2. TOBYMAC with LEIGH NASH - Christmas This Year
3. STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN - O Little Town Of Bethlehem
4. FRANCESCA BATTISTELLI - You're Here
5. BRANDON HEATH - The Night Before Christmas
6. THIRD DAY - Born In Bethlehem
7. CHRIS TOMLIN - Emmanuel
8. TENTH AVENUE NORTH - Deck The Halls
9. MERCY ME - Joseph's Lullaby
10. CHRIS AUGUST - Come Now Our King
11. NATALIE GRANT -Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
12. DAVID CROWDER*BAND - The First Noel
13. SANCTUS REAL - Silent Night
14. MANDISA - Angels We Have Heard On High
15. MARK SCHULTZ - When Love Was Born
16. BUILDING 429 - What Child Is This
17. NEWSBOYS - Jingle Bell Rock
18. JEREMY CAMP - O Come All Ye Faithful
19. MATT MAHER - Hark The Herald Angels Sing
20. NEEDTOBREATHE - Go Tell It On The Mountain AMAZON
21. AMY GRANT - I Need A Silent Night LABEL SITE
22. MATTHEW WEST - One Last Christmas
23. KERRIE ROBERTS - O Holy Night
24. SIDEWALK PROPHETS - Hope Was Born This Night
25. KUTLESS - Mary Did You Know
26. BIG DADDY WEAVE - O Come, O Come Emmanuel
27. BARLOW GIRL - It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
28. BRITT NICOLE - Last Christmas
29. POINT OF GRACE - Little Drummer Boy
30. JARS OF CLAY - It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
31. MICHAEL W. SMITH - Gloria
32. AUDREY ASSAD & CHRIS TOMLIN - Winter Snow
Just FYI. Newly recorded tracks appear in red above.
WOW music is the Contemporary Christian answer to the secular world's NOW music. And it's every bit as omni-present (and whoever first thought of doing WOW as a Christian branded NOW is a freaking promotional genius).
This year's 2-CD Christmas set features some some tracks that are near classics of the genre, a few should-be-classics that may have escaped notice, many songs from 2010 releases, and three songs newly recorded for 2011 (including the anticipated Christmas song from up and coming Tenth Avenue North). From Michael W. Smith to Mercy Me, if you're a fan of Contemporary Christian Music, you know these names. Folks less familiar with the genre, but interested, couldn't do much better than this set as their introduction. Two songs that stand out for me are TobyMac's Hip-Hop flavored collaboration with Leigh Nash and Audrey Assad's beautiful performance on "Winter Snow" from Chris Tomlin's 2009 Christmas album "Glory In The Highest".
Basically, it's not all that different from the NOW Christmas experience...only there's a lot less Santa.