Category: Music

Christmas Album “Must Haves” (2015 Version)

Countdown2.Christmas vinyl albumI seem to do this post later and later each holiday season…but I did start listening to Christmas music earlier in 2015! 🙂

Either way, here is my annual “Christmas Album ‘Must Haves.'” Year-to-year it doesn’t vary much, but I’ve added a few, reorganized a bit, and made sure the links are up-to-date. Also, everything I mention here (plus a whole bunch more) plays on Countdown2.Christmas Radio, my year-round Internet Christmas radio station. I received an interesting note yesterday from a listener:

Who, What are you? We just found your station this morning. It is wonderful. Thank you for making our Christmas more enjoyable.

If you, like that person, enjoy classic, traditional Christmas music with some other great holiday tunes mixed in…then you’ll love Countdown2.Christmas Radio.

Well, enough of the preamble! Here is 2015’s Christmas Album “Must Haves” divided into groups in that will help you, if you are just starting you collection, to know what to get first.

Top 5:

Continue reading Christmas Album “Must Haves” (2015 Version)

Video of the Week

Snapshot of David Britt videoThis Video of this Week, “Hand of Jesus” is a brand new track…as in “released yesterday” from David Britt. I am hoping this means in 2016 David will be releasing a Christian CD of EP. 🙂

This song reminds me of a sermon I gave a while back called “The Hand of God.” Punch line is that the hand of Jesus is the hand of God (the Father is no different than the Son in His love and compassion for us). To (sort of) paraphrase David, “Take the hand of Jesus and be saved…”

[youtube=https://youtu.be/sGYwwxUN1e4&rel=0&w=512]

Christmas Album “Must Haves” (2014 Version)

Countdown2.Christmas vinyl albumAnother Thanksgiving has past, which means I can openly listen to Christmas music again!

Time now for my yearly list of Christmas album “must haves”…which is alway last year’s with some tweaks. I mean, you don’t honestly expect my taste in Christmas music to change drastically year-to-year do you?! 🙂

Now…before I unveil this year’s “winners”…I should note that if you love Christmas music as much as I do, every album listed below can be heard on my brand new Countdown2.Christmas Radio station. As of writing this post, it has only been around a couple weeks…and…for instance…at one point today we had 246 listeners all over the world. Give it a listen, will you?

Finally…I realize this list is growing…and if you are starting your collection it might be a bit much to ask you to get them all. So, this year I’m going to give you the top ten-ish in groups of five-ish. Hopefully that will be more helpful than confusing. 🙂

Top 5:

Continue reading Christmas Album “Must Haves” (2014 Version)

Cloverton’s “Hallelujah”

ClovertonI am a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas music, but I am very proud to break that habit with the addition of five songs by Cloverton to the Countdown2.Christmas Radio playlist. I’m sure a lot of it is Lance Stafford’s unique voice, but I can’t say enough about how the whole band takes Christmas classics and…somehow…gets me to hear what I’ve never heard before in the songs’ messages.

Even though I have listened to (and have sung) them so many, many times during my 50 years on this earth.

Sadly, the tune with which I discovered them (“Hallelujah”) is not available for airplay yet, but you can enjoy it on YouTube:

[youtube=https://youtu.be/kIoNfQ97RME&rel=0&w=512]

May their talents bless you as they have blessed me as we all remember the reason for the season.

Cross posted on Countdown2.Christmas.

Video of the Week

Okay, so I haven’t been keeping up so that it is the “Video of the Week”…more like the “Video of the Three Weeks.” 🙂

But, I’ll get better…especially if you share your suggestions with me! 🙂

This week, an acoustic video from a new band I discovered this week, Unspoken:

[youtube=http://youtu.be/to3p-zgOCXU&w=512&rel=0]

And a bonus lyric video from them: Continue reading Video of the Week

Welcome to the Body of Christ Chris (of Black Stone Cherry)!

Soon after becoming a teenager music became a combination of an inspiration and an addiction for me, and within the last few years I ran into a great band called Black Stone Cherry. They quickly became one of my favorite groups.

Of course, Jesus is even more important than music, no matter how loud and great the guitars are. 🙂

So, even more exciting than the fact that Black Stone Cherry is going to release another CD in 2014 was the news today (on Facebook) that Chris Robertson (lead vocals and guitar) joined the body of Christ at the end of 2013. With the permission of Black Stone Cherry to reprint them on Traditores.org, here are the picture and post:

Chris from Black Stone Cherry being baptized

We hope 2014 is going great for everyone so far!
We ended 2013 in a very cool way and we hope this photo will encourage anyone searching or in need of inner peace! As BSC, we’re not “crazy Bible thumpers”…don’t get us wrong, we love to have a good time and rock out and all that fun stuff..but, we do love some us some Jesus! Right before Christmas, Chris was baptized by Ben, with assistance from Kevin Estes and pastor Chad Lockhart at Highland Hills Community Church in Glasgow, KY! The whole band was there and it was an awesome thing! We realize how lucky we are to be living our dream in music, and we owe our gift to God!
This isn’t a “publicity stunt” nor is it a “political religious move”. This is simply a public display of what we are proud of and we hope that someone, even if just ONE person, is affected by this in a positive way..then that’s what it’s all about!
We love yall and can’t wait to get back on stage this year and yes…melt your face clean off your….face..:-)

“Ben” is Ben Wells, Black Stone Cherry’s rhythm guitarist and a fellow brother in Christ.

