Bluetree was a Northern Irish contemporary Christian band. The band is best known for its song "God of This City", which received international exposure when it was covered by Chris Tomlin on both the Passion: God of This City and Hello Love albums. As an independent band, Bluetree signed distribution agreements with Lucid Entertainment in the US and Kingsway in the UK & Europe for their album, God of this City.
Bluetree originated in Christian Fellowship Church in Belfast in 2004.[1] Bluetree originally consisted of five members, with Pete Kernoghan joining later.[2] While the band was travelling on a missions trip to Pattaya, Thailand they were inspired to write a song, "God of this City". Band members report that the song came from divine inspiration when the band was playing in a bar. The song refers to the impoverished and desperate conditions the band witnessed during their trip.
As an independent band, they recorded their debut album, Greater Things, at the Windmill Lane Studios (U2's preferred studio). The record was initially released in September 2007 but on 24 January 2008, their album was picked up by Fierce! Records for UK Distribution.[3] In May 2009 the band launched a charity "Stand Out International" which indirectly rescues children from the sex industry; they also had their first album, God of This City, released in North America. In 2013, the charity was relaunched in the US with the name Bluetree Worship, a US 501(c)(3) non-profit.
Bluetree was nominated for a Dove Award in 2009 for "God of This City". Their second studio album Kingdom began production in Parr Street Studios which is in Liverpool, England in April 2011, and was digitally released on 8 May 2012 with a small-scale US CD release in June. In 2013, two live projects were released. The first was recorded in 2010 in between their first two studio albums; all funds raised went to missions and a trip to Cambodia with Ratanak in November 2013. The second was recorded at the Super Summer camp in June 2013 and features guest and fellow Nathan Jess, who is also from Northern Ireland. In 2014, Bluetree's music with Integrity Media was released; they had publishing and recording contracts with Integrity at the time. The first album of the deal was recorded in May 2014 with production by Michael Rossback. Bluetree's lead singer and founder, Aaron Boyd, regularly leads worship at his home church CFC in Belfast. Bluetree has toured with American Christian rock band 2nd Mile.[4]
In September 2017, Aaron Boyd discontinued the Bluetree moniker and he still tours as a solo artist.
| Year | Album details | Peak positions | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US 200 | US Christ | US Indie | US Heat | |||||||
| 2007 | Greater Things
| — | — | — | — | |||||
| 2009 | God of This City
| 103 | 1 | 8 | 7 | |||||
| 2012 | Kingdom
| — | — | — | — | |||||
| 2013 | Live: Mission Edition
| — | — | — | — | |||||
| 2013 | Live in Oklahoma
| — | — | — | — | |||||
| 2014 | Worship & Justice
| — | — | — | — | |||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||