Home for Christmas (2008) (BarlowGirl Christmas Album)

Home for Christmas is the fourth studio and Christmas album by the female Christian rock band BarlowGirl, released on September 23, 2008 by Fervent/Word/Curb Records. The album was produced by Otto Price.

It is BarlowGirl's sole album to deviate from a pop rock sound, as the band opts for a traditional Christmas genre instead. When the Barlow sisters were growing up, they wished to have a baby grand piano at home. One Christmas eve in the early 1990s, their mother convinced them to spend the day shopping. It was at that time that their father and brother moved the heavy piano inside the home. Upon noticing the piano when they returned home, the sisters had tears of joy. It was then that they began a Christmas tradition of singing carols in four-part harmony with their four female cousins. The seven girls dreamed of creating a Christmas record at that time, a dream that materialized with Home for Christmas. The four cousins, the Shell sisters (Jessica, Jodie, Jennie and Jane), indeed share vocals with the Barlow sisters on "Panis Angelicus" and on the "Angelic Proclamation" medley.

The album consists of eleven tracks, eight which focus on the birth of Jesus Christ and three festive-focused songs which are more secular in nature. Two medleys are featured on the album. For the remaining tracks, each of the sisters could include two of her favorite songs on the album. For Rebecca, this included "What Child Is This?" This was the only BarlowGirl album to feature Rebecca singing lead vocals, where as sister Alyssa and Lauren usually share lead vocal duties from their previous releases. For Alyssa, this included the Catholic hymn "Panis Angelicus," the only BarlowGirl recording in a foreign language; Alyssa sang the lead vocals in Latin, while her sisters and the Shell sisters add English background vocals based on "O Lord Most Holy," the English adaptation.

Their most popular track is the medley of "Carol of the Bells" and "Sing We Now Of Christmas," as it gets airplay and streams during the holiday season. A year later in 2009, an a cappella version of just "Carol of the Bells" was released as a digital downlown and for streaming platforms as a non-album track. BarlowGirl made a music video for "Hallelujah (Light Has Come)" in December 2010 by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Home for Christmas charted and peaked on the following Billboard album charts:

-#2 Top Holiday Albums

-#17 Top Christian Albums

-#180 Billboard 200 Albums

In 2009, BarlowGirl was nominated for a Dove Award for Christmas Album of the Year.

Track listing

1. It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Edward Pola, George Wyle) -2:48

2. Carol of the Bells/Sing We Now of Christmas (Peter Wilhousky/traditional)

-4:01

3. I'll Be Home for Christmas (Kim Gannon, Walter Kent, Buck Ram) -4:39

4. Hallelujah (Light Has Come) (Alyssa Barlow, Lauren Barlow, Rebecca Barlow)

-5:06

5. O Little Town of Bethlehem (Phillips Brooks, Lewis Redner) -4:22

6. What Child Is This? (William Chatterton Dix) -5:25

7. Panis Angelicus (traditional) -4:18

8. Angelic Proclamation (medley) -3:55

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (William H. Cummings, Felix Mendelssohn,

Charles Wesley)

O Come All Ye Faithful (John Francis Wade)

Angels We Have Heard on High (Edward S. Barnes)

9. Go Tell It on the Mountain (traditional) -3:14

10. O Come, O Come Emmanuel (traditional) -5:00

11. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin) -4:22

Personnel

BarlowGirl:

Alyssa Barlow -lead vocals (tracks 1, 4, 7 and), backing vocals

Lauren Barlow -lead vocals (tracks 3 and 9), backing vocals

Rebecca Barlow -lead vocals on track 6, backing vocals

additional musicians:

Shell sisters (Jessical Shell, Jodie Shell, Jennie Bryan, Jane Shell) - backing

vocals on tracks 7 and 8

Tom Bukovac – guitars

Zoro – drums

Otto Price – percussion, drums, bass guitar, stand up bass, guitar, B3, piano, tympani, glockenspiel, cymbals

Terry Watson – piano

Trish Price – piano ("Angelic Proclamation")

Greg Hagen – guitar

III – guitar

David Das – Rhodes

John Painter – brass

City of Prague Philharmonic – orchestra

New Song Ensemble -choir

• Liz George

• Winter Liscano

• Amy Miller

• Danielle Rendon

• Lindsay Scranton

• Cindy Wagner

• Jeremy Davis

• Todd Fertig

• Adam Kinder

• Stephen Webb

• Jeremy Worley

Radio singles

2008 -2009 "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" -#21 Billboard Hot

Christian Songs, -#21 Billboard Christian Airplay, -#25 Billboard Christian

AC Airplay

2009 "Hallelujah (Light Has Come)" -#30 Billboard Christian AC Airplay

Previous release: How Can We Be Silent (2007)

Next release: Love & War (2009)

Watch the music video of "Hallelujah (Light Has Come)" here: