Surf's Up This Summer for Eric Roberts and Jason Castro in The Perfect Summer

On July 13 UP premieres its original The Perfect Summer, an inspirational sun-and-surf family drama, starring Academy, Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominee Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight, The Expendables), Daytime Emmy-nominee Sydney Penny (“All My Children,” The New Gidget), Adam Horner (“The Valley,”), Katie Garfield (The Carrington Event, “Under the Dome”), Louis Mandylor (My Big Fat Greek Life) and singer/songwriter Jason Castro (“American Idol” finalist, season 7) in his TV acting debut. Newcomers JD Banks and Justin Barnhill also star.

Eric Roberts & Jason Castro to Star in movie The Perfect Summer on gmc

On May 13, Jason Castro began shooting for "The Perfect Summer" in North Carolina. The singer/songwriter has a role as a surf shop owner named Cody in "The Perfect Summer" which is due to premiere on GMC later this year and stars Eric Roberts. Castro, whose current single "Rise To You" is at radio now, can also be seen throughout the country with the Sidewalk Prophets this month.

Winter Jam #1 Tour in the World for Third Straight Year

For the third consecutive year, the Winter Jam Tour Spectacular reigns as the #1 tour in the world (first quarter). Leading Pollstar's 2013 Worldwide First Quarter Ticket Sales Charts - Top 100 Tours, Winter Jam attendance surpassed all other tours to date this year, including outings by Pink, Maroon 5, Justin Bieber and Bon Jovi, among others. 
 
Concluding its 18th season March 30 with a record-setting 42 sellouts since launching in January, the 44-city mega tour hit some of the country's largest arenas. With a combined total audience of nearly 554,000 people, this year's tour was the biggest in Winter Jam history. 


Founded and hosted by NewSong, Winter Jam was headlined by GRAMMY®-winning, multi-platinum artist TobyMac. The tour also featured RED, Matthew West, Jamie Grace, Sidewalk Prophets, Royal Tailor, Jason Castro, OBB and Capital Kings.

Highlights of this year's tour included sellouts at such top venues as Chicago's Sears Centre; Atlanta's Philips Arena; The Sprint Center in Kansas City; Oklahoma City's Chesapeake Energy Arena; and Cleveland's Wolstein Center, among numerous others. Winter Jam's capacity "hometown" stop at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena February 9 featured a string of special guest appearances, including Newsboys' Michael Tait, Francesca Battistelli, Mandisa and for KING & COUNTRY.

Word Entertainment to Release The Bible: Music Inspired by the Epic Mini-Series

Word Entertainment will release a musical companion to the History Channel's mini-series "The Bible" on March 12. The 12-track album highlighting themes from the mini-series features Christian  artists including Francesca Battistelli, Jason Castro, for KING & COUNTRY, Chris August, Big Daddy Weave, Group 1 Crew, Dara Maclean, Point of Grace, and Sidewalk Prophets. Superstars Wynonna Judd and Kenny Rogers also come together on the compilation for a special rendition of "Mary Did You Know?" The mini-series, which airs every Sunday through March culminating on Easter, drew in 27 million viewers this past Sunday making it the No. 1 cable telecast of the year and the No. 1 show in all of TV for the night.

"Roma and I are delighted that Word Entertainment and their talented Christian roster partnered with us on this project," commented producer Mark Burnett. "When we heard Francesca Battistelli's rendition of 'In Your Eyes' we immediately loved it. All of the artists' music fits beautifully with our vision of 'The Bible.'"


"The Bible: Music Inspired By The Epic Mini-Series" Track listing:
1. "In Your Eyes" - Francesca Battistelli
2. "Live Like That" - Sidewalk Prophets
3. "This Side Of Heaven" - Chris August
4. "Starting Line" - Jason Castro
5. "Love Come To Life" - Big Daddy Weave
6. "Crave" - for KING & COUNTRY
7. "Fearless" - Group 1 Crew
8. "What Love Means" - Everfound
9. "Home" - Dara Maclean
10. "Wash Me Away" - Point Of Grace
11. "Not For A Moment (After All)" - Meredith Andrews
12. "Mary, Did You Know?" - Wynonna Judd and Kenny Rogers

Winter Jam Rings Up a Record 23 Sellouts in Tour's First Half

Reaching its midpoint last weekend, the internationally top-ranked Winter Jam Tour Spectacular reports a record-setting 23 sellouts to date this year. Playing in 24 cities so far, the tour drew more than 19,000 people at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Florida, and 18,000 at Columbus, Ohio's Schottenstein Center, while nearly 16,000 packed Charlotte, North Carolina's Time Warner Cable Arena. This year Winter Jam has seen almost 300,000 attendees to date, with 20 more concerts slated through March.
The Winter Jam 2013 Tour Spectacular is headlined by GRAMMY®-winning, multi-platinum recording artist TobyMac. The 44-city tour, which launched its unprecedented 18th year January 4 in Charleston, West Virginia also features RED, Matthew West, Jamie Grace, Sidewalk Prophets and Royal Tailor, with a message from national speaker Nick Hall, Winter Jam's Pre-Jam Party includes performances from Jason Castro, OBB and Capital Kings.

