Reposted from: ichooseindy.com
Okay folks, normally I'm one of those people who gets frustrated when retail stores cram the last holidays of the year together and rush into the Christmas holidays right along with Halloween and Thanksgiving.
I've got to make and exception though now because I've got to tell
you about a new Christmas album by some guys you may know. They're a
10-man vocal group formed at Indiana University
in the mid 90's and have just been "found".
Straight No Chaser
was a group of friends at Indiana University and formed the group in
the fall of 1996. In 2006 the original members reunited for a concert
an clips of their performance made it to YouTube, which ended up
getting viewed by Craig Kallman, Chairman of Atlantic Records.
Continue reading to hear how you can win a copy of this album and concert tickets to see them perform live!
Here's the story of what events came to pass after Craig Kallman saw the group on YouTube.
In a turn of events that the spiritually inclined might describe as a “higher power” moment, Atlantic Records Chairman/CEO Craig Kallman happened to be among those millions of viewers. “It was completely random and totally unexpected,” says Kallman. “I was surfing YouTube to check out what was new, when I saw this brilliant, fresh, and totally compelling performance. And then I saw how many hits they were getting, and I had something of an epiphany. So I emailed Randy right away.” Randy, not surprisingly, thought it was some kind of prank. “The head of Atlantic Records emailing me at 8 a.m. New Year's Day and saying he was interested in our group? I thought, ‘yeah, right.'” Fortunately, Randy decided to check it out anyway, and he and Dan soon found themselves having dinner with Craig in L.A. Within a few days, the entire group flew to Atlantic's offices in New York, and a deal was in the works.
Straight No Chaser released their holiday album "Holiday Spirits" on October 28, 2008 and have been getting great reviews.
I received copies of the album to review last night in the mail. I popped it into the stereo and thought I'd listen to it as I got some other things done around the house. The album didn't stop playing until we'd circled through every song about 5 times. These guys are TREMENDOUSLY talented and deliver the goods on bringing in in the "Holiday Spirits" and hits we all have come to love.
They're one of the few groups I've heard re-do "Little Saint Nick" by The Beach Boys, but I think they sound better than the Boys themselves, and I love The Beach Boys. The group gives a little hometown love with "Indiana Christmas" which is a beautiful ballad that really showcases their harmony and talent.
Here's the full track listing of "Holiday Spirits":
- Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
- Jingle Bell Rock
- The Christmas Song
- This Christmas
- Christmas Wish
- Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/Angels We Have Heard On High
- Little Saint Nick
- The 12 Days of Christmas (LIVE)
- Indiana Christmas
- Sweet Little Jesus Boy
- Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
- Carol of the Bells
- Silent Night
- Auld Lang Syne
Without saying much more, this album has risen to the top of my holiday album favorites, replacing the likes of Russ Taff's "A Christmas Song", Harry Connick, Jr., Trans Siberian Orchestra and "A Charlie Brown Christmas". This is good stuff!
Win a Free Copy of "Holiday Spirits" Album by Straight No Chaser
I've got a couple copies of this album to give away to anyone that's interested. All you have to do is go visit the Straight No Chaser website, MySpace, Facebook or YouTube
pages and listen or watch them perform a song. Then come back here and
leave a comment about what you thought. I'll randomly select from those
commenting and give them a copy of the "Holiday Spirits" album.
Win Tickets to See Straight No Chaser Perform in Person
If you write a blog yourself and would like to write-up your own review of their music and link back to this post I've got some free tickets for you to see Straight No Chaser perform in concert at the Madame Walker Theater on December 20th. Just be sure to link back to this post with your review and email me to let me know it's up, the free tickets will go to those with their posts up first until I run out of tickets.