 | 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.
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.
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