Gabby Barrett has released her first Christmas album just in time for the arrival of the joyful season. As a devoted Christian, the country singer uses Carols and Candlelight to celebrate her faith and highlight the true meaning of the holiday through its 11 tracks.
The entire collection finds Barrett capturing the hearts of fans everywhere as she lends her stunning vocals to beloved Christmas classics such as “The First Noel” and “Last Christmas.” The multi-platinum artist gifted fans an early taste with “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (featuring The Piano Guys). With the entire project out now, listeners can dive into even more heartwarming stories and spirited deliveries that bring the magic of the season to life.
Taking Fan’s Requests Into Account For The Track List
When choosing the track list for Carols and Candlelight, Gabby Barrett did something incredibly special. She went straight to her fans and asked which songs they wanted to hear her record. These requests now make up more than half of the project.
“I had specifically asked, I think sometime in the summer, on my social media, I said, ‘If I were to do a Christmas project, what would you guys want to hear?’ I went through and I picked a lot of the songs based off of what they were saying and what they wanted to hear,” she said with excitement during a recent interview with Country Now. “I always love to take it back to the fans and make sure that they’re enjoying what we are putting out because they put us where we are at. And so it was really fun to be able to go through and just pick the songs based off of what they wanted to hear.”
Some of the songs that fans ended up choosing were holiday classics like “Mary, Did You Know?”, “O Holy Night,” and “Silent Night.” Sprinkled in between those are a mix of tunes that hold sentimental memories for Barrett, like “Grown Up Christmas List” and the Dolly Parton and Kenny Rodgers timeless duet, “A Christmas To Remember.”
“They were ones that I have memories of my family with my mom and dad when I was younger. And so it was fun to pepper in some of those.”
Heartfelt Collaborations
The project also features three collaborations – a heartwarming rendition of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” featuring Barrett’s husband, Cade Foehner, the Christmas Recorded Song of the Year nominee for this year’s Dove Awards, “Go Tell It On The Mountain” with for KING & COUNTRY, and “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” with The Piano Guys.
Listeners are greeted with a stunning musical arrangement by The Piano Guys in the intro of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” and runs through the remainder of the song while Barrett’s moving vocals illuminate the hauntingly beautiful hymn.
“I absolutely love them and think of their music as phenomenal and just beautiful to listen to and I have listened to them the past couple of years,” Barrett said about working with The Piano Guys. “So to be able to do a collab with them on ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,’ was really awesome, too. So yeah, there’s a lot of special moments in this but definitely really cool that the fans got to really pick a lot of the songs that I did.”
In a way, fans also influenced the duet with Foehner as the “Growin’ Up Raising You” singer explained that over the past few years, it’s been highly requested that they get into the studio together. She felt that a song like “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” was the perfect story for them to tell on this record.
“I would ask, like, ‘hey, if I was going to collab with somebody, who would you guys want me to collab with?’ And Cade was always in the top three picks of that. So I think we’ve got some awesome American Idol loyal followers as well that have just enjoyed our relationship through the years, which I really appreciate. And so, it just felt natural and right if we were gonna do ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside,’ which is such a classic, that Cade be featured on the song. So we both went into the studio and cut it with Ross Copperman, who’s a good buddy, and it was easy peasy. I think it sounds pretty good. I think he killed it.”
Starting Holiday Traditions With Her Family Of Five
While reflecting on the holiday season and the songs that have served as the soundtrack to her Christmas memories over the years, Barrett opened up about some of the traditions that she and Cade are starting with their children, Baylah May (3), Augustine Boone (2) and Ivy Josephine (9 months).
“So now that we have a family of five and our oldest is almost four, we are really just starting to figure out what those traditions look like for our family and that’s been really fun.”
So far, they have come up with two special activities for the kids to take part in, which Barrett hopes will be continued for many Christmases to come. One involves the songstress baking homemade sugar cookies on Christmas Eve and letting her little ones help decorate while they all watch the classic film, A Christmas Story.
“Love that so much. And it’s so joyful and I know the kids just enjoy it. So that’s something I want to keep around,” Barrett gushed.
The other developing tradition is their very own twist on the popular “Elf on the Shelf” tradition.
“We actually do one that’s called Shepherd on the Search, and it’s more based around Christ rather than Santa,” she explained. “It’s really fun to do that with the kids. It’s the same idea, so it’s the Shepherd, and he moves around the house. It’s in different locations and he’s getting into all kinds of naughty things in the house, but he’s on the search for baby Jesus on Christmas Day. And so that’s really fun and something that the kids enjoy as well. So I think those are two traditions that we will keep around.”
GIVING FOR GOOD SHOW
In addition to releasing her first-ever Christmas album, Gabby Barrett recently announced another milestone that’s about to take place. On November 13, she will deliver her first Nashville headline performance with the GIVING FOR GOOD SHOW. This event, featuring special guest Rachel Purcell, will be held at the CMA Theater inside Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
This will be a special evening filled with a mix of brand-new songs off Barrett’s latest album, Chapter & Verse, a few fan-favorite originals and more. Proceeds from the show will benefit MURPHSLIFE, a non-profit that has helped more than 1000 families out of poverty since being founded in 2020. Tickets are on sale now HERE.
The post Gabby Barrett Shares How Fans Helped Shape Her First Christmas Album, ‘Carols And Candlelight,’ Reveals Favorite Family Traditions [Exclusive] appeared first on Country Now.
