“Even as a child in Johannesburg, I loved Christmas. We would go visit our neighbors and say, ‘Merry Christmas’ and we might get a little pocket change. We would take a bus into the city to see the Christmas lights and those were some of the most amazing moments for me, remembering getting on the bus with my father and brothers and sisters. Just being blown away by it all. It was like being in another world.” “This is my second Christmas album, but in many ways, I kind of feel like it’s my first,” says guitarist/vocalist Jonathan Butler, as he talks about his new album, Christmas Together, a collaboration with all-star friends, recorded and mixed in the studio he built in his home in Southern California. “Christmas is family and friends,” he continues. “It’s about being all together. So, I called my friends – all these amazing players – Shelea, Dave Koz, Keiko Matsui, Kirk Whalum and so many others – and every one of them simply said, ‘Just say when you want me and where you want me and I’ll be there!’ They brought their love and their spirit into my home and I was honored.” We associate Christmas music with love and family, happiness and togetherness and Jonathan had that to spare. But his childhood was also a complex mix of darkness and light.