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East and Central African music fans are mourning the death of renowned Congolese gospel musician Angela Chibalonza. She passed away a few weeks ago in a car accident in Kenya. Since she arrived in Kenya in 1998, Chibalonza released seven albums. She was nominated in 2004 for a Kora All African Music Award in the category of best female gospel artist. From Kisumu, Kenya, reporter Ajanga Khayesi has the story.

The popular Congolese songwriter and gospel singer Angela Chibalonza was famous for her dynamic voice. Simply known as Chibalonza, the artist is a household name in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Congo, Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Part of her widespread appeal was her ability to sing in several languages, including Kiswahili, Lingala, Ruganda and French are spoken.

“Chibalonza,” said fan Samuel Wafula,”was an accomplished, gifted, and anointed gospel singer who has won solemn hearts through her famous gospel hits. I have been listening to her for the last ten years ever since she came to the helm light of gospel music in the country.”

Chibalonza said her music was a reflection of her Christian faith. She said she knew and received Jesus through singing. She said hearing gospel songs made her cry. Chibalonza said she felt her heart was touched by Jesus.

Angela Chibalonza was 40 years ago in the Congolese village of Braissele near Bukavu town, the second-born in a family of 11 children that included six boys and five girls. After attending local primary school, she continued on to high school and university.

When growing up she was greatly inspired by Congolese Mbilia Bel’s soprano, called by National Geographic Africa’s first transcontinental diva. Chibalonza turned to gospel music 1992 when she joined the university and became a Christian. She started profound singing at the university, and later at a Congolese Catholic Church where she became the choir leader. From there, she joined the Pentecostal Church in Bukavu.

In 1992, she decided to leave the DRC for Kenya. Chibalonza denied that she left her homeland because of on-going violence, there. Instead, she said her decision to relocate in Nairobi was a career-move.

Among the albums she recorded in the Kenyan capital are “Nakuabudu” (I Worship You), followed by “Jina La Yesu” (The Name of Jesus), “Mwisho wa dunia” (End of the World), “Ninapotembea” (As I Walk), “Imani yako” (Your Faith), “Nzambe Papa” (Father God), and “Yahwe Uhimidiwe” (Yahwe Exalted). The songs “Ninatamani”, “Nitampa nini”, “Yahwee Uhimidiwe”, “Jubilee”, all received enormous airplay, on FM radio and television stations.

“Her music,” said Ngiri Forty, a studio producer for Namkio Recording Studio in Kisumu, “included well defined Afro-beats blended with reggae lyrics. Her soulful vocals in the praise and worship style of music were rich and full-throttled. Chibalonza’s songs were not only sweet to the ears, but the inspiring messages were known to send many into frenzy during Christian [concerts].”

Venturing into music was difficult – and Chibalonza said her family discouraged her from a singing career. She said her family punished her whenever she attended overnight prayer meetings.

In 2003, Chibalonza married her long time Congolese fiancée, Apostle Elisha Muliri, the founder of Shekinah International Ministries in Kenya.

Chibalonza sung prominently during National Prayer Day in Kenya, which is attended by the country’s president Mwai Kibaki. She was scheduled to perform during the Africans Let’s Worship concert, at the Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi late October this year.

She died in late September when a car she was traveling in struck a lorry on the highway between Nairobi and Nakuru. Her family says she and other colleagues were on their way from Egerton University to a gospel concert.

Her passing came just days before launching her latest album, “Nimekutana na Yesu” (I Have Met Jesus) under the banner Furaha ya Kipawa (Joy of My Talent).

Husband Elisha said “God giveth and taketh away” – a prominent message Chibalonza conveyed through her music.

Gospel music producer Japheth Kassanga said it was an obstacle for gospel business considering that, her albums quickly made the best-selling and stayed long in the music industry.

“She acted as a wonderful role model for other gospel singers,” said Elizabeth Keraro, a gospel singer in Kenya. “She is a person to be remembered and adored. Her songs like Jubilee and Uhimidiwe would be our inspiring songs.”

The Daily Nation newspaper said her death was also a set-back for Kenya’s music industry because her songs were finding markets on the international scene. It comes two weeks after another popular star, Sharon Wangwe better known as Lady S, also died in a road accident.

Music critics say Chibalonza’s beautiful songs will continue to be heard on Kenyan radio, and in the minds of her fans.

