During the years, Jim Brickman has developed a special relationship with listeners. He says through his music, many fans feel they already know him. And he feels he knows them, too. That’s why he says he always enjoys meeting his fans. “I think it’s important for people to know the music is important to me and want to hear how they (fans) use the music,” Brickman said by phone.

His music career began at age 19, when Jim Henson hired him to write tunes for “Sesame Street.” But in 1994, the release of his first CD, “No Word,” brought him success with so-called new age music fans. But with continued adult contemporary radio airplay, that category has fallen by the wayside. And it’s his personable style at his piano that prompts listeners to think of him in romantic terms. “People use my music in very intimate settings.

We are waking up in bed together and taking a bubble bath together.” So it seemed fitting that before he recorded his latest CD, “Homecoming” — a collection of his holiday classics as well as new originals — he should ponder how listeners would hear it. “When I created this CD, I saw the environment in my mind that it would be played in,” he said. “I saw the tree and the fireplace and thought of how people would hear the CD.

“It just so happens that my taste is like my audience’s.” During the years he has either recorded or performed with artists representing a cross-section of genres. On “Homecoming,” he collaborated with jazz artist Peter White, the late R&B crooner Gerald Levert and country singer Richie McDonald of Lonestar. McDonald also is performing with Brickman on tour. It’s a collaboration that seemed natural from the beginning, Brickman said.