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Christmas Songs (Compact Disc)

Jars of Clay (Recorded by)

CHRISTMAS SONGS is the first holiday release from the band in their 12-year career, and will be the first release on their new label, the indie Gray Matters. The band brings new light to memorable Christmas songs such as "O Little Town of Bethlehem," but also breaks new ground with their own original holiday songs such as "In the Bleak Midwinter," "Winter Skin" and "Evergreen."

Dan Haseltine's (vocals) story about a song on the record: "Winter Skin" and "Evergreen." There has not been a Christmas season that I can remember, where I did not, at some point, at a party, or a gathering where everyone was loud and joyful, step out into the crisp, cold and silent winter night. In contrast to the noise of Christmas music, and the sound of people laughing and celebrating, the gift of silence on a snowy night is one of the great gifts God has given to me nearly every Christmas. I wanted to have some songs on this record that reminded me of those silent moments....something like a walk in the snow, or a lullaby....these two songs represent a musical expression of the act of escaping the noise and walking into the clear night.

Charlie Lowell's (piano and keyboard) story about a song on the record: "In The Bleak Mid-Winter" has become a special song over the past few years. A poetic song that describes the lonely state of earth in winter, and God's breaking through that stillness with a baby. And the insight that the only thing we can really bring Him is our heart. We used two verses, and Dan wrote a beautiful third verse that ends with a proclamation that this fragile birth becomes "peace for child and man."

Steve Mason's (lead guitar) story about a song on the record: In making this album, we wanted to capture what was meaningful about the music we listened to growing up at Christmas, and add some of those textures to our palette. We worked hard on how to approach the more commonly known songs to give them a new angle. "O, Little Town of Bethlehem" is a good example of that reconstructive creative process. We had a standard, acoustic version of it, but it wasn't interesting enough. We weren't sure exactly what we were doing when we started, but it came to a beautiful, emotional end for me.

Matt Odmark's (rythm guitars) story about a song on the record: I loved doing the two instrumentals on the record. No music feels distinctly like Christmas to me until it taps both the joy and ache of the season. These two tracks feel like the ghosts of Christmas past and present, leaping across time to bring us news of both former joy and fair warning.

Details

• Parable Sales Rank in Music:5910
• UPC:067003072526
• Qty Remaining Online:60

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