Grammy Award nominated Building 429 will be the featured act when the 2016 Festival of Bells once again opens with a Christian music presence on Thursday, June 30.
“They’re upbeat, exciting, and we’re excited to have them,” said Hillsboro resident Brian Robinson, who leads a group that has brought a Christian concert in for the festival’s opening night for nine years. “They’re a little different from what we’ve had in the past, but the message is the same, and it’s very passionate.”
Building 429 is a high energy group that may attract young Christians, Robinson said, but also has a nice mix of sounds that should offer something for all ages.
The featured group will take the stage at 9 p.m. on June 30, and will be preceded by an opening act around 8 p.m., but Robinson said the first act has not yet been selected.
“We like to use worship and praise bands from churches that help us make this happen,” Robinson said. “We have a lot talent in this area and we like to give them a little exposure.”
Robinson said the festival’s Christian concert is made possible not just by churches from Highland County, but also by churches in Adams and Brown counties and across Southwest Ohio, plus a couple Christian businesses.
Building 429 gets its name from Ephesians 4:29, according to Robinson. According to the King James version, that Bible passage says: “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”
The group’s hit “We Won’t Be Shaken” resulted in a nomination at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards for Top Christian Song. Its hit “Where I Belong” was named the 2012 Christian Song of the Year, according to Building 429’s website.
Building 429 also received a Grammy nomination in 2013 for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album (“We Won’t Be Shaken”), a KLOVE Fan Awards nomination in 2014 for Best Group or Duo of the Year, Billboard’s 2012 Christian Songs Artist of the Year and Christian AC Songs Artist of the Year, the website says.
Robinson said a single from Building 429’s current album “Unashamed” has hit the top 20 on the Christian charts.
In picking bands they want to play at the Festival of the Bells, Robison said his group firsts talk to the Christian artists that play at the Hillsboro festival each year and gets suggestions from them, then combines that with other research.
“We’re excited the Festival of the Bells allowed us to be part of it again and we’re looking forward to June 30,” Robinson said.
The festival committee previously announced that country acts Jana Kramer and Phil Vasser will be the featured performers on Friday, July 1 and Saturday, July 2 respectively.
Reach Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522 or on Twitter @13gillilandj.
