Plans for a 30-city tour with musical pioneer Ralph Carmichael have been announced for 2013. "An Evening with Ralph Carmichael" will feature the Symphony Orchestra from each tour city, The Ralph Carmichael Big Band, a Mass Choir recruited from area churches, and guest artists from the Christian and mainstream music industries.

The producers of the Ralph Carmichael Legacy Tour are extending an open invitation to artists from all genres of music to perform selected Ralph Carmichael compositions during the concerts. Interested artists may be featured in one or more of the 30 dates.

Carmichael's resume crosses all musical lines and includes many of the biggest names in music including Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Tex Ritter, Rosemary Clooney, Pat Boone, Peggy Lee, and Ella Fitzgerald. Ralph composed music for such popular television shows as "I Love Lucy", "Roy Rogers & Dale Evans," and he also had a long time association with pianist Roger Williams with whom he scored the million-selling hit song, "Born Free".  Carmichael also worked with World Wide Pictures, the company that produced full-length feature movies for the Billy Graham organization.

In the 1960s, Carmichael formed Light Records/Lexicon Music to be a vehicle for a new musical genre he had helped to create, which would come to be known as Contemporary Christian Music. Light went on to sign and launch the careers of some of Christian music's most recognizable icons, including Andrae Crouch, The Winans, Rez Band, Walter Hawkins, The Archers, Sweet Comfort Band, Allies, and Bryan Duncan, among others. One of Carmichael's contemporary hymns, "Reach Out to Jesus,"  was recorded by Elvis Presley on the singer's 1971 Grammy Award-winning album of sacred songs, He Touched Me. Carmichael was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1985 and into the National Religious Broadcasters' Hall of Fame in 2001

"There are only a handful of music icons that qualify for 'living legend' status and Ralph Carmichael is certainly one of them," says Tour Producer and veteran Concert Promoter, Justin Smith. "Musically, his contributions are well documented, but his contribution to the culture beginning in the '60s was seismic. He was a pioneer that inspired a generation of young people to embrace a more contemporary style of Christian music and helped create a generational shift in the music of the Church as a whole. I invite artists to contact us if they would like to join the Ralph Carmichael Legacy Tour in 2013."

Artists or artist's representatives can contact the producers by email: info@RalphCarmichaelLegacyTour.com. For further information, visit the tour website:  RalphCarmichaelLegacyTour.com.