The ministry of Jesus begins and ends with wine.

And that is how I remember my Wednesday night at St. Peter Catholic Church.

Father Don Finney’s sermon began with Jesus’ miracle of turning water into wine and ended with the Last Supper.

And surrounding the stories and the thoughts those stories evoked, was the music.

XLT (or Exalt) occurs on various Wednesdays and at various Catholic churches. It travels the diocese from parish to parish.

St. Peter’s XLT Mass was divided into three parts: exaltation with music, adoration with Father Don, and pizza and sweets outside.

As always, I arrived early and practice was underway; thus, as I walked in from the parking lot, the sounds of contemporary Christian music filtered through the huge doors.

The church stood strangely empty, and I paused a moment to take in the view as well as the sound.

My friend Tom nodded to me as I worked my way to a seat near the band (a mistake).

He bent back over his music, reading glasses low on his nose, and went back to work on his bass.

The sound from the speakers was horrible in this corner, the guitars blended and the vocals mushy and awash with distortion.

And yet, when I stood closer, I could tell that the band was in sync and the vocals were both clear and on pitch.

The gaping church reminded me of the huge Baptist Church I attended in Columbus, Ohio. The open spaces and arching ceiling took my eyes up into the angles above.

A huge crucifix seemed to float behind the elevated altar. And when I walked out into this space, the sound was clear and floating and perfect under a ceiling that floated above me.

But the sound was gospel.

This was not the Catholic Church my high school girlfriend took me to, and it was not the Catholic Church my wife was raised in.

This sounded like the Baptist Church I sang in while the congregants swayed and sang along.

But the Catholic Church adds incense to the mix. And soon after that sweet smell filled the air, parishioners walked in, many small groups talking to each other and smiling.

As musicians, both Tom Russo and Rick Carrano noted that playing Christian music allows them, as Christians, to reflect on their own beliefs while they reinforce those beliefs in others.

Russo said contemporary Christian music allows him, “a venue to communicate the Good News of Jesus Christ therefore reinforcing my own personal beliefs.”

For Carrano, playing Christian music forced him, as a pianist, to focus more on the lyrics and to receive the spiritual message from the songs.

And of course the performers hoped to have a specific effect on the parishioners: Carrano wanted people to come to the church to be, “lifted by the music … and to leave at the end of Mass as a more spiritual and happy individual.”

The audience happily jumped right in on the first song. They continued to swing and sway and sing along through multiple songs, and their appreciation of the band and the band’s message was obvious and sincerely expressed.

Raeann Wallace, a band member, said, “When I see people swaying, singing and clapping, then I know that I am doing my part in the entire Christian community.”

Apologetix , a Christian parody band, plays at Manton Middle School gym Sunday at 6:30 p.m.

“They take popular music — classics like The Beatles, Kiss or even Green Day — and change the lyrics and put in biblical references,” said David Johnson of Manton, who has driven Apologetix’s tour bus. “They’re basically like Weird Al with biblical lyrics.”

With lots of stage energy, lights and smoke, Johnson summed up the performance as, “it’s a smoking, light, rock show.”

“It’s a lot of fun — they’re a lot of fun to watch,” added Johnson, who has been a fan since his first show seven years ago.

Apologetix decided to play a concert in Manton after Johnson, who the band refers to as “Super Dave,” asked them to do a show in Northern Michigan.

“They’re happy to take their concert anywhere they want to have someone who wants to come,” he said. “Seeing me and my family was an added bonus for them.”

Johnson hopes people will come out and enjoy the band’s music.

“Everywhere they go, people love them,” he said.

The band recently had their 1,000th concert, and this is the 15th year they have played together. Apologetix also just released their 14th album.

The cost is $10 per person for pre-show tickets, and $15 at the door. After the show’s expenses are paid, the band will donate proceeds to Manton Free Methodist and Seeds of Faith. Stick around after the show to meet the band and get autographs.

Your local connection

About the concert

What: Apologetix plays concert

When: Sunday; doors open at 6 p.m.; band plays from 6:30 until about 8:30 p.m.

Where: Fifth Street Gym (Manton Middle School gym)

Cost: $10 per person until doors open, or $15 at the door

Buy pre-sale tickets: online at www.apologetix.com or call David Johnson at 920-9153

Caleb Rowden has released one album and performed more than 200 live shows — probably more than enough to make him at least a little famous.

