Smith challenged himself with new Christmas album
By John Benson
Before recording his third holiday album, 2007’s “It’s a Wonderful Christmas,” Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Michael W. Smith decided to challenge himself by writing all-original seasonal material.
“It was a bit of a risk because obviously on a Christmas album everybody wants to hear all the standards, but I wrote the whole thing except for ‘What Child is This?,’” said Smith, calling from outside Nashville. “I’m extremely happy with the album, and I can’t say that every time I release [a new record]. I’m always wanting another month or two to work on the record, and I’m not really sure I’d change much about this last Christmas album that came out.
“We did it at Abbey Road Studios in London with this huge orchestra, and my arranger just knocked it out of the park by taking my melodies and turning it into something bigger than I ever thought or imagined could happen.”
It’s this exact home-run approach that Smith hopes to replicate every night on his “It’s a Wonderful Christmas” tour, which comes to Youngstown’s Chevy Centre Saturday.
To help accomplish this goal, Smith — who admits he’s a Christmas music fanatic — has brought along “American Idol” sixth season contestant Melinda Doolittle, as well as enlisted the support of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra for his Northeast Ohio date.
Smith, who is one of the most successful contemporary Christian music artists to date, with over 29 No. 1 songs, 14 gold albums and five platinum albums, said fans attending the show can expect plenty of material spanning his three holiday albums – 1989’s “Christmas,” 1998’s “Christmastime” and “It’s a Wonderful Christmas” — and maybe a song or two from his recently released live worship album, “A New Hallelujah.”
“I think it’s mainly Christmas [material] but last year we did ‘Above All’ in the middle of the show, which is a worship song that seemed to fit in,” Smith said. “If you do something else, it has to be at the right time during the evening and has to fit. But we’ll be doing ‘Gloria,’ which always seems to be a hit, ‘All is Well,’ and we’ll see if anybody wants to hear songs from the latest Christmas record.”
Something else that makes the upcoming “It’s a Wonderful Christmas” show special is the fact it’s the first date on Smith’s holiday tour. So, will there be any butterflies when you walk out on stage for the first time?
“I think it’s pretty easy,” Smith said, laughing. “Obviously, the first night you’re trying to make the evening cohesive, and what are you going to say and making sure the thing really flows well, but I’m not really concerned about it musically. We’ll be prepared.
“We always are. You always learn something from the first night, but most of the time there are so many magical moments that happen the first night that maybe don’t happen the rest of the tour. So I’m hoping and praying and optimistic that it’ll be a great first night.”