This album may be the best telling of the Christmas story ever put to music, in my opinion. In the year 2000, young Andrew Peterson wrote new songs to tell the story of the Israelite people, their longing for a savior, and the baby Jesus who was born to save humanity. He subtitled it "the true tall tale of the coming of Christ". And yes, what a beautiful story it is! The music includes some of Nashville finest musicians and friends of Andrew Peterson telling the story in a Nashville folk/country/bluegrass style. There's very little of the carols you know or expect on a Christmas album; this is mostly all original songs that tell the story of Jesus's birth in 42 minutes. So it's maybe not an album to listen to in the background, but it's better to put it on and listen to every word and note carefully. The 2004 original recording of this album is out of print, but this is the 20th anniversary recording of the album. For 25 years now, Andrew Peterson and his band of musicians have been playing these songs in November and December across the Bible belt of America and beyond. I did get to see them play this album and many other songs in 2019 at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, and it was a very beautiful night.

Release Year: 2019
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