Christian Music News

NASHVILLE, TENN.: Essential/Provident/Sony Recording artist Jon Guerra announces the upcoming release of he and his wife, Valerie’s full-length Christmas album It’s Almost Christmas, which is set to release on November 13. This holiday album will be released on Sony’s Descendent Records (Colony House, The Lone Bellow) to take Jon and Valerie’s Christmas music to an even wider audience.

The couple will be opening for Amy Grant and Vince Gill at the historic Ryman in Nashville this December. This eight-run show is an annual holiday tradition in Nashville, and Jon and Valerie will be performing songs from It’s Almost Christmas. Click here to purchase tickets for one of the eight shows.

In November 2011, the newlywed couple realized buying gifts for family and friends would practically be impossible due to their starving artist status. This Chicago-based couple recorded an EP that they posted online in hopes to raise funds to purchase gifts. As the EP was so well received, it became a tradition for the couple. After four years, they had collected enough songs to create It’s Almost Christmas, a lovely collection of 11 holiday songs.

“Ultimately, we wanted a sense of ‘home’ to come across in the music and something for our family outside Chicago and our friends who moved away after college,” recalls singer/guitar/piano player Jon of the couple’s first ever cut, “It’s Almost Christmas, Chicago,” complete with references to the howl of passing trains, Macy’s world famous windows, and the Christkindlmarket. “We left all the idiosyncratic sound from our apartment in the recording, from creaking floors and a barking dog, and the concept kind of developed from that. I think the holidays can also be a lonely time for people, but there’s something about holiday music that is very heartwarming. If we can invite people into our living room for a song sing-a-long, then mission accomplished.”

Jon and Valerie Guerra’s It’s Almost Christmas throws a hat in the ring of old-meets-new, heartwarming Christmas tunes with sentimental original and traditional songs, all recorded in the living room of that same one-bedroom Chicago apartment where it began.

Valerie explains, “The project took on a life of its own, and it’s literally been me, Jon and a couple of close friends - no session players or producers - which adds to the sentimental, homespun feeling.”

“We’re not trying to make new Christmas music… we’re trying to make something that makes Christmas music feel new,” concludes Jon.