Waiting Songs by Rain for Roots

One thing kids know is that it is hard to wait. Rain for Roots, the group of young Christian singer/songwriters from Nashville, explores that idea in Waiting Songs, their third children’s album.

This is not your typical Christmas album. It actually isn’t a Christmas album at all. It’s an Advent album, an album about waiting. The album opens and closes with traditional advent songs (“O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus”) but in between are eight original songs about the idea of waiting (“Every Valley [It’s Hard to Wait]”), songs from the Bible (“Magnificat”) and even a song inspired by a painting (“Mary Consoles Eve”).

The songs are catchy and easy to learn. I found myself singing along to the chorus on many of the songs the first time through the album. While there are many thoughtful, serious songs, like the beautiful “Come Light Our Hearts,” I think my favorite is the fun and slightly silly “Zechariah,” where the words “and Zechariah said” are followed by garbled and mumbled syllables.

Rain for Roots once again shows that simple does not have to mean simplistic and childlike is not childish.

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