But fame has never been important to Rowden, 24, who has been playing and recording music for a decade. His only goal is to express the role Christianity has played in his life and to perhaps influence others.

“One kid said he listened to a song and decided to go out and become a missionary,” Rowden says.

A Columbia native, Rowden formed his first band, Wisdom’s Cry, when he was 14. The band played covers of other people’s music until Rowden began writing his own songs. After three albums, Wisdom’s Cry broke up and, in 2000, Rowden formed the Caleb Rowden Band, which released its first album of original songs, “Free from Ordinary,” in 2006.

Christianity Today said “Free from Ordinary” doesn’t “break free from the ordinary in the songwriting,” but the less-than-flattering review doesn’t seem to have hurt Rowden’s feelings.

“I think a lot of what they said is true, and I’m just going to get some motivation from it today,” he says. “I put a lot more stock in responses we get from people who say how the music influenced their lives.”

What’s “true” for Rowden is his relationship with God. Raised in a Christian home, Rowden remembers listening to Christian music, although he was also exposed to plenty of secular music. Rowden is an evangelical Christian, which he decribes as exciting and interactive. “It’s not sit on your hands,” he said.

While Rowden has always listened to and enjoyed secular music, he has resisted the temptation to go more mainstream. The mainstream music scene is appealing because it’s easier to become famous and make money when your songs are being played on MTV and VH1, he said.

“Made,” a single from “Free from Ordinary,” reached No. 1 on the Christian rock charts in Dallas and Los Angeles. The song is about secular songwriters who cross over into Christian music because they see an opportunity to sell records.

“The song says I was ‘made’ to worship (God), and the Bible says we were made to worship God,” Rowden says. “The whole idea of worship music has become very commercial. Some bands who were floundering along have made a worship record and it revitalized their careers. If we think worship is just a song, then we’ve totally missed the boat. It’s a lifestyle.”

Rowden would like to have a wider influence, but he is committed to keeping his music Christian. He says he won’t sell out his faith for the chance to hear his music on Top 40 radio. “That may sound weird, ‘cause obviously I want to make money for my wife and I,” he says. “If it’s God’s will, then I’ll get big.”

Christian music represented 6 percent of all music sales in 2006, or 54.2 million, according to the Christian Music Trade Association. Music sales are composed of CDs, tape cassettes, digital albums and digital tracks. The genre experienced a growth of 10 percent between 1998 and 2003, increasing sales by 5 million. From 2003 to 2006, the genre charted higher sales than Latin, jazz/classical and soundtrack music.

Rowden was talking with a couple of labels when he decided to sign with Slanted Records. He and his father, Rick, who also acts as Rowden’s manager, felt Caleb would get more attention working with a smaller label and thus grow more as an artist. Rowden is one of six artists on Slanted Records, a subsidiary of Spring Hill Music Group Inc.

In 2006, Rowden and his band played more than 200shows. He is taking a much slower pace this year, scheduled to play only 11 dates in three states between November 2007 and August 2008. He will play two shows, Nov. 2 and Nov. 3, at Christian Chapel Church during the Northern Missouri Youth Convention.

Rowden is Worship and Creative Arts director at Christian Chapel, a position that has made it difficult for him to embark on a more grueling schedule of performances. Rowden has been a member of the church almost his entire life, so he says he has a commitment to it that is as important as his music.

“I feel like it’s where I’m supposed to be,” Rowden says. “I want to help it be a part of the community.”

Amy Grant Book discussion and signing: She will discuss her book Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far at Southland Christian Church at 7 p.m. Oct. 25. The event is sponsored by Joseph-Beth Booksellers, The Mall at Lexington Green; tickets are free and available at the bookstore with the purchase of the book. Books are pre-signed. (859) 273-2911. www.josephbeth.com.
Concert: Grant will perform with the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra at the Centre College Norton Center for the Arts in Danville at 8:30 p.m. Oct. 26. Tickets are $55-$85. (859) 236-4692. www.nortoncenter.com.
One of Amy Grant’s favorite stories is about philosophy and Minnie Pearl.

The country comedienne, whose real name was Sarah Cannon, asked Grant the most important color in the artist’s palette. Grant admits to mentally sprinting through the 64-color Crayola box — indigo? apricot? scarlet? — but Cannon had her own answer.

