was a more professional affair, recorded my final year of university, at studios in Winnipeg and Ottawa, and featured some family and friends on other instruments and backing vocals. This Christmas album, “Sleep, Holy Babe” is an attempt to provide a more intimate feel; it’s my first recording where all the piano and vocals were recorded simultaneously, as a live recording, so it gives a more authentic experience of how I sound in person.

I have two other recordings available, both containing all original music. My first album, “From the Middle of your Wild Dream” was recorded in the loft over a friend’s garage the summer I was 18, and we duplicated it ourselves. We’re hoping to have it remastered soon and released online, but it’s not currently available. My second album,

I’ve been practising the material on this record for years, and developing a sense of what I wanted. I even made a start at recording this album over a decade ago, and had been promising family and friends that it was coming. What I finally did was go to my producer and suggest it was finally time, and ask whether we could do something very simple–a live recording of me playing piano and singing. We took videos of the session and put them on YouTube. The album is essentially the same, although it’s been mastered.I’m hoping at some point in the future to do another Christmas project, probably with some other musicians.

As a busy father, church organist and cantor, trying to make a living, how did you find the time for this?

Well, for a long time I didn’t! I spent three years back in school recently earning my Master of Divinity degree, graduating last year. Then I immediately took on a year long stint in high school chaplaincy. A lot of recording projects have been put on the back burner in recent years. My current full time job is working night shifts at a group home for persons with special needs, a schedule I work because it leaves me more time available for church and family commitments, and to take on other musical projects.Still, as a church musician, I’ve been playing and singing Christmas music for years. I also play and sing a lot at home; many Christmas carols work very well as lullabies while putting babies to bed! So I was slowly getting things ready. As I’ll be taking most of 2020 off from work as parental leave, that may give me the chance to finish some other projects as well!

What do you hope listeners will take away from this music?

That will depend a lot on each person, of course. But I do hope it will put the spotlight on some texts and music from the Anglican Patrimony as it is celebrated in the Catholic Church. More importantly, I hope it will provide a celebration of Christmas that is deeply Marian as well as Christ-centred.I’ve tried to incorporate a lot of material that focuses on the relationship between the Madonna and Child. It was a conscious choice to insist on including all the verses of “In the Bleak Mid-winter”–the verse referring to God roughing it, content with a “breastful of milk” is often left out of hymn books, and even more frequently from recordings. But such expressions are very common in Marian hymns, and express something profound both about the Incarnation, and the theology of the body and of motherhood in particular. I hope I’ve caught something of that spirit.

When will the album be available?

The album should be available for download or streaming by December 1. CDs are currently available for pre-order, and you should be able to get them in time for Christmas Day. Email me for pricing and shipping details.michaeltrolly@gmail.com