O Holy Night, Sara Groves upcoming Christmas release is a project recorded with the help of some friends. The album will be in stores on October 14th. Preview several tracks from O Holy Night, on Groves’ YMZ artist page.

The Story Behind The Songs In Sara’s Words:

Star Of Wonder

This is an invocation. I want this album to be the embodiment of peace – peace of this Good News. The angel’s message is a major theme throughout the album, and “Star of Wonder” is a line from “We Three Kings”.

To Be With You

It’s about my family Christmas. I’d finished the album, but the piece that was missing was a song about what my family does, so this is my sentimental snapshot. It’s about a gathering at my grandma’s house. At one point, it mentions everybody in my immediate family.

Silent Night

My family does advent the whole month of December leading up to Christmas, and it’s a very special time for us. I set out to find my favorite sacred songs, and this was at the top of the list. This arrangement is pretty straightforward. It’s not a rewrite or a rearrangement. It’s such a beautiful song. Ben Shive (producer) did such an incredible job with it. The production has a really peaceful feel.

Peace Peace

I wrote “Peace Peace” with my band on our bus. One of my favorite lines from any Christmas song is from “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” where is says that “all our hopes and fears are met in Him tonight.” Our peace comes in a child who meets all of our hopes and all of our fears. Peace is hard to find – impossible to find – outside of that context. This song was based on that idea.

O Holy Night

This song is usually sung by huge singers who can knock it out of the park. Because I’m not a singer’s singer, I made it more of a singer-songwriter thing. I wanted to take “O Holy Night” from the big anthemic versions that we’re used to hearing and put it in a singer-songwriter landscape where you can really focus on the lyrics. Some of my favorite lines to pull out are “So He appears and the soul felt its worth.” I meditate on that all year round. This is also one of the few Christmas songs that speaks about social justice. It says “truly He taught us to love one another” and tells us that “the slave is our brother, and in His name all oppression shall cease.” I’ve always loved that verse, and it resonates with me.

Toy Packaging
Toy packaging is my pet peeve. It’s just a fun song about how “my self-esteem is in the can, trying to open the store-bought man.” They twisty-tie and rivet everything to pieces of cardboard. It’s definitely my pet peeve. It’s just a fun song about that.

It’s True

I originally wrote it for a Blood:Water Mission Christmas benefit, and I wanted to rerecord it. In a post-modern world, the story of Christ can seem bizarre. I think that people deep down wish that God was the lover of our souls who came down from on high and left the prince who came to save us. Sometimes it can seem like a fairy tale. This song just says that it’s true. The thing that you hope is true really is.

It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

I hadn’t really thought about this song, but the lyrics jumped off the page to me. My family has had a really hard year. We’ve had some death and pain. The second verse of this song talks about “over our sad plains the angels sing.” It talks about how they come to sing about Christ, and “still through broken skies they come.” I was in tears reading the lyrics. It goes back to the theme of peace. You’re not traveling alone. You’re not laboring in vain. You’re not carrying this hardship for no reason. Over this, God still has His way. This turned out to be one of my favorite moments on the album.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

This just feels like Christmas to me. Once I decided to depart from doing all sacred songs, I wanted to do this one. I love the line that says, “Through the years we all will be together.” That’s another theme. Outside of the Bethlehem, a big part of what Christmas is – what I think God always intended – is a time when we connect and get together. We did kind of a ‘50s or Motown treatment to it. It’s really sweet.

A Cradle In Bethlehem

This is a song that I’ve wanted to do forever, and it’s my dad’s favorite song. He used to sing it in church. It’s not a song that you hear a lot, but it’s a beautiful picture. John Catchings plays cello on it. He’s played on every album that I’ve ever made, so this song has the piano-cello moment that I always love.

Angels We Have Heard On High

This has kind of a mariachi band very quietly in the chorus. I kept the verses the same, but the chorus is a group sing-along. There are several moments on the album where a whole group of friends gathered around the microphone and sang together. This is one of those group-sing moments.

Go Tell It On The Mountain

This is the album’s benediction. Again, this is just friends and family around the mic. We were on the porch around a microphone.

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