Taco Bell Arena's Winter Jam 2014 Begins Today

NewSong's blockbuster Winter Jam Tour Spectacular prepares to head West again this fall, headlined for the first time by groundbreaking Australian worshippers Hillsong UNITED. Kicking off today, November 6, at Albuquerque, New Mexico's Santa Ana Star Center, Winter Jam West will feature 10 of Christian music's top artists for $10.

Created and hosted by GRAMMY-nominated NewSong, the tour will also include GRAMMY-nominated singer/songwriter Jeremy Camp, Francesca Battistelli, Colton Dixon, Disciple, Trip Lee and evangelist Tony Nolan. In addition, the Pre-Jam Party will showcase Everfound, About A Mile and VERIDIA.

Winter Jam West will hit nine cities in November, including Sacramento, California's Sleep Train Arena; Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California; Boise, Idaho's Taco Bell Arena; and the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington, among others, before concluding November 16 at Portland, Oregon's Moda Center.

"This will be our fourth year taking Winter Jam out West and we believe it will be the best year yet," says Eddie Carswell, Winter Jam originator and NewSong founding member. "With Hillsong UNITED headlining, along with the other great artists in the line-up, each night will be an amazing night of worship and celebration. We can't wait to see what God is going to do!"

Earlier this year, Winter Jam was once again ranked Pollstar's #1 tour in the world for the first quarter, based on ticket sales. The tour has garnered this top ranking for four consecutive years. Playing major arenas around the country from January through March, Winter Jam saw its largest audience ever, with a combined total of more than 550,000 people. In February, over 30,000 attended the inaugural Winter Jam Dome Spectacular at Atlanta's Georgia Dome-the biggest single event in the tour's history.

Promoted by Premier Productions and presented by Holt International, this year's Winter Jam West partners include the University of Mobile, Pure Flix Entertainment, Pepsi and TheOverflow.com.

UNITED is a worship band that originally rose out of the youth ministry of Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. This progressive worship band is a global recording and touring entity sent out to share the ever-evolving worship music of Hillsong Church to an international audience through live performances and records. Releasing their first album in 1999, UNITED has toured six continents and 42 nations since 2006. The touring entity of UNITED has made a huge wave in the United States as they became the first Christian artist to ever sell out Los Angeles' Staples Center. In 2013, UNITED released ZION, which is their most successful and fastest selling album to date. This release also featured the No. 1 single, "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)," that cracked the longest reign on Billboard'sairplay/sales/streaming-based Hot Christian Songs chart.

Over his stellar 12-year career, Capitol CMG artist Jeremy Camp has established himself with these landmark accolades: more than four million albums sold, four RIAA Gold-selling studio albums including his debut album; one RIAA Multi-Platinum long-form video; 36 No. 1 Radio Hits across all formats; GRAMMY nominated project for his album Speaking Louder Than Before; three American Music Award nominations; Billboard's No. 3 Christian Artist of the Decade including five songs in the Top 50 Billboard Christian Songs of the Decade; and five Dove awards including two-time Male Vocalist of the Year. Jeremy also released his first book and autobiography I Still Believe in 2013 (Tyndale).

Since her debut in 2008, Francesca Battistelli has earned a GRAMMY nomination, six Dove Awards (including 2011 "Artist of the Year") and 22 Dove Award nominations. With both a RIAA Certified Gold Album and Single to her credit, 2Billboard No 1 albums, and over a million in album sales and nearly 2 million single downloads to date, she is the best-selling new artist in the genre in the past decade. The launch of her third album, If We're Honest, found her making her national morning TV debut this year on ABC's Good Morning America performing her multi-week #1 song, "Write Your Story," just weeks before the album hit the top of the Christian SoundScan chart.

NewSong created Winter Jam in 1995 and continues to host and oversee the exponential growth of what is now one of the world's biggest tours. In addition to Winter Jam, the band has recorded 18 albums, garnered 20 #1 Christian radio singles, and received a GRAMMY Award nomination, among numerous other achievements. A member of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, NewSong's unparalleled 30-year ministry is highlighted by such defining songs as "The Christmas Shoes," "Arise, My Love" and "Rescue."

For further information, visit jamtour.com or turningpointpr.com. Follow Winter Jam on Twitter @jamtour.

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