NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Shaun Groves takes two giant steps forward with his recently announced inclusion on the Jars of Clay “The Eleventh Hour” tour and the top 10 year-end finish of his debut single, “Welcome Home.”
Groves, a graduate of Baylor University and a member of First Baptist Church, Franklin, Tenn., will have 20 minutes as the opening act on this spring’s “The Eleventh Hour” tour, which includes special guest Jennifer Knapp and headliner Jars of Clay. The tour is expected to visit more than 50 cities between March 15 and May 31. Last fall Groves opened for Bebo Norman on his “Big Blue Sky Tour” to 50-plus colleges.
“We have lots of respect for Shaun Groves as a songwriter and an artist and anticipate becoming friends with him over the course of this tour,” said Charlie Lowell of Jars of Clay.
In addition, Groves’ “Welcome Home” landed at No. 6 on R&R’s Year End AC radio chart and No. 9 on The CCM Update’s AC chart. “Welcome Home,” the first single from his “Invitation to Eavesdrop” CD, spent four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Christian radio Adult Contemporary charts this summer, representing the only song from a new artist to top the AC chart this year.
After only six weeks Groves’ current single, “After the Music Fades,” is already in the top 10 at AC radio. Meanwhile, his worship song “Your Renown” is being played on more than half of the inspirational stations in the nation.
When Groves extended his Invitation to Eavesdrop in July, critics and consumers alike responded with approval. In addition to the debut single’s No. 1 status on radio, Invitation to Eavesdrop broke into the top 20 on SoundScan’s Christian album sales chart and continues to draw rave reviews from critics.
Editors and music reviewers at CCM Magazine, Baptist Press and ChristianityToday.com placed the album on their lists of the year’s best releases, with one writer noting, “Eavesdrop is a soul-confessional unlike anything I’ve heard.”
Meanwhile, R&R named Groves a Breakthrough Artist of 2001 and in a poll The CCM Update found Shaun Groves in a tie as the Best New Artist of the Year.
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(BP) photo posted in the BP Photo Library at https://www.bpnews.net. Photo title: SHAUN GROVES.