christmastime is here

Hey, folks. Well, as you likely know, last year CST released a new album of Christmas music. We called it christmastime. Still do, in fact. Most of the songs are very traditional Advent and Christmas songs for which we came up with our own arrangements for acoustic guitar, vocals, and cello. We put a LOT of time and effort into the CD, and we're quite pleased with the finished product.


The other day we played a christmastime concert at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids. We really enjoy opportunities to share that music (and all of our music), and had the pleasure of singing for a very attentive and appreciative audience. We'd like to thank Gloria Dei for having us and thank everyone who came to the show.


Once Thanksgiving has passed, it's time (in my house and car, at least) to start listening to Christmas music. We tune in to a few of the local stations that play Christmas music pretty much nonstop this time of year. At home we often turn on one of the satellite music stations we get through the dish. So I hear a fairly wide variety of holiday music.


There are so many wonderful Christmas songs, both secular and religious. An amazing number, really. Yet, at the same time, there are also a lot of really, really bad holiday and Christmas songs out there. So many bad songs. Christmas shoes? Really? Then there are songs played at Christmas that aren't Christmas songs at all. Well, one, anyway. "My Favorite Things" is NOT a Christmas song, and the world needs to be reminded of that as often and as much as possible. Here ends my PSA. Sorry to digress.


It seems like every year there's at least one new Christmas song on the radio that really has no business being on the radio due to its horrible-ness. I heard a new one the other day that qualified, though I can't remember what it was...


Here's the thing, though--and this is why I'm writing this post in the first place--"Sing, Angels!" is a really, really good Christmas song (Charlie wrote the song, so I can laud its goodness while still maintaining my modesty.)! It's true! It quickly became the most popular song on our CD, and it's up against some pretty stiff competition there (my modesty may be waning a bit suddenly...). It's a good song, and I really would like for more people to hear it.


We sent copies of christmastime to a few radio stations last year. KUNI 90.9 FM and Life 101.9 FM for sure. Maybe a couple others. I don't remember; it was a long time ago. As far as I know, though, they've never played any of our christmastime songs. They could, though! And maybe if you call and request "Sing, Angels!" by Central Standard Time, they'll play it. And then more people will hear it, and that will be a good thing.


I'm not just trying to drum up CD sales here (though I admit that would be nice... please visit our CDBaby page if you'd like to purchase a CD!). I just think more people need to hear this song, 'cause it's a good song. I think we'll share it online in a couple places, too. We'll disseminate links as necessary and appropriate should we do so.


So enjoy your Advent and Christmas seasons, and please enjoy our music as well. We sincerely hope that you do. Blessings to you, and grace, and peace.

Revival

Well, after a nice run with our WordPress blog, we're back to the ol' BlogSpot/Blogger. Feels sort of like putting on an old favorite shirt you just rediscovered in a box of old clothes, only without the funky smell clothes get when they've been in storage for a while.


So last year, as you probably already know if you're visiting our site, we released a new CD, christmastime, which we'd talked about for many years prior and finally got around to actually doing. It was a whole lot of fun to finally get that recorded and released. It was a really different and interesting (to us, at least) process than our previous CDs, which were pretty much all original CST songs. We really enjoyed taking some very traditional, well-known songs and trying to find creative ways in which to make them distinctively CST-ified. And, you know, we think it came out pretty well.


We're already kicking around various ideas for our next studio project. In 2014, though, we'll be trying to get out and play more shows again (2013 was pretty quiet in that regard). We'll likely hit a few of our favorite venues, but we'll also be looking to explore new territory and play some new-to-us venues as well.


And finally, as you may have already discovered, we've new Internet digs! An unfortunate server crash sent our previous site into the oblivion (sad), so now we have a new site. And it's a lovely site, indeed. Please, peruse it, click on stuff (particularly the various links, as you'll find them more responsive to your clicks than things that aren't links), and do be sure to enjoy yourself.


Thanks for listening, folks!


Matt & Charlie