Benjamin Wagner Christmas

Inspired, he tells me, by his stint at Silent Night 2005, New York City-based Authentic artist Benjamin Wagner just released his own charity compilation CD, "A Family Holiday."

Ben executive produced the fourteen-track album of NYC singer/songwriters and bands, and pulled everyone together for a big release party last Wednesday night. The CD kicks of with an all-star cover of "Do They Know It's Christmas" (which we performed together in '05), then features new recordings of classic and original holiday tunes from his pals Casey Shea, Chris Abad, Jeff Jacobson, Flying Machines, and more. Oh, and Jon mastered it. It's a good record.

He's donating proceeds from the sales of "A Family Holiday" to 826NYC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills.

Of course, he's already lobbying me to put one of these together for Authentic next year.

We'll see.

Meanwhile, please pick up a copy and lend him a hand. You can buy it at the Authentic Records store