NASHVILLE (BP) – As the holiday season approaches, chart-topping bluegrass band “Chosen Road,” hopes touring their new Christmas album “Appalachian Christmas,” will help encourage rural, revitalizing churches.
Hailing from West Virginia, Chosen Road is known for their Appalachian-bluegrass musical style, which they use to “reimagine” classic Christian worship songs.
The band’s most recent albums, “Appalachian Worship” and “Appalachian Hymns,” both reached the top 5 on Billboard’s Top Bluegrass Albums chart.
The band has been touring together for 13 years, and for the last seven, their most in-demand dates have come from their annual Christmas tour.
Founding member Jonathan Buckner said the band has always wanted to record a Christmas album, but wanted to do it a Christ-honoring way.
“When we started the tour seven years ago, we really tried to pick songs with substance, meaning they were about the Gospel message and the true story of Christmas,” Buckner said.
“We could sing a bunch of more fun Christmas songs that people love, but once the audience leaves that’s really it. If we can give them fun paired with the Gospel message, then that’s something that hopefully they will take home and have the rest of their lives.”
The new album, available now, contains several traditional Christmas carols as well as some more modern Christmas tunes, all done in Chosen Road’s bluegrass style.
It is also features several notable collaborations with artists including Guy Penrod, Point of Grace, Jimmy Fortune and Allan Hall of Selah.
Zachary Alvis, Chosen Road’s other founding member, said the group is thankful for all of the collaborations and for the hard work that was put into the record.
“For a musician, Christmas is fun but also daunting,” Alvis said. “I really love the songs that we picked out, and I think it’s a really unique approach that hopefully brings something fresh to the music and blesses people.”
Buckner said the Christmas season is exciting because of the ministry opportunities it provides.
