Peter Hollens - Amazing a cappella singer

[Libby]

I just discovered a really good singer recently, through all the Hobbit/Tolkien sites that I follow. His name is Peter Hollens, who is a singer/songwriter a cappella artist. He put out a video of himself doing the Misty Mountains song. He does it a cappella, doing all the parts himself. I was really impressed!

Then, I noticed the song Shenandoah in his list of songs. I decided to give it a try; I figured it would be pretty good. Pretty good!! It was absolutely wonderful! I used to hear this sung by men, so before Hayley, I had been hoping that Josh Groban would do it. I don't need him to do it now! That's saying something, knowing me, huh? I was also stunned that he was able to make some of his "humming" sound like a violin! He has a pretty wide range, too singing almost bass notes, and then tenor and falsettos. I never thought I'd care for an a cappella artist, but this guy is outstanding, I think!

He was apparently a contestant on the NBC show, called The Sing Off back in 2010. Now he is currently an independent artist with songs available for download on Itunes and Amazon, but no physical CD that I can see. Most of his other songs are covers of pop songs, but they're actually surprisingly good. Plus, he has one original song out there that I'm beginning to think of as one of my favorites (behind Shenandoah, though).

I've also discovered that he sometimes collaborates with the violinist Lindsey Stirling, whom some of you may know via Nicola's website. They did a video of Skyrim music together. It was great! Kind of funny, too. LOL

Here are some videos to get you started:

The Misty Mountains from The Hobbit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEwzFF4HeB8

Shenandoah: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NmKp5A8i3M

Skyrim, with Lindsey Stirling: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSLPH9d-jsI

The Skyrim song got me thinking he ought to do Conquest of Paradise from 1492 and O Fortuna from Carmina Burana. I told him so on twitter. Let's see if he responds. He actually did The Hobbit one based on requests, and now he's getting ready to do a Les Miz song based on requests, too! I think that's really neat that he takes song requests and does them!

Yeah, I kind of like this guy. i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

[Libby]

Peter singing Brave from Josh's new album! It is very, very, very good!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V-YInpmMG0

[Libby]

Peter has just released a Christmas album. Links to the digital version are available via his website, below, as well as a signed or unsigned copy of the album:

peterhollens.com/albums/



His singing is great in all the songs, though some of the classics I've heard better (Josh being the most obvious one), but his voice is still excellent. I listened to the clips on Google Play, and so far I really, really like the sound of his original, December Song. I think it's going to be my favorite on the album!! Also, his Mary Did You Know is superb. O Come O Come Emmanuel was good, though some of the in-between stuff I could have done without. I didn't care for Little Drummer Boy, mostly due to the duet partner with the extremely bland, blase voice. Not just the voice, the tone is very flat. I sometimes wish Peter would leave out the duet partners, because rarely are they as good as he is. Jackie Evancho joins him again for War is Over, which was okay. Jackie is just okay in this. Sometimes the soprano tone sounds annoying in pop songs, just saying. In comparison, Hayley could use her new belting skills and blow her waayy out of the water. LOL Grown Up Christmas List is nice, with his wife Evynne duetting. Her voice is pleasant, but in this song she sounds rather bland, though. I found Carol of the Bells a little too high, so not sure if I'll like that one. He's good at what he does, but he occasionally chooses a less than ideal octave for the "main singer".

I actually took the risk of pre-ordering the album without knowing what the songs sounded like, mostly because I got a 10% discount if I did (only for those subscribed to his mailing list), but I took the chance because I really admire him as an artist and singer. He not only has a very pleasant voice, but it's also an exceptionally versatile voice, too. Going by all his a cappella sound effects, he can sing from bass to falsetto (though, as mentioned above, I don't like when he sings an entire song in his higher range)! It really is incredible to hear all the sounds he can make, even sounding like a stringed instrument in Shenandoah. So, anyway, despite some of my criticisms above, I don't regret buying his album because I like to support artists that I admire, and ones that deserve more success and publicity. He's done innumerable covers of a wide variety of music styles, so some I love, some I like a lot, some I could pass on, but overall, I appreciate Peter Hollens' great talent. His Tolkien music and folk/Celtic songs are his forte, though, I have to say.

Here are Mary Did You Know and December Song on youtube.

[Libby]

Here are 2 outstanding examples of Peter's LOTR or Hobbit songs; in fact, he has an entire album's worth of them, which I might get soon, too:

[Libby]

And... the last for now, a few of his folk/Celtic songs, which are particularly wonderful:

Too bad I didn't keep up with this thread, he has lots of great songs. I dare anyone to say they're not impressed.

My favorite version after Hayley's, which says something, I think!









I desperately want him to make an album with these types of songs on it, like he did with the Tolkien ones.

[Sing]

Hi Libby,

I really like Peter Hollens too, I'd like to get his Christmas album but it's a bit expensive for me at the moment. I have downloaded a couple of the songs on iTunes but would prefer to have the whole physical CD. I really like his version of Amazing Grace, although I don't really consider it a Christmas song as such. I also really like December Song, and what I've heard of a Grown-up Christmas List- I think his wife has a nice voice too. I like the duets they do, like a recent one the Beauty and the Beast song.
I recently bought his Hobbit/LOTR album- and I love it, it's one of my favourites to play while I'm driving for some reason LOL. It's definitely an album worth having.
I hope he does another, perhaps less themed album sometime soon though. I really like his version of the song Now We Are Free, and a song called Pompeii- I heard both of them on Youtube. I don't care much for the original version of Pompeii but I like it when he sings it (and the singer he sings it with is good too but her name escapes me!) I'd love to have both of those songs on a CD and heaps more. I don't think there is a song he's done that I've heard that I don't like, except perhaps for the One Direction songs LOL.
I really like Homeward Bound, I'd never heard the song before, but this version is very touching especially when you listen to the part at the end when he talks about when he recorded it.
I'm excited to see (hear) what he does next.

