BLUETREE ANNOUNCES FIRST U.S. / CANADIAN TOUR

Billboard Correspondent Applauds Band, New York City Broadcast Journalist Says Tour Is One Not To Miss
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“God Of This City” Enters Radio’s Top 10

(Nashville, TN) May 21, 2009 – Belfast, Ireland-based modern worship band Bluetree, whose acclaimed album, God Of This City, has become one the best selling Christian recordings this year, receives a boost this week from American Idol winner Kris Allen.  Allen has been performing the title track to Bluetree’s album, “God Of This City,” a song birthed by the band in a brothel in Thailand.  

An anthem being sung worldwide, “God Of This City” was written by Bluetree during a mission trip and while the band was on stage performing worship songs in the Climax Bar, a club which doubles as a brothel in the Red Light district of Pattaya, Thailand.  The song became a message of hope for the people of Pattaya and is now being sung in churches across the world, with the Willow Creek Association recently concluding its worship pastor seminar with the song.  It was further recorded by Chris Tomlin and became the name and theme for the latest Passion project and world tour.

Bluetree will be playing “God Of The City” and its brand of worship-rock on its first ever tour of the U.S. that begins July 17 and follows concerts for an estimated 35,000 people on a six-city tour of Canada that began May 17 in Montreal, QB and ends June 7 in Toronto, ON.

Having spent four consecutive weeks on top of SoundScan’s Christian retail sales chart, a remarkable feat considering the band has never toured in the U.S. or Canada, Bluetree brings its energetic, worship-rock this summer to major Canadian cities and U.S. festivals that include Alive Festival (Akron, OH), Creation Northeast (Mount Union, PA), Cornerstone (Bushnell, IL), Kings Fest (Doswell, VA), Spirit Song (Cincinnati, OH), Lifest (Oshkosh, WI), SoulFest (Gilford, NH) and Rock the Desert (Midland, TX) and more.

Following the summer concerts, Bluetree will join NewSong this fall on a tour to major markets throughout the U.S. beginning in September and running through November.  Tour cities to be announced soon.

Ahead of the tour, Billboard’s correspondent Deborah Evans Price predicted the band’s success: “Look for this talented outfit to become one of the Christian market’s most enthusiastically embraced new worship bands.”

After seeing the band perform during Gospel Music Week in Nashville, Beth Bacall, Star 99.1 FM midday air personality in New York City, echoes that a Bluetree tour is one not to miss: “What an amazing explosion of sound. Bluetree cuts straight to the core after the first chord. Musically, spiritually they pull you and you can’t let go until they finish, and even then you’re left with lyrics floating all about. There is an obvious connection between all the band members that really permeates through the crowd and within their music.  Add in some serious rock and Bluetree has a sound that definitely deserves airplay plus a show that needs to be seen.”

One of the reasons Bluetree has found such quick success in North America stems from the song that has preceded the band’s arrival.  In addition to Kris Allen, Chris Tomlin and other artists and church worship leaders singing the song, the title track to the acclaimed debut album, God Of This City, has become an R&R multi-format radio hit, landing this week at No. 14 on the AC Indicator, No. 13 on the CHR and No. 6 on the Soft AC / Inspirational charts and continuing to climb.

With an unabashed attitude of worship running through all of the songs on God Of This City, which released March 3 on the Lucid Artist label, the album also reflects the highs and lows that inevitably come with the journey of faith.  Critics from Billboard, Lexington Herald-Leader and Belfast Telegraph to Worship Leader, ChristianMusicToday.com, CBN.com and CBA Retailer + Resources and more are heralding Bluetree’s God Of This City, describing it as “stunning debut album,” “inspired and inspiring,” “an experience,” and calling the band the “next big leader” and “freshest sounding” with “compelling musicality.”

For more information on the band, including a compelling acoustic video performance and explanation of the song “God Of This City” by Bluetree lead vocalist/guitarist Aaron Boyd, as well as a free download of the congregation-ready song “Each Day” from its acclaimed God Of This City debut album, go to http://www.givmusic.com/bluetree.

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Attention Media:  High-resolution photos of Bluetree are downloadable at http://www.box.net/shared/93rb60fq11.

For more information, contact: Rick Hoganson, Hoganson Media Relations, 615-459-9870, Hoganson@comcast.net.