Fresh Hope: Reflections on the Birth of Jesus

I know that it's been a while since the last time that I posted something here, but I've been incredibly busy.

"Why...Eric, what have you been doing?"

I'm glad you asked. I've been finishing up my latest album (or CD, for those of you too young to know what an album is).

Now, for those of you who are regular readers of my blog, this album is not the one that I began recording back in the Spring. in fact, this album wasn't even planned until very recently.

Back in August, while I was listening back to some of the recording work that I had done throughout the Spring and Summer, I came to the realization that I would not be able to complete that new album before the end of the year as I had planned. That was when I made the decision to put together something simple and totally different in time for Christmas. The result is an album entitled Fresh Hope: Reflections on The Birth of Jesus.

As the title implies, this can be considered a "Christmas" album, as all the songs focus on Jesus and his birth. It is made up of entirely original material that I consider to be more "praise and worship" oriented than my other albums. The album is completely acappella and a much simpler effort than my last couple of CDs.

When I was writing the songs for this CD, I really wanted the songs to be different from your standard "Christmas" songs. Christmas music often focuses on the "manger scene", but rarely moves away from that. What I wanted to do was come up with some songs that praise Jesus and celebrate his birth, but at the same time focus on those who were there to witness his birth and the impact that it made on their lives.

This mindset resulted in songs written from several different perspectives:

• The joy of a Father witnessing the birth of his firstborn son.


• The excitement in the hearts of wise men as they search for the newborn Messiah.


• The hope that is felt by those that just "feel like something is different today."


• The satisfaction felt by a man who knows that his life is complete, now that he's seen God's son.


• The song of praise that comes from a teenage mother-to-be, knowing that God has chosen her to carry his son.

All of this and much more is covered in the 10 tracks that make up the new CD. I am really excited about it and I hope that you are, too!

You can stream and listen to the songs by clicking HERE, and if you're interested in purchasing a copy of the CD, you can find it in my online store:

The Eric Gwin Online Store

God Bless!

--Eric G.