Ep. 175: An Acoustic Christmas

Think of it as a family Christmas devotional: a little praise, a little witness, some tears, and some laughter, familiar, yet loose around the edges. We'll hear from Cherie Call, Paul Jacobsen, and Molly in the Mineshaft, as well as pianist Jared Pierce and Mark Geslison, who is the director of several student ensembles here at BYU. Our first hymn is "Once in Royal David's City", performed by Cayson Renshaw and Riley Davis. Cayson Renshaw is a singer-songwriter from the San Francisco Bay-area, currently based in Utah. He's joined here by guitarist and vocalist Riley Davis. See their performance on YouTube Next, Steve speaks with Mark Gelison, leader of the Celtic Ensemble for 30+ years, a student performance group at BYU, who will perform "O Come O Come Emmanuel." This year the ensemble includes, Emily Wall, Kaydie Gillam, Kate Reich, Brandon Torruella, Sarah Shipp, Rebecca Meiss, Eric Christensen, James Hecht, Owen Clarke, and Lawson Archibald. Following this performance comes 'Molly in the Mineshaft'. They play "Gesu Bambino" and "We Three Kings", arranged by Scott and Grace Monson from the contemporary folk ensemble. Molly in the Mineshaft is made up of Lucy Larsen, Grace Monson, Jordan Benson, Douglas Patterson, Talmage Haines, Alex Vincent, and Scott Monson. See their performance on YouTube. Then, Paul Jacobsen performs the spiritual "Go Tell it on the Mountain" for us in the studio. Paul Jacobsen is a singer-songwriter who performs independently but also with the Madison Arm and The Lower Lights. See his performance on YouTube. Mark Geslison returns with Mountain Strings, a student ensemble from BYU playing a medley of "The Holly and the Ivy"/ "Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plain"/"Joy to the World". Mountain Strings includes Madeline Charles, Arthur Prusso, Austin Johnson, Ellie Geslison, Emily Wall, Tyler Anderson, Christina Iverson. Next we're talking with Cherie Call, a singer-songwriter who brought us one of her own compositions, a modern Christmas song about modern challenges during the holiday season. Called "For Broken Hearts like Mine", this song is from Cherie's 2006 album Gifts. See her performance on YouTube. Finally, we end this special episode with a piano performance of "What Child Is This" from Jared Pierce, who also composed this arrangement and featured it on his 2021 album Christmas Piano. The In Good Faith Team wishes you a safe and happy Holiday.