The most important color, Cannon said, was black: Black is the color that gives depth and shading. (Yes, this is the Minnie Pearl of “How-dee!” and the hat with the dangling price tag. Offstage, she was whip-smart.)

Grant is an entertainer who uses a lot of black in her book Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far (Doubleday/Flying Dolphin Press, $24.95), the release of which coincides with her new Greatest Hits album. It turns out that if you get Grant going for longer than the three minutes of the average song, she’s got a lot more shades of gray in her personal palette.

Grant, 47, says that blending her three kids from her first marriage with husband Vince Gill’s daughter Jenny was no picnic. She writes about the kids’ grim faces at the wedding and rails about those who assume celebrities get an effortless happily-ever-after. Blended families are tough sledding, she says, even when you’re married to your best friend.

She admits to depression and quotes Winston Churchill, calling the disease the “black dog.”

She writes about spending an afternoon with a California street person.

She even talks about what pregnancy does to a singer’s supporting muscles.

But she doesn’t have a bad word to say about her ex-husband, Christian singer Gary Chapman. Her most lacerating comments are about plants: Suffice it to say that Grant is no fan of purple thistles. You won’t be seeing this kind of trash-talking on TMZ.

Although Grant is no slouch as a singer and songwriter — having made music for 30 years, she says that if “somebody says, gee, we need a song to celebrate XYZ, I can almost say, ‘Hey, I have that song’” — the thought of writing a book was overwhelming. So was writing longhand and seeing that pages and pages of longhand translate into only a few typeset pages.

So her husband encouraged her by referring to the book, at first, as a flier. “Somehow I felt I could do that,” Grant says.

The “flier” became “the pamphlet” and then “the booklet.”

Finally it became Mosaic.

It’s not a straight autobiography, and her tour appearance this week at Lexington’s Southland Christian Church isn’t a straight concert. She’ll talk about the book, take questions and, accompanied only by her guitar, perhaps sing a song or two.

Even after three decades, Grant remains the marquee name of Christian music. She’s merged it with pop. She’s done videos that didn’t sit well with the fundamentalist crowd, although nobody will confuse her with professional video vixen Karrine Steffans. She’s been in the public eye since she was a teenager with big hair, button-down shirts and that Find a Way video, which, if you were alive in the 1980s, has burrowed its way into your consciousness, right there next to that spot occupied by Madonna crooning Live to Tell. Grant’s songs have that way about them. You know them even if you don’t think you do: Angels, Baby Baby, Find a Way, My Father’s Eyes.

Even if you’re a pagan, you know Amy Grant — by her music, which epitomized ’90s synthesizer-backed soul, and also by the Grant gossip.

For the first 20 years of her career, she was the Queen of Clean.

She was married — to Chapman, with whom she had three children — and when the pair divorced Chapman was a very public, and very vocal, reluctant ex-husband. Grant promptly married country singer Gill. She lived through gossip that her relationship with Gill torched both her marriage and his.

Google “Amy Grant” now, and you get as much about That Divorce as you do about her music.

Mosaic won’t still that controversy: “I never felt an immediate connection with another person the way I felt with Vince,” she writes. “It was, ‘I know you.’”

So, the doubters? Let ‘em talk. Grant may be on her second marriage, but she is no flashing, detoxing, custody-challenged Britney Spears. She’s not even a twice-divorced Angelina Jolie. Grant doesn’t tour as much as she used to. She still has three children at home, a place she describes as loud and lively. She’s still a fan of church music, still likes the tactile pleasure of cracking open the hymnal, still likes picking out the harmonies.

But she is in a business where image is unforgiving, where even if you do marry your best friend and live without a hint of controversy forever after, you still find yourself with a lot of explaining to do.

Grant pulls no punches about it: She remembers telling the Rev. Billy Graham that she was on her way to divorce with Chapman and offering to step aside rather than perform at one of his crusades. Graham declined, talking about the struggles of his own children.

When Grant married Gill, she got a grown-up stepdaughter and took the halting steps toward making a new family. “There’s a drudgery attached to our journey … that’s unique to ourselves,” Grant says. “Some of those steps are so awkward and painful and time-consuming, but they have to be taken.”

Grant had a fourth baby, a daughter, with Gill.

