The music and the season always meld together so wonderfully at Christmas. Check out the new Christmas music in the world of Gospel:

Christmas reviews from previous years are also still available. And there's also a special review page for those classic Christmas albums.


James Fortune & FIYA
Grace Gift
Light Records
2012
Get ready to experience James Fortune & FIYA in their first ever holiday release, Grace Gift, which is already on the path to becoming a staple in the holiday music genre.

Grace Gift contains 12 tracks of original and classic Christmas favorites. The album, produced by Terence Vaughn and Ayron Lewis, showcases the powerful vocals of the FIYA ensemble members as they add their signature vocals to these rich arrangements.

Fortune teams up with his wife Cheryl to write several new Christmas tunes such as "Christmas Time", "Worship The King", and "Mary's Song". Included as a bonus is "I Believe Part 2", a remix of his smash hit "I Believe" from 2010.


Beverly Crawford & JDI Christmas
Churchy Christmas
JDI Records
2012
Beverly Crawford joins with several JDI Record labelmates and others too, to deliver Churchy Christmas, a 10-song collection that ranges in style from aisle stomps to balladry. Crawford gets things off to a rousing start with "Joy to the World", starting in a mellow vein before the fullness of her vocal power is unleashed.

Professor James Roberson delivers a soulful rendition of the BeBe & CeCe Winans classic "I Wanna Be More", and Gary Mayes & Nu Era (with Nikata Clegg and Earnest Pugh) revive the urban "Don't 4get The Baby" first heard on their own Christmas project some years back. Donald Hayes brings a saxophone rendering of "What Child Is This".

Other highlights on this emminently playable project include a vigorously traditional "Go Tell It On the Mountain" from Chester D.T. Baldwin, "Hosannah" from Earnest Pugh and Genita Pugh with "Holy to the Lamb".


Earnest Pugh and Friends
Christmas With Earnest Pugh and Friends
EPM Music Group
2012
Earnest Pugh gathers the members of his EPM Music Group family and sets out to place an indelible mark on Christmas.

Pugh and Lisa Knowles take up and interpret "O Come All Ye Faithful" which weaves its way through the verses to a triumphant celebration of praise and adoration to the Christ Child. By the same token, "Holy To You", featuring Keith Williams, is a wonderful ballad and is complete with the intertwine of the standard hymn, "Holy, Holy Holy".

It's Chrystal Rucker who takes home the trophy for best song on the disc with her interpretation of "Do You Hear What I Hear". Set to piano against the backdrop of Rucker's clear and robust soprano, this is the song you want to hear again and again. Nikki Ross adeptly handles Thomas Whitfield's "Walk In The Light" backed by Charles Butler and Trinity, and Martha Buries rounds out the set with "Remember Not 2 Forget".