[Sing]

Here's the Pompeii song -

[Libby]

But he did release a non-themed album just a few years ago. I have it! It's the one that has Hallelujah with Jackie Evancho, and The Parting Glass. But, since he does those folk songs so well, I really would like it if they were all in one place. I have downloaded some of them, but I hate downloading individual songs, because sometimes I forget whether I have or not, and sometimes I have trouble telling where the song ended up once I downloaded it. LOL And then put it in the Peter Hollens folder. I use Amazon to download. I listened to his song from the Hercules movie, Go the Distance, and I enjoyed that, even though I didn't really like it back when Phil Collins sang it, it was a little annoying. And, at the end of that video, he said he was thinking of doing a Disney album, so watch out, another themed album coming! With Peter, I don't really mind that, since I could do without most of the pop songs. With Hayley, I do mind now, except for my hymn/inspirational album idea, or another Christmas album in the future... hopefully, a "proper" Christmas album this time, but I doubt she'll do it at all, at least not for a long time. I'm despairing of my album idea, though. Oh well, it was fun thinking of songs she could sing.

[Libby]

Peter's new Christmas album is very nice. I don't really care for Carol of the Bells or Little Drummer Boy, but all the rest are good. Grown-up Christmas List is good, but a song I've never cared for, so that's another pass for me. December Song is simply outstanding. I can listen to it over and over. O Come, O Come Emmanuel is stunning. Mary Did You Know and What Child is This are excellent, as well. Jackie Evancho sounds pretty good on Happy Xmas (War is Over), because she's lost her opera sound (mostly). Believe from Polar Express is also very nice.

[Libby]

Just found this live in concert video of Hallelujah! It's from Jackie's concert in Portland, OR last year (Peter is from Oregon). I really do enjoy their voices blended together. I do think Jackie sounded a little strained on the higher notes of her part of the song... she can hit the notes, but you could hear and see it wasn't exactly easy for her. I wonder if that's why she's stopped her opera stuff. She may have been struggling with it. Who knows? I don't think it's a lack of interest, by any means.

I think Hayley should sing with Peter Hollens sometime. He is not an extremely popular artist, but he is becoming more popular all the time. His videos are frequently being reviewed online, and his new Christmas song, December Song, was played on a station by Sirius X... whatever. Anyway, my other thought it is that the a cappella group Pentatonix has soared in popularity this past year (I don't even know how they got to that point, must have signed an album deal). So, what I'm saying is, a cappella singing is becoming popular due to the rise in popularity of this group. Which means that Peter's niche is becoming more so. I even saw his Christmas album in only a few slots down from theirs in a music chart. He does have a huge fan following from all his videos, collaborations, social media, etc. He has fans around the world. His best genre is folk/Celtic. Hayley is known to sing those styles, so I thought maybe if there were some duet in that style that would suit both of them, they could do a video together. Of course, Jackie is American, so I'm not sure how it would work with an international artist. She is the US more often lately, though. Do any of you know of a good duet in that style of music? I can't think of any. Of course, Hallelujah wasn't a duet; neither was Pokareakare Ana, for that matter; so I guess any song can be made into a duet.

And don't yell at me, but I think it would be good if Peter were to cover a song of Hayley's... one that is only Hayley's. The first song (well, she doesn't have that many) that came to mind was Let Me Lie. After all, Hayley starts it a cappella, too! He definitely has the voice for it. It's an old song (unfortunately!), and he has a big voice. He would start the song with "one" voice, which would be pretty much be the way Hayley does. He is an outstanding vocalist, and it's possible that some people would prefer his to Hayley's. So it's hard to want there to be competition for Hayley. But, if she's the original artist of the song, his fans would be very likely to look up her version, and I'm sure most would love it. I bet some of them already know who she is, anyway. I'm going to recommend the song to him on his youtube and twitter.

[Richard]

Hello Libby!

Hallelujah is one of my favourite songs, so I had to find the video. Here it is:



Here's another lovely duet:



Richard

[Libby]

Thanks, Richard! I did see a video on the side for Come What May, but I didn't realize it was with Peter! It was very nice. Losing the opera voice was a good move by Jackie, but I think she would do best to stay in the CC genre, and not go Charlotte Church. LOL I still think there are better singers than her, but at least now I find I can actually listen to her and think her voice is kind of nice, and not disliking her too much. But I wouldn't buy her albums.

[Libby]

Okay, I'm not even logged in, and this link is broken for me too. So, I do not think anyone has blocked me. There! And now I'm locked out forever for nothing it seems!

All I see here is failed loading instagram post, and as mentioned, it still says that for Sian's posts on this forum as well.

http://instagram.com/p/BPVyfjaDKtl

[Richard]

Hello Libby!

I tried posting the URL in a new window without success, so I think that Instagram photo has been removed. I can still see Sian's photos with no problems, so I'm baffled.

Richard