NASHVILLE, Tenn. —GRAMMY® nominees and multi-award-winning Jeff & Sheri Easter hit the ground running last week with the June 23rd release of their all-new recording, Small Town, Celebrating 30 Years of Music & Marriage (Spring Hill Music).
The new release climbed the iTunes sales chart on street date, hitting the Top 40 listing of Christian and Gospel music downloads; and the project landed at #11 on the Southern Gospel chart, according to Nielsen Soundscan.
“After working on a project, writing for it and planning for a couple of years, it’s great to finally reach release day and get feedback from others; and the response to this recording has been great!” stated Jeff.
That enthusiasm continued as Jeff, Sheri and their daughter Morgan gathered around the piano in their home living room in their small town of Lincolnton, GA, on the night of June 22nd, to become the first southern gospel artists to debut a new recording on the stageit platform (www.stageit.com). The family could not wait to share Small Town’s heartwarming messages and family harmonies and celebrate the past 30 years with friends around the world via this online, “unplugged†concert format.
“We never dreamed 30 years ago that we’d be sharing a concert with a few hundred friends from right here in our living room!†said Sheri. “I’m grateful that new technology allows us to share the timeless messages in these songs in a new, effective way.”
Fans who signed up were able to tune in with any online device from any location to enjoy a LIVE, interactive chat with the family along with 30 minutes of acoustic performances of songs from the acclaimed recording. The group shared stories about how each song was written and ended with a 20-minute encore of requested songs.
The performed songs included their new radio single, “Jesus Loves You,†already the #2 Top 10 New Release nationally.  The recorded version of the song represents Jeff and Sheri’s desire to continue to try new things, even after three decades, as it marks the first time in the group’s history that they have included a choir of vocals and added a full string section to one of their songs.
Jeff & Sheri then traveled from one small town to another to enjoy a special release celebration at Gaither Family Resources in Alexandria, IN, on Thursday, June 25th. The event served as the official kick-off and launch event for a new, ongoing series at the store called “Singin’ in the Studio.”
In celebration of this anniversary release, Gloria Gaither joined the group on stage during the concert and read a very memorable prayer that she had prayed for Jeff & Sheri 22 years ago during the recording of the Homecoming Series’ Landmark video. At that time the couple was expecting the birth of Morgan, so it was quite surreal for them to experience this prayer a second time in that same room, 22 years later, with Morgan now a part of the group.
For over two decades, Gaither Studios has been the premiere location for numerous Homecoming video tapings and artist recordings.  The team is now opening their doors to an up-close and personal live concert event series held in historic “Gaither Studio C.â€Â Jeff and Sheri signed autographs during an in-store party before the evening concert where they showcased songs from Small Town as well as some of their most popular hits.
Small Town, Celebrating 30 Years of Music and Marriage, produced by Jeff and Sheri Easter, Madison Easter and Greg Cole, features 11 songs, several of which were co-written by Sheri along with some of Nashville’s most noted songwriters. It captures the warm, country-influenced musical style the group is known for and covers faith and family topics that have been important to Jeff and Sheri since they started the group three decades ago.
Distributed by Capitol Christian Distribution, the release is available at retail stores everywhere and also at online stores including iTunes and Amazon. The new release is highlighted in the current issue of Homecoming Magazine, and the group’s family legacy is captured with the cover story of the June Singing News Magazine.
Jeff & Sheri were recently featured on SiriusXM’s “Daniel Britt & Friends,†where they talked about the new recording on the one-hour gospel music radio show, alongside Gospel Music Hall of Famers Bill Gaither and Mark Lowry. They also discussed the album at length with Paul Heil on “The Gospel Greats†nationally syndicated radio program.
For further information, visit www.jeffandsheriester.com or Twitter.com/@JSEaster or www.facebook.com/
