Hi friends, Mary Christmas. It's day eight of the 12 days of Christmas here at that sounds fun. My name is Annie

uptowns and I'm the host of the Soul Christmas party. So glad you've joined us. Hope you enjoyed our conversation yesterday with my pastor and pastor of the pod Kevin

Queen. If you missed it or any of the shows from the first week of the 12 days, be sure to go back and catch up. You're such good shows. Think it would be glad you did. Hey, the music in the background is from our friends,

Rend collective. Be sure to grab a copy of their new Christmas album, a jolly Irish Christmas volume to. Hey, if you had a chance to pre-order that sounds fun. The book, well, when you do, you get some really fun perks like the audio book for free read by me. No waiting. You'll get it right away. The book doesn't come out until February 2nd, but you get the audio

book today. You just pre-order for more ever you love to buy books and submit your receipt at that sounds fun book.com and you can redeem your free audio book. Remember also that the first 3000 friends who purchased that sounds fun from Barnes and Noble will get an autographed copy. Before we jump into today's episode, I want to take a minute and tell you about one of our amazing partners, better help. You know how important I think it is that we prioritize our mental and emotional health along with our physical and spiritual health. Better help is a convenient way to do just that.

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We've got another great show in store for you today this one I will never forget you already know and love this amazing friend and I promise I tried to play a cool while talking with her but it's her show with her husband at the rhyme and auditorium every year that truly makes me feel like Christmas season has arrived.

And I'm just so thrilled to share this conversation with you. We'll know we've made the nice list this year when we find this lovely friend over by the piano at a party ready to usher in the season with her unmatched Tinder Tennessee Christmas.

Here's my conversation with the ever gracious Amy.

Amy thanks for joining us on that sounds fun I'm so excited to hear. Thank you our 12 days of Christmas have been incomplete until this year this you are the gift that keeps on giving in our 12 days of Christmas this year.

Tell me why for starters you're known for so much Christmas music why do you love it so much when I first started recording Christmas music honestly it was because in my experience that was the time of year that people were the most comfortable like all people from all

walks of life were the most comfortable and using the language of faith. Yeah that was really why started back in the 80s recording Christmas music I never considered where that would lead or how much Christmas music I would eventually wind up recording.

And I think when it's all said done and I'm long gone I probably will be remembered if I'm remembered at all for Christmas music. But a couple of things happen so I I always followed up in my experience kind of high pressured work intensive records or any high pressure intensive time in my life with a Christmas record it was sort of my default.

That happened three times it happened when I was I put out a record that included a song called L Shadai I was very young I was 21 and it suddenly catapulted me into a workspace I had never known and so I went I want to get out of the limelight and I said let's do a Christmas record.

Years later I did a record called Hard and Motion that sent me traveling around the world and I scurried home and did a Christmas record Christmas it just always brought you home because it was not about me and then I went through a divorce in 1998 99

and I did not want to be the focus of anything and I did a Christmas record and so it was like in my mind that was a healing place to go and then also my relationship with Ron Huff who is a brilliant orchestrator and a ranger and it was really at his invitation when I was I still a teenager I was a same age as his son Dan.

But he invited me to the symphony stage several times to say let me write arrangements for you and let's do this program for Nashville let's do this let's do that let's help the Nashville symphony.

And so it was this convergence of my my love of celebrating Christmas becoming part of the wallpaper in somebody else's experience and not front and center and my relationship with Ron Huff who was so brilliant and so we were always creating these live experiences that then were reflected in music.

Why do you think people who don't share our faith because some of our friends listening don't believe everything we believe why do some people who don't share our faith still love Christmas music well I just think the collective nostalgia of this is a time of year that is celebrated even if you don't put up a tree you can't you can't ignore holiday lights right.

And you know記得 sing a song tumblr on sells saying for fun loves starts not only all your songs but all our songs is overcoming our lessons.

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