It’s A Wonderful Christmas features the winning singer-songwriter joining forces with four amazing choirs, among them a 100-voice choir and also a 16-member London boy’s choir directed by John Tobin, and a 67-piece orchestra at London’s Abbey Road studios. Also featured is a duet with American Idol’s Mandisa. As the strings soar and the bells ring, you can almost feel winter’s nip in the air and smell the fragrance of pine trees as Smith’s music puts you in that holiday mood. Smith reveled in the opportunity to record with a 67-piece orchestra, “The arrangements were great. The room is legendary and the players were unbelievable,” he enthuses.
In preparing for his new Christmas collection, he wanted to create an album with the lush arrangements and powerful orchestral sounds that he heard listening to his favorite Christmas records as a child. He began putting together a list of his favorite tunes, but in a burst of inspiration soon found he’d written more than enough new material to fill the album. The only cover tune is the timeless standard “What Child is This?” which sounds both familiar yet fresh thanks to Smitty’s deft musical reinvention.
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