Welcome to the body of Christ Chris!

Praise God for the change He made in you.

Praise God for the free gift of salvation He offers all who will trust and follow Him.

Praise God for the unabashed testimony Black Stone Cherry has made for their Lord and Savior.

Oh, and praise God for such great news after a rather stressful first day back at work in 2014. This story was a huge blessing to me—I hope it is the same for you.

P.S. If you are interested in the embedded Facebook version of their post, here it is: Continue reading Welcome to the Body of Christ Chris (of Black Stone Cherry)!

Christmas Album “Must Haves” (2013 Version)

People singingOne of the things I love most about Thanksgiving is that I can stop being clandestine about playing Christmas music. 🙂

This year’s list is pretty much last year’s list because, sadly, no new Christmas albums came out in 2013 that interested me greatly. However, this has become an annual list…and I’ll sneak in a couple more MP3 collections you should consider getting (Amazon MP3 has developed an intriguing “The Christmas Classics Album” series)…

First, the "must have" albums:

Some singles:

And, new to my collection this year is “The Classic Christmas Album” by Johnny Cash. I have to listen a bit before I decide it belongs in my “must haves.” 🙂

(I am a huge fan of Johnny Cash…but nobody gets a buy into my Christmas music list! :-))

You may also want to see what Ella Fitzgerald, Martina McBride, Louis Armstrong, Carole King (isn’t she Jewish?), Amy Grant, The Jackson 5, Pink Martini, Andre Rieu, and Celine Dione have done.

Well, there you go…what’s on your list? Let me know…I always love a great excuse to buy more music! 🙂

And, if you don’t know Jesus Christ, this would be a great season to find out how a carpenter’s son changed history.  Spoiler: it’s because He wasn’t just a carpenter’s son. 🙂

A very Merry Christmas to you and yours!

P.S.  With Andy Williams, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Elvis…you just need to find a good collection for the money.  With some of the other ones you’ll want to make sure you get the album I specifically listed…with a couple of them, not all their Christmas albums are good, especially if you like traditional arrangements as I do…

Christmas Album “Must Haves” (2012 Version)

My list of Christmas album “must haves” are pretty much the same as last year. Let’s just say that…err…being under-employed means Ramen Noodles are a better purchase with a few bucks then even the most inexpensive Amazon MP3 download…although I have convinced my wife to at least let me spend a couple dollars. 🙂

First, the "must have" albums:

Some singles:

A few non-“must haves”…but worth giving a listen (like Michael W. Smith, these four are all Christian artists…which you gotta admit makes sense given the “reason for the season”):

And 2012’s “honorable mention” that might end up on next year’s official list:

Now, I probably could have created a decently long list of honorable mentions if I didn’t limit it to what I bought this holiday season, so you may also want to see what Ella Fitzgerald, Martina McBride, Louis Armstrong, Carole King (isn’t she Jewish?), Amy Grant, The Jackson 5, Pink Martini, Andre Rieu, and Celine Dione have done.

Well, there you go…what’s on your list? Let me know…I always love a great excuse to buy more music! 🙂

Now, if you don’t know Jesus Christ, this would be a great season to find out how a carpenter’s son changed history.  Spoiler: it’s because He wasn’t just a carpenter’s son. 🙂

Look past how we Christians have represented our Savior so badly over the ages and instead listen to the voice of One who is truly worthy of your worship…and not only at Christmas…but every day of the year.

Finally…a very Merry Christmas to you and yours…

P.S.  With Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Elvis…you just need to find a good collection for the money.  With some of the other ones you’ll want to make sure you get the album I specifically listed…with a couple of them, not all their Christmas albums are good, especially if you like traditional arrangements as I do…

P.P.S.  The Christmas tree pictured in this post was decorated by none other than my awesome 5 year-old Augie and my beautiful wife Michelle…

Christmas Album “Must Haves” (2011 Version)

Okay…I really should be working on my sermon, but I figured I’d list my “must have” Christmas albums and songs (almost all available on Amazon MP3)…in no specific order:

Continue reading Christmas Album “Must Haves” (2011 Version)