Elder statesmen
With sales in excess of 10-million albums, Casting Crowns is one of the top acts in contemporary Christian music. Since its self-titled debut came out in 2003, the group has released eight more studio albums, including “Until the Whole World Hears” (2009), “The Very Next Thing” (2016) and “Only Jesus” (2018). The latest album, “Healer,” was released in January.
The tour
Hall, who has been a youth pastor since the early 1990s, is based out of Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in Atlanta. Considering Casting Crowns is one of the old guards of Contemporary Christian music, it’s fitting they’re touring with We The Kingdom, Dove Award-winners of New Artist of the Year in 2020. The group was formed by producer Ed Cash.
Into the forefront
Cash was a known figure in gospel and contemporary Christian music long before forming We The Kingdom in 2018. As a producer, songwriter, engineer and multi-instrumentalist, he worked heavily with singer Chris Tomlin. Cash, who has also overseen recordings for Steven Curtis Chapman, Rend Collective, Crowder and Needtobreathe, has been named “Producer of the Year” a half dozen times by the Gospel Music Association.
“My gosh, we’re so excited to be part of this tour,” Cash said. “It’s a tremendous honor. We love all the people in Casting Crowns. They’re such amazing folks. It’s going to be an incredible time. For the people coming, it’s going to be a really beautiful night with a lot of diversity and really filled with expectation about what God is going to do.”
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Rising stars
Cash has entered a new musical phase with his family group, which won the Dove Award for Contemporary Christian Artist of the Year in 2021. The outfit, which features the multihyphenate’s daughter, Franni Rae, son, Martin, and brother Scott, is rounded out by longtime family friend, Andrew Bergthold.
We The Kingdom’s debut single, “Dancing on the Wave,” was released in 2019. While it failed to chart, the song introduced the band to a receptive audience and led to seven consecutive singles to hit the Top 40 on Billboard’s Christian chart. Three of those were Top 10 hits, with “Holy Water” at two in 2019, “God So Loved” at four in 2020 and “Child of Love” at five in 2021.
New music
We The Kingdom’s lone studio full-length, “Holy Water,” was released in 2020. According to Scott Cash, the group is currently working on album number two during the tour.
“We’re sort of between two different seasons in our lives,” he said. “It’s exciting to think about what the next steps are. For now, as we round out this first album cycle, we’re going to use the next couple of months to enjoy touring these songs we’ve loved. They have been so autobiographical for the last several years, but we’re looking forward to moving toward this great shift that will ultimately be finalized by this fall.”
Contact this contributing writer at 937-287-6139 or e-mail at donthrasher100@gmail.com.
HOW TO GO
Who: Casting Crowns and We The Kingdom
Where: Nutter Center, 3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy., Fairborn
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 10
Cost: $25.75-$119.75
More info: 937-775-4789 or www.nuttercenter.com
Artist info: www.castingcrowns.com and www.wethekingdom.com
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