Christmas Nights

Christmas Nights

I hope to see you all out Thursday night at the Hymn Sing and release show of our new EP "Christmas Nights."  I also hope you find the CD enjoyable and meaningful to listen to during this Advent season. 

When Chris approached me with the idea of recording a Christmas EP, I was a little timid to jump into a genre which has been well trod by many an artist. I knew that we had to assemble a certain team of musicians familiar to you in the Church to accomplish the task.  Over three weeks James Wallace, Nick Jaeger, Brett Harris, Mark Simonsen and I quickly arranged and recorded the six songs on the record and had a lot of fun doing it.  Rearranging these standards proved to be a challenge and an opportunity for us to convene as a group and record together, which we don't usually have.

The record itself is centered around the waiting and anticipation of Christmas at night, so every song has that mood about it.  All of the songs are relatively familiar – "O Come O Come Emmanuel," "O Little Town of Bethlehem," "Oh Holy Night," "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" and "Beautiful Star of Bethlehem," but all have a nighttime veneer on the sound and arrangement.

So tell your friends, share with your family, and enjoy on your own – the CD will be available starting Thursday night at 7pm in Durham at Reality Center.  All the information can be found here on the website at www.allgather.org/advent/.  We hope to see everyone out and enjoy singing together to usher in the Christmas season.

In the meantime, you can hear and download the record now at http://allgather.bandcamp.com.

Full of Christmas spirit,

Jeff