Enjoy a Little Christmas Cheer with Straight No Chaser

Welcome to Simple Man Music. Recently I was listening to the radio to one of my favorite radio shows, Delilah, and on her Thanksgiving show, I heard a group of a cappella guys sing, and I just had to check them out. This group is called Straight No Chaser, and with the holidays coming soon, I thought I'd share a bit with you about this a cappella band and their incredible music.

Straight No Chaser has an interesting story. They started out about 10+ years ago in college. They started up a group for fun when they were at Indiana University back in 1996. Soon they headlined for concerts and toured on a national level. However, once they all graduated, they didn't sing together for more than a decade.

Then in April of 2006, the University did a reunion concert and clips from one of the concerts this group had done in 1998 were put up on YouTube. Soon their own version of "The 12 Days of Christmas" had millions of hits in one month and the CEO and Chairman of ATCO/Atlantic Records saw their video on YouTube. With all the hits they were getting, he decided to email the leader of the group. In 2008, they signed with the record label and the 10 member group recorded their first Christmas Album - Holiday Spirits. This year because their last release did so well, they released a new album called Christmas Cheers. Currently they are on a 56 city tour across the country and they're working on a pop album to be released sometime in 2010.

This is definitely a group worth checking out. All of the music is a cappella - they use their voices as instruments and have cut some great songs. Their Christmas albums are full of great hits that are sprinkled with humor, for example, their "Christmas Can Can," which was stuck in my head for hours after I first heard it.

Take a few minutes and check out the videos for a sample of their singing. You can go to their website and listen to all of their songs online as well. They've hit #1 on iTunes for their new Christmas album, and there's a reason they did that. The music is fun, full of harmony, and definitely full of Christmas cheer.