ACNA co-sponsors CCM-bluegrass Xmas concert tour

From the ACNA email blast this afternoon:

Getty Music Presents Sing!

Celebrate the Season at

Sing! An Irish Christmas

Enjoy an evening of inspirational carols and hymns with Keith and Kristyn Getty — and their band of top Irish & American instrumentalists fusing Celtic, bluegrass, Americana, classical and modern sounds into an evening of singing and celebration.

Dear Friend,

For the seventh year in a row, modern hymn-writers Keith and Kristyn Getty are returning with Sing! An Irish Christmas. As someone who appreciates great songs of the Christian faith, we hope you'll join us for the annual gathering of historic carols and congregational singing.

Sing! An Irish Christmas continues the great legacy of singing beloved holiday hymns.

Featuring classic Christmas carols as well as popular modern hymns and carols from the Gettys, the Sing! An Irish Christmas tour will make stops in renowned concert venues like Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in DC - where it has had the distinction of being the only Christian concert to play during the Christmas season.

Special discounts for ACNA pastors & congregations are available by emailing info@gettymusic.com

Guest artists for select concerts include:

Archbishop Foley Beach, Joni Eareckson Tada, Tim Keller, David Platt, Paul Tripp, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, Ricky Skaggs, Alison Krauss, Matt Redman, Sierra Hull, John Patitucci, Trip Lee, Phil Keaggy + many more! 

Check local concert listing at 

www.gettymusic.com/christmas for more details!

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The ACNA website explains the “guest artist” remark:

From Archbishop Beach: “I am grateful for the partnership we have with the Gettys! I and many in the Anglican Church in North America continue to be enriched by their ministry. As we prepare for the coming Christmas season, this tour is an opportunity to hear and sing some of the great hymns of the Faith. I’ll be participating in the concert in Atlanta on November 28th. If you or your church are looking for a fellowship opportunity this Advent, this is an excellent one to consider!”

Keith and Kristyn Getty are doing 16 concerts from Nov. 28 to Dec. 21, including two Presbyterian, one Baptist, one Lutheran and two (California) non-denominational churches. Tickets appear to range from $15 to $130 (at Carnegie Hall). The promotion video suggests the music is a mix of secular and sacred Christmas carols, Getty praise hymns and other music, all performed in a Celtic-bluegrass-Irish/American folk style.

Since the Getty website doesn’t name the “special guests” or mention the ACNA, it is not clear the ACNA role other than the Abp.’s guest appearance on Nov. 28. However, the Getty website does talk about the partnership with several pages:

• New Wineskins — some free hymns distributed by the Gettys
• Foley Beach’s talk on “Liturgy and Beauty: The Liturgy of the Anglican Church” at the Getty’s annual Sing! conference earlier this year

I’m vaguely curious as to what a Christmas-CCM-folk-bluegrass concert looks like, but I can’t make any of the dates. Instead, I’ll be celebrating Advent at a local Lessons & Carols service, and of course listening to webcast of the 100th Kings College Cambridge service