Home Free - Warmest Winter

47 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!

Buy-stream Warmest Winter here (external link)

Read all my Home Free Christmas reviews here

The five fellas of country music a cappella group, Home Free, know how to bring the festive merriment, Their Christmas album, Full Of Cheer (and special edition, Full Of Even More Cheer) has become a seasonal standard for those who want a ho-ho-hoe down of a good time as the nights grow darker and the days grow colder. The lads have (rightly) decided we could all do with our spirits raised this year and are gifting us with Warmest Winter - a 12 track collection full of innovative vocal arrangements, finger click grooves, sparkling sing-along magic and, what they do best, pure emotion powering every performance. Start playing your new future favourite classic album now...

From the moment you hear the needle crackle on the vinyl at the start of intro song Christmas Don't Be Late you know this is going to be a timeless selection. It reminds you what Home Free do best - beautifully layered harmonies that highlight their resonant tones. It has a lovely nostalgic feel to it - and leads nicely to Christmas In L.A. With soulful falsettos, stunning deep baritone and a doo-wop style backing, this is their most Beach Boys moment yet. Their enthusiastic performance brings some sunshine to the holidays as if you are basking in the balmy temperatures yourself. They move across the country for Tennessee Christmas, joined by Rachel Wammack on this lush ballad. It is fuelled by Rachel's earnest vocals and sincere, hymn-like backing harmonies from the boys themselves. If it transports you to simpler times and lets the worries of the world fade away, then they've done their job.

Warmest Winter is the album's first original song. With classic boy-band style texture to the soothing harmonies, conjuring up images as vivid as the lyrics they sing. It is stark reminder of how the magic of the season comes from the interactions we have rather than the gifts we receive. It is the guys own way of saying What Christmas Means To Me - which is handy as their vibrant take on that song is up next. Adam Rupp is giving sleigh ride exhilaration with his peppy percussive voice box beats while each of the vocal solos sends the song soaring higher than the brightest star in the skies. Grab the one you love and shimmy. Winter Song has an appropriately ethereal solemnity to it, a timeless vocal arrangement that captures the haunting nature of the lyrics. Performed with a respectful reverence, it is an utterly mesmerising production of this beguiling song. 

Christmas In Dixie sees the boys on the move once more - and joined by country legends Alabama. Everything about the performance is so precision exquisite and so heartfelt that all you can do is bask in the reflective glory of this collection of legends doing what they do best. Snow Globe is the album's second new song - and a testament to its quality is how it feels so at home nestled alongside the luminary standards surrounding it. Reflective lyrics have a searing honesty to them and show the power of redemption through love. If you breathe out a dreamy sigh listening to this you won't be alone. Run Run Rudolph sees Striking Matches join in for a gleeful romp, adding thrilling guitar that adds to the frisson of exhilaration this song brings through every single note. Best played when you want to wear the kids out dancing along!

Christmas Ain't For The Lonely - and, if Hallmark Movies have taught me anything, it is that this statement is true. There is a poignant melancholy to the lyrics - and the focus on singing and harmonies during the opening verse really accentuate that. Adding in the beats for the chorus aides the pathos of the song. Beautifully sung. Cold Hard Cash showcases the witty side the fellas have always excelled at - bringing a smile to your face as your listen carefully to every word. The refreshing candour and ridiculously catchy refrain will melt even the grinchiest of hearts. It is impossible not to nod in agreement to at least one part of their fiduciary tale. What We Need Is Love closes out the album - and is exactly the type of song that used to top the UK charts at Christmas time. A message of hope and optimism that is performed with glittering sincerity and delectable vocals. It wraps round you like an aural hug, showering healing a cappella magic over the cracks in our soul. Play loud, play often and tell everyone you've ever met about it.

(I look forward to An Even Warmer Winter next year - surely with a song about global warming in there!)

**Ghosts of Christmas Past**

• 8th November 2019 ~ Ben Adams & Morissette, This Is Christmas
• 8th November 2018 ~ Levi Kreis, Home For The Holidays
• 8th November 2018 ~ Christmas 1988: Tommy Page, Christmas Without You
• 8th November 2017 ~ Michael Ball & Alfie Boe, White Christmas
• 8th November 2016 ~ Home Free, Full of Even More Cheer
• 8th November 2015 ~ Kim Wilde, Wilde Winter Wonderland (Deluxe)
• 8th November 2014 ~ Home Free, Full of Cheer
• 8th November 2013 ~ Lily Allen, Somewhere Only We Know
• 8th November 2012 ~ Backstreet Boys, Christmastime Again