Jesse's Christmas Album

Jesse's Christmas Album

Bruce Von Stiers

I have been of fan of Jesse Terry for quite some time now. A while back I had the opportunity to review Jesse's album, When We Wander.

Jesse has a brand new album out, this one a collection of holiday themed songs. The title of this new album is Peace. Jesse calls this album a Christmas Collection.

The album has twenty songs and a play time of seventy minutes. It was produced by Jesse, Michael Terry and Neilson Hubbard. Nielson has worked with artists such as Caroline Spence and Gretchen Peters. He also produced and played on Jesse's When We Wander album. Michael has done music for feature films, radio and television spots and a number of musical artists. He also happens to be Jesse's dad. In addition to helping produce the album, Michael did the vocals arrangements for it.

Eamon McLoughlin was on violin, viola, cello and mandolin. He played on the When We Wander album also. And he has extensive credits including Rodney Crowell and MercyMe. Josh Kaler played the steel pedal, lap steel, dobro, electric guitar, celeste and mellotron. His music has been heard on shows such as Shameless and Grey's Anatomy. He played on the When We Wander album too. Dan Dugmore played pedal steel on three of the songs on the album. Dan's credits include working with Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, James Taylor and Tim McGraw. Jesse played acoustic guitar on the album, along with doing the lead and backing vocals.

The first song on the album is the all-time classic, The First Noel. Jesse keeps the traditional trappings of the song and provides nice vocals.

A modern classic that is often found on Christmas themed albums is The Christmas Song. Jesse does a nice job with the vocals. The music has a bit of an Americana tone to it, which is well done.

Another classic that Jesse added his own touch to is O Little Town of Bethlehem.

One of my favorite Christmas songs is Do You Hear What I Hear. Jesse gives a terrific rendition of the song.

Peace is a song written by Michael McDonald and Beth Nielson Chapman. McDonald recorded the song and it has been covered by artists such as Kenny Rogers and Michael W. Smith. As the title track for this album, Jesse adds his own mild and gentle touch to the song.

Some of the other classic Christmas songs on the album include Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, O Come All Ye Faithful and Silent Night.

Jesse does provides excellent renditions of two Rob Mathes songs, Christmas Is Coming and Good News.

O Holy Night is another favorite of mine. It is included on the album along with other classics, Silent Night and Away In A Manger. Each of these are well done, adding just a touch of Americana sounds to the song arrangements. And there is an excellent arrangement of Angels We Have Heard On High.

A song that often finds its way onto Christmas albums is Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. Jesse adds his own mild and gentle touch to this great song.

Sara Bareilles has a terrific song, Love Is Christmas. Included on this album, Jesse adds a little more of a folk touch to the song.

There is a really nice arrangement of It Came Upon A Midnight Clear on the album, with great vocals.

A Cradle In Bethlehem was a hit for Nat King Cole and has been covered by people such as Vince Gill. Whereas Cole used an orchestral arrangement, Jesse adds a more of an Americana tone in his version of the song.

For some reason, I get kind of choked up when I hear the Joni Mitchell song, River. It is a beautiful, yet so sad song. Jesse does an excellent job on the song.

Jesse does a superb rendition of the Amy Grant song, Breath of Heaven.

The album closes with Welcome To Our World. This Chris Rice song is great and it is fitting to end this terrific album with it.

As I mentioned earlier, I have been a fan of Jesse Terry for some time. I am very pleased that he chose to record a Christmas album. Not only does Jesse provide his own touch to some classic Christmas music, he added songs that sometimes don't find their way onto holiday albums.

If you're looking for a Christmas album that features classic and newer holiday songs with more of an Americana atmosphere, then Peace just might be an album to check out.

If you are interested in finding out more about the album Peace, and Jesse Terry, visit his official web site at https://www.jesseterrymusic.com/

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