “I Am New,” which is #20 on AC Indicator, #29 on AC Monitor and #18 on the Inspo chart. The video for “I Am New” world premiered on HearitFirst.com and is in rotation at Gospel Music Channel. Both songs are from Jason’s current studio project, Everything Sad Is Coming Untrue. And in support of the album, Gray performed with such acts as Santcus Real, Jeremy Camp, Francesca Battistelli, The Afters, and World Vision’s Make A Difference Tour 2010 tour with Toby Mac, Third Day and Michael W. Smith. Gray also served as the “behind the scenes” reporter for the tour, exclusively for HearitFirst.com. Currently Gray is on Andrew Peterson’s Behold The Lamb Of God Tour and in January, Gray will be embark on the Winter Blast Tour with Building 429 and 33 Miles. Beginning in February, Gray starts recording his next studio project that will release in fall 2011 and will join Mark Schultz on his upcoming tour in March.
In January 2010, Andrew Peterson was in Washington state working on his new studio album that released in early July, Counting Stars. It’s been a record-breaking CD for Peterson as it debuted at #1 on iTunes (and stayed there for three days) and entered at #6 on the Billboard Christian Album Chart. The second single from the project, “Dancing In The Minefields,” is in the Top 15 on the AC chart and the video has become a youtube.com favorite. That same month Peterson and the Rabbit Room hosted the first annual Hutchmoot 2010 in Nashville. The conference sold-out in an incredible three weeks and spotlighted music, conversation, and a series of discussions centered on the telling of great stories in song, literature, and film. Then in July, Peterson was honored with his first Christy Award for Young Adult Fiction for his latest and third children’s book, North! Or Be Eaten. Peterson will start writing the fourth book of the Wingfeather Saga series, “The Monsters In The Hollows,” in January and February, with the release date in late spring. Last week, Peterson launched his 11th annual Behold The Lamb Of God Tour that is a sell-out in almost every city and even is having second shows added to accommodate the large crowds wanting to attend.
Me In Motion debuted with their self-titled CD in March 2010 with the first single, “Losers,” peaking in the Top Twenty on the CHR chart while the video for the single was featured in Journey retail outlets. Their second single, “The God I Know,” peaked at #11 on the CHR chart. The powerhouse band is a touring favorite and has appeared with such acts as newsboys, Santcus Real, RED/Pillar and Superchick. Their music/ministry is capturing the hearts of teens and young adults and ChristianMusicToday.com agrees by saying….the relentless road warriors have duly converted their high intensity live performance into a potent project. Me In Motion will release a newly recorded single, “Eye Of A Hurricane,” at the end of January 2011.
Band leader, Seth Mosley, is fast becoming a well established songwriter and producer, as he co-wrote and co-produced the latest newsboys album, “Born Again,” which includes two #1hits, including the title track and “Way Beyond Myself.” He has also co-written for several other CCM artists, including Jimmy Needham (“Miss A Thing”), Article One (“The One”), Stephanie Smith (“Innocence” and “If You Really Want To Change The World”), Sixteen Cities (“Just Wanna Dance) and five songs on the upcoming Anthem Lights project. Mosley is currently in Florida doing production on Peter Furler’s upcoming solo project.
Centricity Music introduced another young band out of Portland, OR, Sixteen Cities, who released its self-titled debut in April that resulted in strong CD reviews and features in Susie Magazine and Devo’ Magazine. The first single from their album, “Sing Along” reached the Top 30 and is currently #5 on the WAY-FM network. The modern rock band launched their 2010 live performance schedule with a Midwest tour in the spring, a summer filled with several youth camps and solo dates, and a fall tour with Remedy Drive. Sixteen Cities has just returned from their second tour in Denmark with Youth For Christ and will release their second single, “Pray You Through,” December 31. The song was featured on the CW Channel’s One Tree Hill this summer and is a powerful song about the loss of a young friend and the power of prayer. The band has started a website, www.prayyouthrough.com, where fans share their own prayer stories.
Downhere’s song, “How Many Kings” continues to bring Christmas cheer to everyone, as it’s been added by 50 AC monitored stations and last week Downhere joined Mark Schultz for the How Many Kings Tour. And all of 2010 has been a busy one for Downhere, as they released a new single, “You’re Not Alone,” peaked at #19 on the CHR chart, #21 on AC Indicator and New & Active on AC Monitor. As usual, Downhere has stayed busy on the road touring 17 festivals this summer and appearing with such artists as Michael W. Smith, Aaron Shust and Chris Sligh. The group will head into the studio in early 2011 to begin recording their next studio project that will release next winter.
Centricity Music released Bethlehem Skyline, Vol. 2, which is the follow-up project to the successful Bethlehem Skyline that released in 2007. The album features Centricity labelmates; Me In Motion, Downhere, Jason Gray, High Valley, Lanae’ Hale, Sixteen Cities, Andrew Peterson and Matt Papa. It was listed in the Top 20 Christmas CDs on About.com and received a great review from Blogcritics.org, The arrangement of Bethlehem Skyline worked well, even throughout the album.
More great news lies ahead for the label in 2011, including the signing of a new artist, so stay tuned!
About Centricity Music
Centricity Music is an independent recording and publishing company based in Bellevue, Washington and Nashville, Tennessee. The company’s mission is to enable our artists to create life-changing experiences for the world. Centricity Music’s artist roster includes Jaime Jamgochian, Downhere, Jason Gray, Andrew Peterson, High Valley, Matt Papa, Sixteen Cities and Me In Motion. For more information about Centricity Music visit online at http://www.centricitymusic.com.com.
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