DeJa Blu has just released their latest CD – “Sentimental Christmas”. The eight songs take you down Christmas lane with traditional songs, classic, modern and a little in between. The response to the disc is off to a great start – with one CD purchase turning into an order of 75 more! DeJa Blu has a lot of shows between now and Christmas and so the time is right for you to catch them in concert – or gift wrap one of their discs. For more info check out their site. Merry Christmas! (Yeah I know, it’s not Thanksgiving yet.)

Anyone familiar with the local and regional bluegrass and old-time music venues have no doubt had the privilege of being warmed by the musical prowess of the Kopsa Family. From the recent Applegrass Festival (Council Bluffs) to the Great Plains Bluegrass and Old-Time Music shows (Omaha), and a number of other events the Kopsas have spread their family sound and shared the joy they have in each other. Sarah underscores their sound with her acoustic rhythm, James fills the mandolin call, Maria plies her bow to the fiddle and Julia thumps the bottom bass notes. A total of twelve songs were laid down in various configurations – most of them with all four siblings playing. The vocals are equally shared with great harmonies typical of bluegrass and old time music.

We all gathered today (Nov. 1) to begin their mixdown. It has actually been several weeks since the recording session, but I have been extremely busy with a number of projects and on-going work all coming together at the same time. The Kopsas have been very patient and we made our way through four of their songs today. It was a fun afternoon and the results are coming together quite nicely. Did I hear something about Christmas in conversation? Thank you for sharing your God-given talents with us all.

Overcomers In Christ and Tesco Productions go back a lot of years together. We both were in our earlier start up years when our paths (Divinely) crossed and we joined up to produce a slide show telling the Overcomers story. The late Bill Fear and his wife Mary found their lives forever changed when a relative came to live them, who it turned out had significant addiction problems. The journey began seeking true help and change, but not really finding anything they believed addressed all the core issues, Overcomers In Christ was launched. Over the years we have produced various media materials for the Overcomers and assisted some of their events. Now years later it was time for the OIC groups to have a new theme song, and Mary contacted me to do the recording. Justin, Steve and Vinnie came in to record H2O (How 2 Overcome). Yours truly added piano and bass on a brand new keyboard on loan from my good friend Allyn. The song lyrics were written by Mary and the melody came from Zoe Burkett. It was again an honor to be part of the Overcomers, whose ministry touches those areas we all have in our lives that control us – some more obvious than others, but never the less still needing attention, change and support. Blessings to you all.