Compact disc bins and display shelves crammed with Christmas CDs show few musicians can resist recording their versions of the songs of the season.

In the case of one locally-produced download album, Christmas music is a good means to a good end. Christmas For Kenya 2, a project jointly blessed by Baylor-area coffeehouse Common Grounds and University Baptist Church, offers 12 tracks — 13, if you add a bonus download — of familiar and original Christmas music from a dozen musicians with Waco connections.

The recording, a follow-up to last year’s Christmas for Kenya, helps raise funds for a well-drilling project for the Pokot tribe of western Kenya, work that organizers hope will provide much needed water in a drought-plagued area and stability for the Kenyan tribe.

---

---

Last year’s CD raised about $3,000 for the cause, UBC Community Pastor Ben Dudley said. This year’s project doesn’t have a physical CD and has raised roughly half of last year’s amount. Still, it’s an enjoyable product of a talented community willing to cooperate for a common cause. “It’s been a fun deal,” Dudley said. “There are a lot of super-talented people helping out on this.”

Christmas for Kenya 2 features familiar songs such as “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Silent Night” and “Christmas Time Is Here” as well as such originals as “Loxmas 2009” by the band Loxsly, “Christmas on the Sand” and “A Feeling in the Heart.” Performers, several of whom played in a Dec. 8 concert at Common Grounds, include Wes Cunningham, Justin Horrell, Laine Edwards, Jesse Holcomb, Hilary Brubaker Adeline, John Galanis, The One and Only, b-ritt, Andy Hannig, The Whiskey Priest and, on a downloadable bonus track, Jillian Edwards.

Maternal affection led to another local Christmas CD as West singer-songwriters and sisters Joyce Marek and Beverly Uptmor joined together to record and release Christmas Old and New With the JB Sisters for their mother Agnes Middleton.

The two women, both members of St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church, sang together in church, but performed in separate bands, Marek said. After years of talking about recording an album for their mother, the twosome finally decided to do so, tagging themselves the JB Sisters. Helped by Steve and Kayla Rosas of Waco recording studio DRS Studio, the two singers pulled in several local musicians to back them on nine Christmas standards as well as two originals, Uptmor’s “His First Christmas Song” and Marek’s “Sweet Savior Boy.”

The project won’t end with their mother’s satisfaction, however. The CD’s for sale at Blessings in West and online at CDBaby.com. The two also will sing their originals at their church’s Christmas midnight mass, backed by their church choir, and in May will perform at the Bellmead Gospel Music Showcase.

The JB Sisters aren’t the only ones to sing Christmas music in the DRS Studio this year. Ahmad Washington had some Christmas cuts on his Keep C in the Center and vocalist Chelsea Kent is recording a Christmas number. The Rosas also were involved in making Christmas recordings last year for the University at Mary Hardin-Baylor Choir, One Voice Christmas, recorded live at Baylor University’s Armstrong-Browning Library; the Horton Duo’s Christmas Classics; and an EP of Christmas songs by Stephen Gerechty.

Samples from the studio’s Christmas sessions can be heard on its Web site, www.drsrecording.com.

Waco rock band The Tastydactyls show that there’s more to Christmas music than meets the ear by producing and releasing a video of their original, free-flowing Christmas song “This Time Of Year.” The music video shows the band, including its latest member, guitarist Matt Chavez, walking through and playing a Christmas party at a home. It can be seen on YouTube.com and the band’s Facebook page.