Category: Christian

Stubbys House of Christmas

SMALLTOWN POETS - CAROL OF THE BELLS

12/16/2018

The Smalltown Poets have released a couple of excellent CCM Christmas albums--2011's "Smalltown Poets Christmas" and "Christmas Time Again" in 2014--but they've been all quiet on the Yuletide front since then (although, as a CCM band, pretty much everything they record could be tied to the spiritual aspect of the holiday). But the band has returned with a holiday single for 2018. They describe their version of "Carol of the Bells" as what they would imagine it would sound like if Queen and Radiohead decided to record a Christmas single together. That's not too far off the mark, though it misses without the presence of a Freddie Mercury. Now had they recruited Marc Martel to join them on the vocals.... Truth be told, I think they came up with the description after they'd recorded it and listened to it, not before they laid out the arrangement. And it's a fine rendition of "Carol of the Bells" that, I think, sounds like The Smalltown Poets. And there ain't nothing wrong with that. You can get this one free, in exchange for your email, from Noisetrade.

ALLI ROGERS - THE SILENT STARS

12/14/2018

This is an oldie but a goodie. Alli Rogers is one of the great undiscovered treasures of Folk and CCM. I honestly don't know what she's been up to lately. She hasn't been very active on social media for the past few years and her website says she's not currently touring.

Back in 2009, Alli released a brilliant Christmas album (obviously focused on the more spiritual side of the holiday). "The Silent Stars" has been a quiet perennial among those who know it--one of those albums you always take the time to play in December, but you somehow never think to mention it to others.

"The Silent Stars", the complete album mind you, by Alli Rogers is now available to stream or download free from Noisetrade. I recommend it highly. I think it will become a quiet perennial in your home, too. I'm especially fond of Alli's version of "O Little Town of Bethlehem". "Adorn" is one of Alli's originals.

FOLK ANGEL - HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING

12/1/2018

Folk Angel are one of those groups who are like an old friend. Sure, c'mon in guys. Sit by the fire and warm yourself. Haven't seen you since last year. Whassup?

An Indie Alt Folk group from Dallas, Folk Angel is a seasonal group and, this year, they'll be bringing out their tenth annual Christmas set. Check that. It was released today. "All Praise To You" is up on Amazon and, presumably will make it's way to Bandcamp shortly. Folk Angel writes and rearranges Christmas songs in order to make the story of Jesus' birth fresh again. And, so far, that's working out pretty well. I love this new rendition of "Hark The Herald Angels Sing" which is a free download on Bandcamp, released last week to sound the trumpets, as it were, for the arrival of "All Praise To You".

"Hark The Herald Angels Sing" features South of Royal and also features a bit of synth backing. Pretty cool. Not a lot of Synth Folk out there, really. Grab Folk Angels's free offering before it turns into a pumpkin (sorry, wrong holiday). And, if you want to hear more, "The Christmas Songs Collection" is very reasonably priced.

LORD & LADY - GREATER THAN CHRISTMAS

11/29/2018

If you like gentle harmonies and soft piano driven Alt Pop, with a slight Folk influence, you should enjoy Lord & Lady. The music of Scott Oatley and Rachel Panchal has a bit of a cinematic feel to it, which makes sense when you consider that their backgrounds are in making music for films and television. It was their "La La Land Medley" which brought them to the fore, their song being used as the soundtrack for a Winter Olympics figure skating performance in 2016 and earning nearly 5 million views on YouTube that December.

Lord & Lady are into the whole annual Christmas single thing. For 2018, they've done a beautiful version of the "Home Alone" track "Somewhere In My Memory". "Greater Than Christmas" was the Lord & Lady Christmas song for 2016. An original written by Scott Oatley, the song is now available as a free download on Noisetrade.

THE BOASTING WEEK - IN THE DARK

11/24/2018

Having been influenced by those early Rhino collections, I always listen to Christmas music with an eye towards preserving that which should be preserved. In other words, we get a huge crapload of new Christmas music every year and I see it as part of my function to winnow that down to a smaller crapload so that some future compiler 30 years from now might have a starting place to pick out the ten or twenty or forty tunes of obscure and forgotten Christmas music to compile into one fascinating collection. I don't actually believe that'll happen; it's just something I do in my head.

