When I Think of Christmas – Amy Grant and Vince Gill
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Amy Grant and Vince Gill’s annual Christmas at the Ryman is one of the most successful residencies in the history of Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium (former home of the Grand Ole Opry).
Since 1993, Grant and Gill have celebrated Christmas with hometown concerts. What began at the Opry House as “A Tennessee Christmas”, opened Bridgestone Arena, moved to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, and finally took up residence at The Ryman Auditorium. They have now performed their Christmas show more than 100 times in front of nearly a quarter-million people. This new collection of songs captures the spirit of those shows.
When I Think of Christmas is a compilation featuring nine of Gill and Grant’s favorite holiday songs along with two brand-new recordings. The new songs are including Grant’s version of the album’s title track and “Til the Season Comes Round Again,” a Grant/Gill duet, the song they end their Christmas concerts with.
The track list includes holiday favorites like “The Christmas Song”, “Winter Wonderland”, “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, “Do You Hear What I Hear?”, “O Come All Ye Faithful”, “O Holy Night” and more.
Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:
- More of this review and a review of Hallelujah! It’s Christmas by Phil Wickham and In Excelsis (EP) by Matt Redman
- Music News
- Song of the Week Lyrics
Hallelujah! It’s Christmas – Phil Wickham
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Hallelujah! It’s Christmas! is Phil Wickham’s fourth Christmas album. On the album he includes a mix of covers and originals. Among the popular Christmas songs he covers are “Angels (Glory to God” (“Angels We Have Heard on High”), “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”, “Silent Night”, “Deck the Halls”, “Winter Wonderland”, and “O Christmas Tree”.
Among the originals included are “Shepherd Boy”, “Behold” featuring Anne Wilson, “A Cradle in Bethlehem” featuring his brother Evan Wickham, which samples “O Holy Night”, “Hallelujah! It’s Christmas!”, based on Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus”, and “Worth the Wait”, which samples “The First Noel”. He also covers “Holy Forever”, which he co-wrote and was made popular by Chris Tomlin.
Hallelujah! It’s Christmas! is an enjoyable album for your Christmas music collection.
In Excelsis (EP) – Matt Redman
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In Excelsis is Matt Redman’s first Christmas project since 2016’s These Christmas Lights. The three-song EP features two new songs and a Redman’s version of “Silent Night”. The project is marked by collaborative creativity, featuring Jon Guerra and Leonard Jarman, as well as various musical contributions on intricate backing vocal arrangements, brass and string accompaniments, and the inclusion of a vocoder.
“When We Behold (In Excelsis)” beholds the wonder of the night of Jesus’ birth and calls for a worshipful response. The song was written and performed by Redman and Jon Guerra, and samples a portion of Isaac Watts’ hymn “When I Survey the Wonderous Cross”.
“God The Son”, the first song released from the project, is about the incarnation. The beautiful song has Redman singing over piano and strings was written by Redman, Andrew Bergthold, Quintin Trotter, and David Taylor. The song ends with a bit of the hymn “O Come Let Us Adore Him”.
The final song on the EP is Redman’s beautiful version of the classic Christmas hymn “Silent Night”, featuring Leonard Jarman. The hymn was written by Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber. The song features keys, brass and soft backing vocals.
- Heaven on My Mind. Here is the new video for “Heaven on My Mind” by TobyMac.
- How Good It Is. Enjoy Chris Tomlin performing “How Good It Is”, live from Vevo Studios.
- The God We Love (Nicene Creed) [Live]. The Nicene Creed was written 1,700 years ago. Here is “The God We Love (Nicene Creed)”, a song that Matt Redman wrote with CityAlight.
- All Glory Be to Christ. Enjoy “All Glory Be to Christ” by The Worship Initiative, featuring Shane and Shane.
- We’re a Modern Church, So Why Do We Need a Hymnal? Jordan Kauflin writes “Why should we care about a new hymnal? Here are a few reasons why.”
- How Good It Is. Watch the Worship Together session of “How Good It Is” with Chris Tomlin.
- Fear Has No Power. Check out the official lyric video for “Fear Has No Power”, a new song Phil Wickham.
Sing We The Song of Emmanuel by Matt Boswell, Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty and Matt Papa
This week’s song of the week is the Worship Together session of “Sing We The Song of Emmanuel” with Matt Boswell, Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, Matt Papa. The song was written by Matt Boswell, Matt Papa, Stuart Townend, and Keith Getty. Watch the performance here.
Sing we the song of Emmanuel
This the Christ who was long foretold
Lo in the shadows of Bethlehem
Promise of dawn now our eyes behold.
God Most High in a manger laid
Lift your voices and now proclaim
Great and glorious, Love has come to us
Join now with the hosts of heaven
Come we to welcome Emmanuel
King who came with no crown or throne
Helpless He lay, the Invincible
Maker of Mary, now Mary’s son
O what wisdom to save us all
Shepherds, sages, before Him fall
Grace and majesty, what humility
Come on bended knee, adore Him
Go spread the news of Emmanuel
Joy and peace for the weary heart
Lift up your heads, for your King has come
Sing for the Light overwhelms the dark
Glory shining for all to see
Hope alive, let the gospel ring
God has made a way, He will have the praise
Tell the world His name is Jesus
Gloria, Gloria!
