Acclaimed singer/songwriter John Mark McMillan has had a highly-successful 2014 with the release of his first independent project, Borderland, and a GMA Dove Award nomination for "Worship Song of the Year" for the single "Future / Past." Now McMillan is thrilled to announce The Borderland Sessions, an alternate take on the original album, which releases September 30 under his new label Lionhawk Records. Fans will be able to preorder the LP on iTunes on September 23 with an immediate download of "Monsters Talk (feat. Bear Rinehart)".  

The Borderland Sessions is an intimate collection of recordings of the entire Borderland album with special guest vocalists Ray Dalton (featured on Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Can't Hold Us"), Bear Rinehart (of NEEDTOBREATHE), Kim Walker-Smith (of Jesus Culture), Sarah McMillan and Brady Toops. The Sessions also includes full commentary from McMillan, sharing his thoughts and stories behind the songs.  

"The Borderland Sessions is not a 'B-sides' project," shares John Mark McMillan. "From the beginning we knew most of these songs could go in totally different directions. To satisfy our need to explore all of the options, we planned to release a record with alternate versions. The idea was to expose people to more of the basic songwriting and lyrical elements of Borderland while also showing off the production ideas that we just couldn't fit on the original release. We recorded so many beautiful parts, like clarinet, cello, and vibes that we couldn't use on the first round, so The Borderland Sessions gave us an opportunity to share those special elements. It was a dream to collaborate with Ray Dalton, Bear Rinehart, Kim Walker-Smith, Brady Toops and my all-time favorite singer Sarah McMillan. What a thrilling opportunity to work with some of my favorite voices."  

McMillian released Borderland through Lionhawk Records in March debuting at No. 4 on Billboard's Top Christian Album chart and No. 41 on Billboard's Top 200 chart, marking it as his best debut release week to date. During street week, the album debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes Christian and Gospel chart and continued to hold a Top 15 slot in the iTunes Overall Albums chart. Fans can catch the second leg of the "Are We All Animals" tour starting September 15. Visit www.johnmarkmcmillan.com/tour for dates.