In addition to releasing a video for “Church Clothes,” hosting her own podcast, This Nashville Life, and touring in 2017, CMT Next Women of Country alum Kelleigh Bannen is closing out her busy year by putting a soulful spin on a couple of classic holiday tunes: “Deck the Halls” and “O Holy Night.”
Both tracks will be available on Nov. 17, but you can get a sneak listen to “O Holy Night” today (Nov. 16) via Nash Country Daily.
“‘O Holy Night’ is probably my favorite Christmas carol,” says Kelleigh to NCD. “I love the language and I love the way it tells the Christmas story. For the last several years, I’ve sung ‘O Holy Night’ at my church on Christmas Eve, so it’s just a really special song to me.”
Instead of going the traditional, church-esque route with her new recording, Kelleigh put her own rootsy twist on the classic Christmas tune.
“The tricky thing about ‘O Holy Night’ is that there are so many great traditional versions of the song and I didn’t want to compete with those,” says Kelleigh. “With Christmas recordings, I think you either have to go really classic or you have to go really creative. Justin Glasco, who produced these Christmas songs, had the idea that we take the ‘O Holy Night’ from its traditional version as a waltz [3/4 time] and make it 4/4. We wanted it to still be very reverent, but with a rootsy, soulful feel.”
Watch Kelleigh’s performance of “O Holy Night” in her new concept video.