In Mosaic, the singer discusses her battles with depression, although she notes that except for four months in 1999, she hasn’t relied on antidepressant medication. “Probably my age and the circumstances of my life have softened the downward spirals for me, but winter is still a struggle every year,” she writes. “Maybe subconsciously that is part of the reason I’ve made so much Christmas music — to focus on hope and joy and store up a lot of good thoughts for the dark months ahead.”

And Grant has a favorite moment that she doesn’t mention in the book. It’s an image of an artist at peace with herself: It was on her second visit to Paul Newman’s Camp Hole in the Wall in Connecticut. The late actor Christopher Reeve was there, in his wheelchair, and it was a serene autumn day, Grant recalled. Reeve asked Grant to play something. Grant had her guitar, and her friend Ruth had a violin. They played the lilting Ashokan Farewell, the theme song from Ken Burns The Civil War television series.

Grant describes it as “the highlight of unexpected moments.”

Mosaic is about those unexpected moments — how, even after 30 years of touring and singing about faith and talking about gossip, it’s the music that still drives the moment.

EXCERPT

From ‘Mosaic’ by Amy Grant

“I remember making a plan on a Sunday morning years ago for our family to visit a new church. My children were young — Sarah still in diapers. … Sarah was fed, dressed, and ready. While I was checking on Mat and Millie, Sarah got ahold of a slice of toast with grape jelly. By the time I found her, the dress had to go. A wet towel took care of sticky hands. The problem with outfit number two was sudden diarrhea. A wet towel was not going to fix this one. After a bath and outfit number three, I finally got us to the car. As I was struggling with the straps of the car seat … I imagined that this might resemble God’s experience with me. He knows where he wants to take me, and he’ll get me there, in spite of myself

Indiana Wesleyan University’s WIWU-FM radio station, broadcast from the new academic building at 38th and Washington streets, is now broadcasting on the air at 94.3 FM.

Randall King, director of broadcast media at the university, said the license for the station was transferred from College Wesleyan Church last summer, and the station began broadcasting Oct. 1.

The station plays contemporary Christian music 24 hours a day and has a program called Total Access that is broadcast every day from 7 a.m. to noon, King said. The show focuses on artists from Nashville, Tenn.

“In time, we want to give coverage to community events and talk to churches about what they’re doing,” he said. “It’s primarily going to be a music station, though.”

King said he thinks this is the first Christian radio station in the area.

“The station is bringing a new kind of music to the area,” he said. “We want to be that Christian station that stays connected to the area.”

Not only will the station give the community music to listen to and access to community events, the student-run station also will give college students at the university an opportunity to learn about radio, he said.

“This is a training ground for students,” King said. “It gives them an opportunity to do different things.”

Morgan McQuate, a senior from Ashland, Ohio, is serving as the station manager during the fall semester. His older sister was involved in radio during her college career, and he said he thought he might like to follow in her footsteps.

“I really love music, and I enjoy being able to share that with others,” McQuate said. “I work behind the scenes. I’m kind of a technical nerd, so I like working with computer software.”

McQuate, a communication arts major with an emphasis in mass media, doesn’t know what he wants to do after he graduates in April. Whatever he ends up doing, he said he thinks his involvement with the radio station will help him throughout life.

“It helps me to learn about computer software and being flexible in a job,” he said.

McQuate said he also is learning about responsibility. As station manager, he is in charge of making sure the programs and satellite feed are working correctly together, he said. He also oversees the music that is being played and the shows that are being produced, he said.

King said 10 students run and manage the station, and he expects that number to increase to 15 or 20. To be involved with the station, students are not required to be a communications major, but they have to take a prerequisite class, he said. The class gives the students instructions on broadcasting and gives the faculty a way to tie the station in to the curriculum, he said.

“We consider them an important part of what we teach, and we’re tying it to our radio station,” he said.

In the future, King hopes the station will broadcast from area events and cover some sports, he said.

“That’s down the road a little ways, and we’re preparing for that,” he said. “Right now we’re just getting the students up to speed on the situation.”

The largest association of multi-day Christian music festivals recently welcomed four new festivals to next year’s season.

At their recent fall meeting in Nashville, members of Christian Festival Association voted to add four new festivals to the 2008 roster – Sonshine Festival (Wilmar, Minn.), Spirit Song Festival (King’s Island, Ohio), King’s Fest (Doswell, Va.) and Crossover Festival (Lake of the Ozarks, Mo.).