Winter Jam has been the #1 tour in the world (first quarter) for the last two consecutive years, based on attendance, according to Pollstar's 2012 Worldwide First Quarter Ticket Sales Charts - Top 100 Tours. Created by NewSong in 1995, the tour has consistently featured the genre's biggest names, introducing Christian music to new audiences across the country while providing a powerful platform for the Gospel message.

Notable 2013 Releases

Below are the announced CDs we just can't wait to play:

January 8

.Capital Kings Capital Kings

.VOTA Love Found Me

January 15

.Jason Castro Only A Mountain

January 22

.Love and Death Between Here and Lost

January 29

.Colton Dixon A Messenger

.Fiction Family Fiction Family Reunion

February 5

.Tal & Acacia Black & White

.RED Release The Panic

.Sanctus Real Run

February 12

.Jeremy Camp Reckless

February 26

.NewSong Swallow The Ocean

.Britt Nicole Gold (Mainstream Re-Issue) [Capitol]

.Plumb Need You Now

.Salvador Make Some Noise

March 12

.Steven Curtis Chapman Deep Roots

March 12

.Audio Adrenaline Kings & Queens

.Seventh Day Slumber Love & Worship [BEC]

March 26

.Stryper Second Coming

April 2

.Hawk Nelson Made

April 9

.The Almost Fear Inside Our Bones

.Josh Wilson Carry Me

April 16

.The Afters Life Is Beautiful

May 2013

.Skillet Rise

Unknown 2013

.Amy Grant untitled new studio album

.Guardian Almost Home

.Jars of Clay untitled

.NEEDTOBREATHE untitled

.Newsboys untitled new album

.Relient K untitled

.Seabird untitle

.The Waiting Mysteriet

Jason Castro - An 'Idol' with Soul

Though he didn't win the seventh season of American Idol, third-place finisher Jason Castro was an enduring fan favorite for his sweet demeanor and soaring performances of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and his own ukulele-accompanied "Over the Rainbow." Both songs appear on "deluxe" versions of Castro's self-titled debut album, which released two weeks ago.

The dreadlocked singer/songwriter wants the world to know about the second part of that description—songwriter. He's not "just" a singer, like most Idol alums. Castro penned seven of the eight songs ("Hallelujah" is the eighth) on the more widely available version of the new album—mostly poems about love (he just got married in January) and friendship.

A committed Christian, Castro talked to Christianity Today about his new album, how his faith informs his songwriting and his performances, and how David Crowder Band was instrumental in his conversion.

Jason Castro Explains Why He Is Second

I Am Second has released a video of American Idol alum, Jason Castro.  In the video, he explains how he was having difficulty choosing a song during 80s week on American Idol.  He selected "Hallelujah" which propelled him into the final four.   He speaks of how Hallelujah is a special word reserved for God and how excited he was to sing the word in front of millions.

Jason Castro Tossed from American Idol

Tuesday's performance round on American Idol focused on the songs of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers and the dreadlocked, guitar-wielding 20-year-old blanked on the lyrics of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" after delivering Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff." Prior to being booted, Castro was joined onstage by Mercado as the other contestant with the lowest vote count. Castro, the believer from Texas, was grinning ear to ear as he exited re-hashing "Sheriff."

Before he was eliminated, Castro was in the bottom three only once.

Jason Castro Inspires with Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Some have been questioning Jason's place in the competition. After his rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," he carved himself a new place in American Idol history.  His performance was extremely well received and he became the first contestant to play the ukulele on the show. He played the instrument while singing Over The Rainbow, after learning to play it in less than a week

Jason Castro Hallelujah!

Jason Castro's performance of "Hallelujah" on American Idol has led to a surge of popularity for the Jeff Buckley cover of the Leonard Cohen song in the iTunes Store, propelling it to the number-one spot on the iTunes singles chart. Buckley's version of the song sold 178,000 digital downloads in the week following Castro's performance, to debut at number one on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart. According to Billboard, this was the highest boost in digital sales a song had ever received after being performed by a contestant on American Idol. It was the first time Buckley's version of the song charted on a Billboard chart, as well as the first U.S. number-one song on any chart for Buckley, who died May 29, 1997, at age 30.

Castro's version of the song "Hallelujah" briefly appeared in the number-one spot on the iTunes chart before it was removed due to the producers of American Idol not wanting any contestant to be favored.