Evangelicals, Mormons, Catholics and other Christians may not always talk the same talk , but each Christmas they often sing the same songs.
And this holiday season Sandi Patty's Christmas CD, "O Holy Night" is already tugging everyone together.Patty, originally scheduled to perform in Salt Lake City, has had to cancel. But the winner of five Grammy Awards and 39 Dove Awards for gospel music did take time to speak about her new CD and her personal goals as a gospel diva.
Patty knows religious tension surfaces in Utah and other spots but feels the Christmas season is a fine time to put aside differences. But then Christmas music has always been her strong suit. And when she puts her powerful, intimate voice into a song like "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," the denominations melt away.
"The Mormon people I've met have been wonderful," she says. "I've worked with Donnie and Marie, and I like them very much. I think all of us probably have more in common than not. But then I've never thought of myself so much as a Christian singer as an inspirational singer. I think all music has a spiritual element to it. And when you combine it with positive lyrics, wonderful things happen."
Indeed, wonderful things do happen on Patty's Christmas release, "O Holy Night." As a collection of Christmas songs, the CD is more like a cathedral, say, than a country church. It is ornate in its orchestrations, lofty in tone and at times -- as on the title cut -- the music soars through the roof. The CD is well-stocked with old chestnuts ("Silver Bells," "White Christmas," "Carol of the Bells"), some new material ("Star of Bethlehem") and a ringer ("My Favorite Things" from "The Sound of Music").
Utahns, who tend to have a taste for big production numbers, will get their share here. As in a Mack Wilberg arrangement, her take on "Carol of the Bells" goes through a half-dozen transformations before topping out with a big finish. And her version of Bob Farrell's budding Christmas classic, "Child of Peace," finds a new level of meaning when set to David Clydesdale's arrangement of Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring."
The tour and CD, of course, are just the latest forays in Patty's career. Things took off for her in 1986 the day she sang the National Anthem for ABC on July 4th and made the switchboard to light up like a Christmas tree. Since then, she has sold 10 million recordings, starred in her own TV specials and been voted Gospel Artist of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year over and over again.
But Christmas, for some reason, has always been her signature season. Perhaps, as she says, it is because the holidays are a time when music -- the universal language -- can actually create a universal community. On the back of her new CD. Patty sums up her feelings for the season this way:
"Last year, I happened to be alone on Christmas Eve. After going to my church's Christmas Eve service, I sat home alone in my family room. I turned out all the lights except for the ones on the Christmas tree and lit one candle. I then placed our big wooden Nativity set beneath the tree. In that moment of solitude I picked up the Children's Bible as I have done many times before and began to read aloud the Christmas Story as though I was telling it to my children. But this time I wasn't reading it to them, I was reading it to me . . . My hope, my prayer, my Christmas wish for you is that you will find Him wherever you are."
Fans of Sandi Patty say a good place to start to look is on her new Christmas collection.