With his sophomore CD, Twilight, just a week away (August 5), Shaun Groves is now a road warrior on a 60-day promotional tour, including one grueling stretch of 16 cities in 15 days. Radio stations, media outlets, Christian bookstores, retail lunches and interviews galore—all while guzzling more coffee than any sane soul should ingest—typify Shaun's relentless schedule. Shaun loves promoting his new CD, of course, but overriding it all is his deep desire to be home, relaxing with his wife and kids.

For the first time in days, I rose after the sun. With earplugs crammed in, the roar of the Orlando airport is muffled to a low hum. And with my throat swollen, body weak, calendar full, soul neglected, heart lonely for home and my ego more than a little bruised, I'm writing to you for the last time.

There isn't much time for writing, though, as I'm already fully ensconced in promoting my new CD, Twilight. I've penciled you in between calls home and bookstore visits, retail lunches and radio shows, phone interviews and CBA (Christian Booksellers Association) Convention duties here in Orlando. And now I'm struggling to string a sentence together to meet this article's deadline on a few hours of sleep and a Balance Bar breakfast with a laptop precariously balanced on my lap and my feet propped up on my tattered guitar case.

For the last CD, Invitation to Eavesdrop, I traveled too, for 21 straight days hitting a city each day, mostly by yellow rental car, with two members of the Rocketown Records' staff. This time, to promote the release of Twilight on Aug. 5, I'm in the middle of about 60 nonconsecutive days of travel-with Mike (a good friend from marketing) and my veteran traveling companion Derek (Rocketown's Radio Promotions guru, whom you read about last time). We're visiting two, and sometimes three, cities each day—waking up early to sing and fake awake on live radio, eating lunch and often dinner with retailers, spending afternoons traveling from store to store, meeting the field reps for Provident Distribution, and cursing Mapquest for its often lackluster accuracy.

In the last two months, I've seen it all. I've touched down in London and Green Bay. I've met retailers who are excited about Twilight and the world of Christian music in general. I've met those disgruntled toward an industry they see as giving many of their sales to big mainstream stores like Target and Best Buy. I've met those who are angry at artists who "have nothing to say to the Church." We've visited old friends like the folks at The Fish in Cleveland and KXOJ in Tulsa and made new ones at JOY-FM in Sarasota and WBVM in Tampa. I spent some quality time with a camel named Moses at Jon and Sherry Rivers' ranch near Dallas (they do the morning show on K-LOVE) and stayed with the ducks at the Peabody Hotel here in Orlando.

Shaun Groves and Derek Jones meet Moses

There are no animals in my near future. But looking ahead to next month, I'm sure I'll be just as productive and tired without that added excitement. The team at Rocketown has put together quite a ride for the next leg of my promo tour. For 15 straight days from August 4-17, I'll be 16 different cities, in this order: Atlanta, Nashville, Dallas, Tulsa, Chicago, Minneapolis, Wausau (WI), Wickliffe (OH), Cleveland, Houston, Grand Rapids (MI), Tampa, Orlando, Lansing (MI) and Chicago again. After a five-day break, it's Nashville, Cincinnati, Marshall (TX) and Huntsville (AL), followed by a 12-day College Promo Tour, ending September 10. Whew!

Of course, between now and then I'm in California and Texas and, hopefully, taking a nap. I'm not complaining, though. First class is boarding now, which means it's just a matter of minutes before they let us common folk on the plane. And that means it's just a few short hours until I'm home—kissing my wife, tickling Gabriella and helping Gresham learn to walk. We'll spend a few days together before I leave again—eating Popsicles, catching doodle bugs and earthworms, and making the most of every hour.

That's one good thing about all this travel. I never take home, or the people in it, for granted. There's so much they give me that I can't get in a hotel gift shop. So, listen to your spouse. Be patient with your kids. Don't let the routine of your life bore you. I'd trade every stamp in my passport and all the tacky airport chairs in the world for a little of that consistency right now.

This is the sixth and final installment of "The Process," Shaun Groves's first-person account of the entire procedure of making a CD. ChristianityToday.com thanks Shaun and Rocketown Records for working with us on this series. Click the links below to read previous installments of "The Process."

The Process: Making An Album, part one
The Process: Song Selection, part two
The Process: Recording, part three
The Process: Radio Is a Reality, part four
The Process: "Who's My Audience?", part five

You can read more about Shaun Groves by visiting our artist page for him. Click here to read our review of Invitation to Eavesdrop, and pick up your own copy of it at Musicforce.com.

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