So I listened to "A Newborn King To See", the new and free EP from The Boasting Week, singing and songwriting spouses Jared and Mary Beth Dragoun, with that kind of mindset. And, you know, it's pleasant listening. The couple describe themselves as eclectic--"mingling" Jazz and Folk and Rock--but "A Newborn King To See" is pretty much Folk throughout. Out of all of it, though, the one that impressed me--the one that made me say, "Hey, now, this song shouldn't be passed over and forgotten," was the original "In The Dark". I like the rhythm, I like the use of sound, the volume changes, but what I really like is the way the couple play off each other. It's almost like one of those mash-ups where he's singing one tune and she's singing a different one altogether. And, while the rest of "A Newborn King To See" was pleasant listening, "In The Dark" actually made me feel something. So...cool. The song deserves to go from the huge crapload to the smaller pile. What happens to it after that is above my pay grade. The entire EP from The Boasting Week is name-your-price at Bandcamp.

CHRIS JAMISON - A CLASSIC CHRISTMAS

9/25/2018

Chris Jamison was a contestant on The Voice back in 2014. He turned all four chairs and picked Adam Levine as his coach. Chris finished third in the seventh season, but there's no question that he was an audience favorite as they voted to "save" him more than once. There's also no question that Chris Jamison can sing. The show is called The Voice, after all. But, this far, he hasn't really broken through (to be fair, his iTunes sales for his early singles were pretty good).

Sooner or later, it seems, all of these artists who appear on shows like The Voice get around to recording some Christmas music. And that's usually a good thing for everybody--especially as the fanbase these artists build from the TV show seem to love Christmas music (and good for them). Chris Jamison released his holiday EP, "A Classic Christmas", in 2017.

Now, me, I pretty much just listen to Christmas music so I don't really know what else he's done. But, from "A Classic Christmas", I'd say Chris is at his best when he's singing blue-eyed soul. I also think he sounds better with less accompaniment and "production" (see the video below and compare to the one above). For the most part, he's a Pop singer. And there are so many Pop singers these days. And when some of those Pop singers are named Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, and even David Archuleta or Justin Bieber, it's going to be hard for Chris to get noticed until he comes up with something that sets him apart. A song, a style, a sound, a genre even. Something that makes him different. Just my two cents. But the dude can sing. Make no mistake, he's got the pipes for success. He's got time, too. He's still just 24. And, then again, he's currently working on his first full-length album...and that could change everything.

Chris Jamison's 2017 holiday EP, "A Classic Christmas", can be yours for the low, low price of an email address via Noisetrade. Tips gratefully accepted. Just sayin'.

1. This Christmas
2. Please Come Home For Christmas
3. Baby, It's Cold Outside (with Jamie Hulick)
4. All I Want For Christmas
5. The Christmas Song
6. Ave Maria

CHRIS JAMISON WEB SITE
DOWNLOAD FROM NOISETRADE

CHARLES JENKINS - CHRISTMAS MUSIC

12/19/2016

Last year was a pretty good year for Soulful Christmas sounds, what with Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and "Santa's Funk & Soul Christmas Party, Vol. 3". But, dang, this year's been a walk in the desert. If I have to listen to one more version of "This Christmas" (and let's be honest, they all sound pretty much the same and nobody's touching Hathaway), I think I'll go mad. About all we've got this year is R. Kelly and, no offense, I think I'll pass.

Thank goodness somebody is offering up a soulful slice that isn't "This Christmas" this Christmas. And Charles Jenkins is even offering up his "Christmas Music" for free via his website.

Singer, songwriter, producer, and businessman, Charles Jenkins is a winner of 9 Stellar Awards and multiple time nominee for Dove and Soul Train music awards. Primarily known as an Urban Contemporary Gospel artist, his first two albums both reached #1 on the Gospel charts.

Anyone who puts "Christmas Music" at the heart of the celebration gets my vote. (The judges would have also accepted "food" or "family" as a correct response.)

Anyway, enjoy the video (which is probably more entertaining than at least half the Christmas movies on Lifetime and Hallmark this year) and then head to the website of Charles Jenkins to get yourself some FREE "Christmas Music".

VARIOUS - VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS SAMPLER

12/16/2016

Phil Wickham – Christmastime
Phil Wickham – Better Than Life
MercyMe – Go Tell It On The Mountain
MercyMe – God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman
Laura Story – Emmanuel
Laura Story – Who But Jesus
Sara Groves – O Holy Night
Sara Groves – Your Reality
Phillips, Craig & Dean – The First Noel
Phillips, Craig & Dean – Throne of Praise

There has certainly been a proliferation of CCM artists recording Christmas music over the past 20 years or so. It may be hard to believe, but it wasn't that long ago that the most faithful Christian circles were openly disdainful of Christian artists recording contemporary music. About as contemporary as they wanted their Christmas music was Southern Gospel.

