The four-time Grammy Award-winning band For KING & COUNTRY is back with a fresh rendition of one of their original Christmas songs in 2022. The band performed their song “Heavenly Hosts” from the 2020 Christmas album, A Drummer Boy Christmas, in an exclusive K-Love recording, released just a week before Christmas Eve.
The song examines Christmas through the eyes of the shepherds of the Nativity story, who were the first to hear the angel’s proclamation that Christ was born. Evoking beautiful imagery of a clear starry night, the song seeks to explore what the shepherds may have felt on the night when the savior came into the world.
The song is made all the more touching by the dramatic nature of the song. Joel and Luke Smallbone, the leaders of For KING & COUNTRY, fill in the music with their signature tight harmonies. These two are really the draw of the band, with voices that mesh so well thanks to the familial connection.
In a 2020 interview with Jubilee Cast, they explained that they felt hesitant when they began trying to write a new Christmas song:
"Writing an original Christmas song is a bit of a daunting task, but we were always very intrigued by what it looked like when the angels met the shepherds. What did it look like, and what was being said? One of the beautiful storylines of the song is that the simple shepherds were the first ones to see the beautiful spectacle in the sky, and we thought it would be an appropriate story to tell through song for A Drummer Boy Christmas."
We actually think that this live session may be a little better than the original studio version. Sure, the studio version has a bit more orchestration and the music video is top notch, but the K-Love recording has an impromptu feel that gives the impression of a much more personal performance.
The studio version is featured below, if you’d like to compare the two.
