Christmas Sounds of the Steel Guitar is probably my favorite album of any I've recorded. There's something about the Christmas season that brings the best out in everybody, so when the opportunity came for me to record Christmas music, my aim was to make the album pleasing to the average listener, traditional, and never overstated.

The tunes were arranged in a little over two months using only a nylon stringed guitar for the chords. It wasn't until I finished that I sat down and learned to play the songs. Once arranged, the feeling was built into the tunes and I had little problem finding the positions to fit the chords. It was the first and only time in my life that I had an entire album and the finished product in my head before we started recording.

I used an EMCI guitar, Peavey ProFex, and an IVL Steelrider, which is a midi driver made for a steel guitar. I used the Steelrider for the guitar sounding fills on I'll Be Home For Christmas, harp solos on O Holy Night and Let It Snow, and the various instrument sounds on the ending of Sleigh Ride. The horse whinny at the end of Sleigh Ride is compliments of a live trumpet player.