Many of the radio gigs I had back in the day included shifts "running the board" for specialty programs. What frequently happened with these shows was that the "host" would record all his voice parts ahead of time (mostly "live" commercials), leave a stack of records, and never actually be there for the show. And one such show was a program of primarily Gospel music. Well, at Christmas (and I'm talking about probably three weeks worth), what do you think I did? Hey, I stuck to the stack of records provided, I swear. But the tracks weren't specified. So I pulled out the hippest sounding stuff I could find--the music on those records that leaned closest to Pop or Rock or straight Country, or Gospel with clear Jazz infliences. Well, a weird thing happened. The "host" would get complaints from the older part of his audience, but the numbers in the younger demographics grew considerably. I got a very mild rebuke (after Christmas). But the point is the same conclusion the church ultimately accepted. If you want to reach people with music, you'll reach more if it's their music. Think "Sister Act". Right?

I don't know why I went through all that as the lead-in to this free download (for a limited time) from Free CCM. The website has gathered a diverse group of CCM artists and taken a few choice cuts from their Christmas releases, serving them up to anyone interested. MercyMe is clearly straight up Pop and Pop Rock ("God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" would have gotten me more than a mild rebuke, I promise you). I don't know anyone who doesn't like the Indie Folk Pop music of Sarah Groves. I was very fond of Phil Wickham's "Songs For Christmas", from which we get "Christmas Time". I'm less familiar with Laura Story and Phillips, Craig & Dean, but, again, you're talking about music that should be easily accessible to fans of Pop and Pop Rock. 10 songs in all. Not a bad return for your email address. Head here to get the set.

CCIOMA - CCIOMA'S CAROL

12/11/2016

Alright, seriously. Where, other than Stubby's, are you going to hear Christmas carols sung in Igbo? Huh? Huh? Igbo is the language spoken in southeastern Nigeria. Igbo music is very upbeat and heavy on percussion and beat. This specific "style" is referred to as IgboHip, which (I think) is a combination of Igbo and HipHop. I'm sure someone will turn up to correct me on all that. The Igbo people are primarily Christians, and Ccioma said she drew inspiration for this medley of traditional carols from her early years in the church. Coming to Stubby's isn't just a good time; it's an educational experience.

Ccioma is a popular artist in that part of Africa, having been the featured vocalist for Rox Nation as well as Tim Godfrey & Xtreme. Yes, I know these bands....about as well as you do. And that's about all I can tell you (the Google is rather unforgiving in its links to African bands and vocalists. Or maybe they just don't do the whole website thing).

What I do know is that "Ccioma's Carol" is a free download. If you're as fascinated as I am, you've gotta grab it. It's a full on "free download blitz" for the lady and you can get the song here, here, or here, to point out just three places it can be found.

ZOE JACK - LET IT BE FOR CHRISTMAS

12/2/2016

I was about to write this one up for the front page piece (that I still haven't finished) and I was looking for audio or YouTube. And I discovered the tune was available as a free download. And I'm thrilled to death about that because this is one of those tunes I could see some of my readers taking a pass on. And you really shouldn't.

Texas born Zoe Jack has been singing since she was 2, but she's only just breaking out to a wider audience. A lot of her music and performing has been in the Gospel field. But "Let It Be For Christmas" is indicative of what she's doing now, which is a combination of Gospel and Jazz. And I sure want to add my voice in saying I really hope she continues down that path. She was born for just this kind of music (well, that's my opinion, for whatever its worth).

You could say that "Let It Be For Christmas" is Smooth Jazz. But it is so much more Jazz than your usual Smooth Jazz fare. Listen to how Zoe uses her voice towards the end of the song. Ladies and gentlemen, THAT is a Jazz singer. And you can tell she's using her voice that way because it feels right, not because "that's how we did it in rehearsal". By the way, I believe that's Kirk Whalum on the sax. The pair will be performing A Gospel According to Jazz in Texas over the next few nights (at least). I wish I could be there. You'll find performance dates and other news at Zoe's website and Facebook page.

Zoe Jack's "Let It Be For Christmas" is available for free download via ReverbNation. So you've got no excuse for not getting it. And, if you'd prefer to buy it, I'm sure that would make Zoe very happy. You'll find it pretty much everywhere, so it shouldn't disrupt your usual music shopping routine.