By Janice Malone
NASHVILLE, TN — One of gospel music’s best-selling artists of all time, CeCe Winans joins the Nashville Symphony for an intimate evening of hits and holiday favorites on December 7 at 7 pm for the ‘CeCe Winans: Holidays & Hits with the Nashville Symphony’ performance at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. In addition to Christmas favorites, CeCe will feature songs from her latest soul-drenched album ‘Let Them Fall in Love.’
This is her first album in nearly a decade. Joining Ms. Winans on this current album project as producer/songwriter is her son Alvin Love III. Her son proposed she record an album featuring songs that would be ‘generation-bridging.’ The music on this album finds Winans returning to the studio with gusto, working for roughly three years to craft her most confident, adventurous collection yet. Many of the nation’s top music critics are saying this album is the best one CeCe’s ever done, and that’s saying a lot, considering she’s sold more than 12 million albums in her career. “Working with my son was just an awesome experience,” CeCe shares with the Tribune recently by phone from her Nashville area home. “The lyrics are strong. Every song is strong. The production is amazing, and like you said, all of my reviews are the best reviews I’ve ever gotten in my whole career, and that’s including with me and Bebe (Winans). And I have my son Alvin Love III to thank for all of this.”
Alvin wrote seven of the ten songs, which includes a remake of the classic country tune ‘Why Me Lord.’ CeCe readily admits that initially she wasn’t sure about doing the country music favorite but son Alvin convinced his mom to trust his decision on including it. “At first I was like, ‘No way Alvin.’ But let me tell you, I so enjoyed singing that song,” The music from the ‘Let Them Fall in Love’ project has opened up new opportunities for Winans, who has 10 Grammy Awards. Earlier this year she sang at the Grand Ole Opry for the first time.
Ms. Winans says that fans who attend the upcoming CeCe Winans: Holidays & Hits with the Nashville Symphony show can expect to hear music from her latest offerings, along with traditional Christmas music, including her smash hit single ‘Alabaster Box.’ For Ms. Winans, it seems that performing with the Nashville Symphony is a personal music gift within itself for her. She says: “Oh my goodness, singing with the symphony is what it must be like to sing in heaven (she laughs). I love big orchestration, and whenever I have it, all my records are awesome. It’s very seldom I get a chance to have the live orchestra behind me in concert. Normally it’s the band, and then you have the strings and the machine, but to get there and have a whole orchestra behind you, oh my God, I love it! It just adds so much lush and feeling, and it takes the music to another depth. I’m excited so excited about this upcoming holiday show.”
For tickets information visit: https://www.nashvillesymphony.org/tickets/concert/CeCe-Winans-with-the-Nashville-Symphony
