With apologies to Charles Dickens (not to mention readers who hate bad puns), this column is a tale of two CDs.

First up is “Majic Miracle Music Vol. 4.”

It is the fourth in a series of fundraising anthologies from Sweetwater Sound and WAJI-FM Majic 95.1. All proceeds go to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.

Where homegrown fundraising projects are concerned, the “Majic Miracle Music” series is fairly atypical.

Thanks to vast music industry connections made and maintained by Sweetwater and Majic, these collections always feature original tracks by nationally recognized artists.

The new album includes songs recorded at Sweetwater by such acts as Ingrid Michaelson, Aimee Allen, Mat Kearney, State of Man, Vertical Horizon and The Afters.

Uncle Kracker and John Tesh also contributed prerecorded yet previously unreleased tracks.

The first three volumes raised $20,000 for Riley, and Christopher Guerin, director of program development for Sweetwater, says this one should do even better.

“We expect to do over $10,000,” he says. “We’ve got a better distribution system than we have ever had before.”

People who have been lucky enough to attend these Sweetwater recording sessions know that almost anything can happen.

For this most recent project, Allen recruited the Sweetwater and radio station staffs as backup singers, Guerin says, and Michaelson decided to do a full-on country version of one of her urbane indie pop tunes.

“Majic Miracle Music Vol. 4” is available for $10 at Anne’s Hallmark stores, Borders Books & Music, Cookie Cottage, Tampa Wellness Oasis, the Lutheran Hospital Gift Shop, all Wooden Nickel locations and Sweetwater’s retail store at 5501 U.S. Highway 30 W.

It can also be purchased online at www.waji.com and www.sweetwater.com.

Another potential stocking stuffer comes in the form of a CD of bucolic piano music from Robert Nance, director of the Heartland Chamber Chorale and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Chorus.

It is called “Solitude” and it’s the first in a series of four albums that will be released by Nance throughout 2010.

Nance acknowledges vanity is part of the reason that he embarked on this recording project.

“I wanted some record of what I’ve been doing for the last 30 years,” he says, “… an audio legacy for the variety of things I do.”

Upcoming volumes (titled “Gratitude,” “Fortitude” and Amplitude”) will be devoted to upbeat piano music, choral music and organ music, respectively.

No release dates have been set for the remaining installments, Nance says.

Nance says “Solitude,” a collection of light classics and jazz pieces, is a perfect soundtrack for the more contemplative aspects of the holidays.

It is music to drink fine wine by, he says.

“I have already sold 200 of them,” he says, “and if one more person posts to my Facebook page and says ‘I just put on your album and poured myself a nice glass of wine,’ I am going to repackage the music as a wine series.”

The CD can be ordered by calling the Heartland Chamber Chorale at 436-8080.

Nance says all proceeds from the sale of the albums will go to the chorale’s educational outreach programs.