Chicago, IL

Jeremy Camp

On October 6, GRAMMY®-nominated singer, songwriter and storyteller Jeremy Camp released THE ANSWER, his 15th career album in 15 years. Since his debut album, 2002’s STAY, Camp has established himself with numerous landmark accolades, including four RIAA-certified Gold albums, more than 4.5 million albums sold, a GRAMMY nomination, three American Music Awards nominations, multiple ASCAP awards, 41 radio No. 1’s, a Gold digital single (“There Will Be A Day”), and a multi-Platinum DVD.

He has also toured the world, sharing his music in more than 36 countries, and his organization, Speaking Louder Ministries, has allowed him to travel to Brazil, Guatemala, Ukraine, Japan and Kyrgyzstan. Now, with his latest album ready to debut and a headlining tour this fall is almost underway, Camp finds himself, more than ever before in his life, truly living in the moment.

“What’s been amazing about The Answer is that all of the songs were inspired by just being present,” Camp shares. “There was no song where I was sitting there and had this epiphany when I was writing. In every writing session, any idea literally just came in the moment. I was praying the whole time, ‘Lord, give me opportunities to combine these things that You are doing in our hearts.”

Camp co-wrote the ten songs on the album with a plethora of well-respected songwriters, from Ed Cash and Scott Cash, Colby Wedgeworth and Ethan Hulse, as well as Josh Silverberg and Jess Cates. Writing sessions began by just talking – no purposeful agenda or topic was allowed. The goal was to hang out, to share what’s going on in their lives. Camp explains, “The conversations that would come out of these writing sessions were the most incredible conversations I’ve had in a long time. I went in intentionally

asking, ‘What’s God teaching you? What’s going on in your life right now?’ I wanted to have a real discussion every time, and many of these conversations turned into deep prayer times where we were literally on the floor, weeping and praying for each other. We had true holy spirit moments.”

The album’s first single, “Word Of Life,” came from one of those sessions. “I thought about the Scripture in John 6:60-68 when we were writing this song,” he explains. “When Jesus asked His disciples if they are willing to go through what it takes to follow Him, they left because they didn’t like what Jesus was saying. But it was Peter who said, “Where else am I going to go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Camp continues, “When things get tough our first initial reaction is to say, ‘I don’t know if I can handle this.’ I can just tell you there is nowhere else to run. We can turn our backs on the Lord, but that’s where the problems are. There is pain and there is hurt, and Jesus literally offers peace, He offers hope and joy, and He offers the words of eternal life. This song is to encourage others to stick to the

only true source of life who gives us all we need – Jesus Christ.”

With the anthemic “The Answer,” “God just dropped these words on us,” Camp exclaims. “We literally had no agenda, we just wanted to write songs that are going to be impactful for this generation, and the timing of this song and what’s going on in the world right now is just perfect.”

“My Defender” shares about God as our Shield and our Refuge. “When we were writing this song, I thought about all the times in Scripture when it talks about Him as our Defender. I love that word, and I’m so thankful that He fights our battles, that he is our Protector, and thankful that greater is He that is in us than He is in the world.”

Camp concludes, “My first record (Stay) came from things I’d been through and I just wrote it out. Now 15 years with The Answer, it’s the same. I just wrote about this season of life. Our kids [with wife Adrienne and their three children: Bella-13, Aerie-12, and Egan-6] are growing up like crazy, one’s a teenager, and I’m looking at the world right now and everything that’s going on, and Godjust gave us these songs. I’m so thankful.”

Koryn Hawthorne

Matthew West

Matthew West is a four-time GRAMMY® nominee, a multiple-ASCAP Christian Music Songwriter/Artist of the Year winner and Dove Award recipient, and was awarded an American Music Award (2013), a Billboard Music Award (Top Christian Artist, 2014), a K-LOVE Fan Award (2016), and named Billboard’s Hot Christian Songwriter of the Year (2016). West also received a Primetime Emmy® Award nomination for Original Music & Lyrics for “The Heart of Christmas” from the film of the same name. In addition to his own recording career, he has co-hosted the K-LOVE Fan Awards three times and has more than 130 songwriting credits to his name, including cuts by Rascal Flatts, Scotty McCreery, Casting Crowns, Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, and Mandisa, among others. Selling more than 1.6 million albums to date (TEA), West’s discography includes acclaimed releases: Live Forever (2015), GRAMMY-nominated Into The Light (2012), The Story of Your Life (2010), Something to Say (2008),  History (2005) and Happy (2003).

Well known for communicating stories through song, Matthew West has received thousands of stories from around the world. His latest studio album, Live Forever, continues that storytelling theme and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Christian Sales Chart. He has obtained numerous No. 1 singles, most recently with “Grace Wins,” while achieving a record-setting No. 1 for 17 straight weeks at radio with “Hello, My Name Is” and “The Motions” for 15 weeks.

Adding author to his list of accolades, West has written five books to date: Give This Christmas Away, The Story Of Your Life, Forgiveness, Today Is Day One, and his newest release, Hello My Name Is. He is also passionate about providing hope and healing through the power of prayer and story, so along with his father Pastor Joe West he founded popwe, a non-profit ministry helping others to craft, share, and live a more meaningful life. Please visit popwe.org for more information.

Rend Collective

Hailing from a small town off the coast of Northern Ireland, Rend Collective (Gareth Gilkeson, Chris Llewellyn, Ali Gilkeson, Patrick Thompson and Stephen Mitchell) wants to be known as a celebration band, worshiping for God’s Glory and fame. Since the release of their first album, Organic Family Hymnal, the group’s authentic and energetic style of worship has attracted an international audience, with career sales of more than 300,000 albums. The group saw early success as their first ever single “Build Your Kingdom Here,” peaked at No. 12 on the National Christian Audience Chart. Their 2014 release The Art of Celebration, charted at No. 1 on the Billboard Christian Albums Chart within the first week of its release. Known for their electric, lively worship, the band has been a part of several major tours with top artists such as Chris Tomlin, MercyMe, Kari Jobe, Lecrae and more. Rend Collective is headlining two tours this year, debuting As Family We Go, the group’s latest album. As Family We Go was released last year, hitting No. 19 on the U.K. Albums Chart and No. 9 on U.K.’s Digital Albums Chart, making it the highest debut for a Christian album in the U.K. in almost 20 years and the highest ever Christian album debut on the U.K. Digital Albums Chart.The album also hit the No. 1 spot on the iTunes Christian albums chart in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand and landed in the top ten albums overall in seven countries including the U.S., U.K. and Canada.