The four festivals will join the 23-member-strong association, which includes member festivals like Cornerstone California, Cornerstone Florida, Creation Festival Northeast, and Spirit West Cost.

All new member events are scheduled to take place during the peak summer season of Christian music festivals.

Crossover Festival will debut June 10-12, 2008, at the Stoneridge Ampitheater at Lake of the Ozarks, and Spirit Song Festival and King’s Fest will hit two amusement parts July 10-12, 2008. Spirit Song Festival is held at the King’s Fair theme park near Cincinnati, while King’s Fest takes place at King’s Dominion, just north of Richmond, Va. Festival-goers will get to enjoy not only Christian music but all the rides and attractions.

Sonshine Festival, to be held July 17-19, 2008, will feature five stages, a “Tent City” camping village, an Xtreme Games park, and skateboard area. The event will spread over 80 acres on the Willmar High School campus and Civic Center grounds.

According to CFA president Bob Thompson, over 1.5 million people attend the Christian music festivals put on by CFA members.

During the fall meeting, festival directors also attended artist showcases to spot new talent.

According to Thompson, the main focus of the music festivals is to bring the Gospel message through music to festival participants.

“In order to effectively translate the Gospel to the next generation at our festivals, the music and its message must be capable of reaching its audience at a heart, mind and soul level,” said Thompson.

“While we do not require or expect the lyrics of our artists’ music to be taken directly from Scripture,” he added, “we do expect that the message is consistent with God’s plan for our lives, as described in His Word.”

The group is scheduled to meet again in Nashville in April 2008, a month before the Christian music festival season launches. The season ends in December.

In 2008, Saltmine Trust and Open Doors will commence a search across the UK for fresh Christian musical talent.

The new initiative invites singers, groups and bands who believe they have what it takes to be the next big name in Christian music to come to ‘ Hope Academy ’.

Regional auditions for the outreach will be held in early 2008, in London, Norwich, Birmingham, Bath, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff.

The auditions will be open to two age groups: the first from 11 to 17 years olds, and the second from 18 to 35 years olds.

Those who are successful at the audition stage will be invited to attend a training weekend in the West Midlands and given professional vocal and performance tuition.

Hope Academy will reach its climax at the ‘Grand Finale’ competition, which will be held in a London West End Theatre in May 2008.

Hopefuls will be looking to win one of the various prizes on offer, including a chance to perform at the Cave Church in Cairo with Open Doors, as well as performance opportunities with Saltmine and Open Doors, and the recording and production of their best song on a music video.

Crews minutes ago finished shooting the last scene of a music video by contemporary Christian singer Nicole C. Mullen in downtown Birmingham.

The video is for Mullen’s song, “One Touch (Press)” from the album “Sharecropper’s Seed, Vol. 1.” It is being produced by Erwin Brothers Motion Pictures of Bessemer.

Production manager Jackson Helms Smith said that during the height of today’s 12-hour video shoot at Fourth Avenue North and 22nd Street North, there were more than 500 extras. At least 300 people were still there when it ended at about 6:20 p.m., he said.

“It was just a fantastic turnout,” Helms Smith said.

Few of this year’s Christmas albums discs are as truly country as Diamond Rio’s. It doesn’t get any better than the bluegrass-y instrumental interplay of “Sleigh Ride,” which clicks along like a fast train with banjo plucking and acoustic guitar picking. Better still is Gene Johnson’s speedy mandolin work, which is all over the place. And if that’s not enough, these guys also harmonize tremendously well together. Furthermore, it’s easy to warm up to the jingle-jangle guitar work within “Winter Wonderland.”

On the downside, except for the new-ish title song, there isn’t much that’s new. But the rarely covered “(Instrumental) From “Charlie Brown Christmas” helps makes up for this CD’s relative predictability. These guys turn this familiar piano tune into a jazzy workout and must really love Peanuts because they also cover “Christmas Time Is Here” as subdued piano ballad.

Although this spiritually-minded release is tied to the Christian Word Records, it’s the sort of CD that an instrumental-loving atheist can also love. Recording in Nashville does not a country album make, but Diamond Rio has created an impossible to dispute country Christmas album.