Upstate Beat: TobyMac's 'Hits Deep' tour brings the best in contemporary Christian music to Bon Secours

The Hits Deep tour, which hits the Bon Secours Wellness Arena this Sunday, is like the Super Bowl of contemporary Christian music. Headlined by Grammy-award-winning, platinum-selling Christian MC TobyMac, the lineup also features Crowder, Cochren & Co., Tasha Layton, Jon Reddick and Terrian. It’s a virtual who’s who of modern spiritual pop music.

Michael Cochren of Cochren & Co. says that if you’re a fan of contemporary Christian music, the 30-date tour is not to be missed.

“If they’ve never been to a Hits Deep show, the one thing that I think they’re going to walk away with is encouragement and hope,” Cochren says. “I think they’re going to come in and they’re going to hear all of the music from the artists, they are going to hear the hearts of the artists, and I think it’s going to give them a chance to set aside all of the junk that they came in with. They’re going to get to set that aside for a second and just refocus on the hope of the Lord.”

That’s a tall order, but it’s easy to see how a tour like this could accomplish those goals. Cochren himself admits to getting caught up in the excitement of so many like-minded artists performing together.

“For me, it’s just a lot of fun to be on this particular tour because what you see on stage and the hype and the energy and the joy, that’s real, and it starts offstage,” he says. “It starts with how much we love on each other offstage, how good of friends we are and how excited we are to go out play music that we love to play for people that we love to see.”

This is an especially exciting time for Cochren and his band, because they’re on the cusp of releasing their second album “Running Home” after experiencing success with their 2021 debut release “Don’t Lose Hope.” That first release landed three Top Ten hits: “Church (Take Me Back),” “One Day,” and “Who Can.”

“Running Home” has already scored a successful single of its own with “Thank God It’s Sunday Morning,” which has racked up an impressive 10 million streams since last year.

Cochren says he’s eager for fans to hear his band’s new music, which moves beyond pop into soul, country and anthemic rock.

“I’m chomping at the bit for everybody to hear it,” he says. “It’s kind of like one of those toys with the spring-loaded snake inside the jar when you just can’t wait to open it. That’s where I’m at. I just can’t wait for someone to open the lid and we can just jump out and surprise people with the new sound.”

When Cochren & Co. hit the stage as part of the “Hits Deep” tour, they’ll play a 15-minute set packed with their most familiar songs, something that Cochren says he hopes will bring them new fans and satisfy their existing fanbase.

“The biggest challenge, I think, is that we just want to share so much,” he says, “and we would love to share more. But the way the night flows, I think there’s something special about leaving people wanting more. It’s called the ‘Hits Deep’ tour, so we all want to play our hits. My goal is to give them a taste of what we do and then they’ll want to come and see us when we come back to town and play a full concert that we’re headlining.”