TobyMac Is Home for Christmas With New Album

By Corey Davis, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Christian recording artist TobyMac is back with Christmas in Diverse City a brand new Christmas album that was released Tuesday.

Christmas in Diverse City is Toby Mac’s fifth studio album, and his first Christmas album. The album is a follow-up to the gold selling album Tonight, for which he won a Dove award for Rock Album of the Year.

The Christmas album features 13 tracks and has additional vocals by hit group Owl City, Leigh Nash, Jamie Grace, and Toddiefunk. Not only does it have the rapper singing on his tracks, it also features rock elements that are familiar of his days with group DCTalk.

Early reviews of Christmas in Diverse City are favorable. Critic Ryan Barbee noted, “Two incredible renditions of classics are "O Come, All Ye Faithful" and "Little Drummer Boy…it’s given a treatment that the folks at Glee would be jealous of.”

TobyMac famously got his start in the late 1980’s with the Christian superstar group DCTalk. The group broke records with their 1995 release of Jesus Freak by becoming the fastest selling Christian album ever. Jesus Freak later went on to sell 2 million records.

In 2001, after DCTalk took a hiatus, TobyMac decided to go solo. After releasing four popular Christian albums, he scored a mainstream hit in 2009 with the release of hit single “City on our Knees.” The song charted on Billboard top singles, and scored the rapper a Grammy nomination.

The track listing for the album released today is below:

Christmas in Diverse City

1. Christmas This Year (Featuring Leigh Nash)

2. The First Noel (Featuring Owl City)

3. Mary's Boy Child (Featuring Jamie Grace)

4. O Come All Ye Faithful

5. Little Drummer Boy

6. This Christmas (Father of the Fatherless) Featuring Nirva Ready

7. Carol Of The Kings – Maj

8. Birth of Love – SUPERHEROSE

9. What Child Is This? – Arch Nemesiz

10. It Snowed – Tim Rosenau