For our 7th annual Highlighting feature, we split the year into TWO pieces -- January to June and July to December. Normally, we select our top 25 most anticipated releases for the whole year, but we realize that it's tough to really gauge EVERYTHING that may release throughout a given year when we're making the list in January. So, for 2012, we split the year into TWO pieces -- January to June and July to December, and we're using this format again for 2013. Also, each list contains 15 artists/releases for a total of 30 in total for 2013.

PLEASE NOTE:
We've already selected the first fifteen artists, so please click here to check those out. If you think an artist may be missing on this list, please keep in mind they may have made our list for the first half of the year before their release date was pushed back to the latter half of the year (like Switchfoot, Five Iron Frenzy and Relient K, for example). Without further ado, we give you Highlighting Second-Half 2013!

	4 of 15   #4. Audrey Assad Fortunate Fall Release Date: Late 2013 Last year's Heart simply blew me away, so Fortunate Fall naturally ranked quite high on my personal list. Nearly doubling her Kickstarter campaign's goal for her first independent record, Assad has gathered quite the fanbase, so we're not the only ones who are beyond excited. This is worshipful songwriting worth waiting for.         - Roger Gelwicks Audrey Assad's debut quietly hinted at greatness and put a fresh spin on Christian pop, and the follow-up Heart proved her to be a fantastically artful and engaging songwriter. Since then, she's become one of my favorites, and now she's left her major label days behind to create her latest independent effort, Fortunate Fall. Assad is promising artistic, thought-provoking music for the church, and if it's anything like we've heard so far from her, this record is sure not to disappoint.         - Jen Rose In a span of two splendid contemporary piano pop albums, Audrey Assad has rocketed up near the top the list of female singer/songwriters. This album looks to be a little different, as she has stated her intent is to create a worship album "for the church," but hopefully it's still full of the same beauty and charm that filled her previous two albums. Anyone as talented as her surely can do so.         - Mark Rice When she revealed her Heart last year, it was hard not to fall in love with the sweet sounds of Assad's sophomore album. Now that she's back on her own, we're quite eager to see what Assad's got for music lovers with the intriguingly titled Fortunate Fall.         - John DiBiase Her voice is tough and tender. Deep lyrics with haunting melodies - yeah, I don't just want this album, I NEED it.         - Ryan Barbee Visit our Audrey Assad page for more information about them... Second-Half of 2013 Countdown: 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 ©January, 2013 Jesusfreakhideout.com