Clevershoppers.com

11/20/2007
Project Receiving Bands’ Best Reviews Ever as National Promo Tour Wraps Just in Time for Thanksgiving
INO/Columbia records’ multi-platinum and Award-winning band MercyMe officially launched their new project, “All That Is Within Me,” live in New York City this week with a performance at BB Kings last night 11/19 and a live Satellite Media Tour this morning overlooking Times Square, hitting markets including Chicago, San Francisco, Tampa, Denver, Minneapolis and the Associated Press Broadcast wire.

Leading up to NYC the band made live in-store appearances and performances and visited radio and retail in Dallas, Chicago, Minneapolis and Washington DC, while headlining the Friday evening event at the R&R Christian Radio Summit in Nashville. They’ll head back home to Dallas tonight and appear tomorrow morning, 11/21, on the city’s ABC morning show, Good Morning Texas.

Christian radio continues to be a formidable force with the band’s new single “God With Us,“ which set the record for most AC adds (57) in a week, and almost 80 adds from reporting stations in the AC, CHR and Inspo formats. Currently Top 5 at Christian AC, Top 10 Inpso, New and Active CHR and moving up.

The past few weeks has seen extensive activity on the record as pre-sales are projected to reach record highs. Most accounts are pre-selling the Collectors edition which includes:

+ Six song live video
+ Interview footage of band
+ Three acoustic versions of songs
+ FREE Ringtone
+ FREE Wallpaper

Media are also supporting “All That Is Within Me” with what may be the best reviews of their career:

“it is impossible to deny that this is the group’s best effort to date. MercyMe has yet again set a new standard for themselves. Millard’s raw emotional connectivity on each track, combined with a sparkling array of musical styles, continues to be unmatched. MercyMe’s latest record shows that the band’s penchant for making hits might always remain.” All Music Guide

“MercyMe is an unstoppable music force… they bring something new to the table each and every time out. ‘All That is Within Me’ is no exception.”
Infuzemag.com

“This CD is a deeply connected music journal…. he band infuses their songs with a trademark abundance of verve and life.”
Beliefnet.com

“…filled with arena-sized worship anthems …. nothing counterintuitive about the emotion when he imagines throwing his arms around his late father’s neck “when I finally make it home.”
USA TODAY

“… an exuberant, defiant, stand-up-and-shake-your-fist-at-the-devil, rock & roll worship album. ‘All That Is Within Me’ is MercyMe’s best work to date.”
CCM magazine

“There is not a weak one in this bunch….MercyMe seems capable of more than what is humanly possible – they keep putting gout good records without missing a step.”
Worship Leader

“All That Is Within Me is rock, praise and outpouring of one’s heart, and I’m happy to have spent the hour with the band.”
HollywoodJesus.com

“…beautifully crafted featuring smooth production and strong musicianship”
JesusFreakHideout.com

“MercyMe is a well-oiled machine and one of the best out there.”
ChristianMusicToday.com

MercyMe will hit the road once again in support of “All That Is Within Me” when they headline the Winter Jam tour starting January 10th.

11/19/2007
PHIL WICKHAM IS THANKFUL FOR SOPHOMORE RELEASE, SUCCESSFUL FALL TOUR, STRONG DIGITAL SALES, STELLAR REVIEWS AND MOBILE MOB OUT OF CONTROL
“When Phil sings it sounds like everything is riding on every note. I think he believes he can save the world with his voice, and he might be right.”
–David Crowder

INO Records’ singer/songwriter Phil Wickham has much to be thankful for this year as he has released his acclaimed sophomore release, Cannons, spent the fall touring with the David Crowder Band and has received praise from the media saying he is “insightful,” “passionate,” and “intriguing.”

Releasing last month, Cannons is outpacing same week sales of Phil Wickham’s debut with more than 40 percent of album sales in digital form as the album has remained in the Top 10 on iTunes Christian Album chart since street week peaking at No. 3. He also debuted on Real Rhapsody’s top artists chart in the Christian/Gospel genre as well as on the Napster top artists chart. In addition, Cannons was a featured new release for both Napster and Sony Connect.

During his time on the Crowder tour, Wickham began building his mobile fanbase. His “mob” has grown to nearly 500 members who receive free text updates, ringtones, and pictures from Wickham keeping him in touch with his fans. At each concert, he encourages fans to simply text PHIL to the number 66937 to join the mob and to become eligible for an autographed vintage-style guitar to one lucky mob member for Christmas on December 19th. Fans can also go to Wickham’s MySpace to gather information on being a “mob” member and enroll in the giveaway. (http://www.myspace.com/philwickham)

In addition to the eventful fall, media and peers have raved about Cannons and Wickham’s passionate vocals:

“Phil Wickham is the definition of worship artist in that, his music is so worshipfully written that it must thrill the heart of God to hear His people sing these words back to Him, and yet Phil doesn’t settle for his music being artistically mundane…these songs reach deep and draw me to worship a VERY BIG God.”
–Mike Scheuchzer, MercyMe

“Cannons is an intriguing tale of personal worship that showcases Wickham’s voice and insightful songwriting.”
–All Music Guide, 4 out of 5 star review

“Wickham could just use his vocals to soar through each song without words and they’d make sense; the passion, the urgency, the aching…”
–Soulshine.ca, 4 out of 5 star review

“Mr. Wickham has proven he has a quality some of his contemporaries lack…his songs have got heart.”
–JesusFreakHideout.com, 4 out of 5 star review

“Cannons is an ethereal album of haunting melodies that—more often than not take on a life all their own”
–Christian Retailing, Top Pick

“Phil Wickham is an artist to be proud of.”
–Worship Leader

11/13/2007
SPREADING HOLIDAY CHEER, TODD AGNEW AND NEWSONG CO-HEADLINE “CHRISTMAS PROMISE” TOUR
As the holiday season fills the air, Todd Agnew and NewSong will be spreading Christmas cheer as they co-headline the “Christmas Promise” Tour with special guest Matthew West. The Tour will also feature Nate Sallie and introduce Brit Nicole. Commencing November 27 in Bolivar, Missouri, the “Christmas Promise” Tour will travel to 17 cities nationwide before its final date in Champaign, Illinois December 20.

What Todd Agnew & NewSong’s founding member Eddie Carswell are saying about the upcoming tour

“We are always thrilled about sharing the story of Christ and His reckless love for His children,” says Todd Agnew. “Christmas is a wonderful time to explore that and we are honored to share this season with our friends in NewSong, Matthew and Britt.”

NewSong’s Eddie Carswell says, “We enjoyed last year’s Christmas tour with Agnew so much that we simply had to do it again. We tour most of the year, but we especially love the Christmas season and can’t wait to share the Christmas story with the cities we’re visiting.”

In September, Agnew released a resource collection disc from his critically-acclaimed 2006 Christmas project, Do You See What I See? This 2 CD-ROM set is a collection of performance tools for churches which includes Full Listening and Split Trax Audio with rehearsal ID points. The Listening disc contains, as an enhancement, sheet music and chord charts both in PDF form and narrations in document form. The Split Trax contains the visual backgrounds and lyric text files for all of the songs. The image backgrounds are designed to help visualize and support the song lyrics. Agnew hopes these resources will deepen the worship experience of each song as listeners meditate on the story of Christ’s birth.

Agnew’s, Do You See What I See? Christmas project is on shelves in time for the holidays this year with new packaging. Check out more details at http://www.toddagnew.com.