Bearing Gifts
Nashville takes to Christmas like tinsel to pine branches. And as one of America’s centers for melody and musical traditions, our city naturally steps forward each December with the zeal of a sales clerk in a mall boutique. Every year, country artists prove more than ready to provide fans with new versions of familiar holiday songs.
This year is no different: Music Row has packed the bins with well-known voices interpreting well-worn tunes. The Gift is Kenny Rogers’ fourth holiday album in less than a decade, which suggests he’s taking the white-beard bit a little too far. Alabama’s Christmas, Vol. II is just what it says it is, a second (and better) attempt at fashioning a lasting holiday gift to listeners. Shenandoah and Collin Raye offer their first holiday collections, with Raye’s orchestrated effort showing more artistic focus than most albums of its kind. Then there are the annual major-label country compilations; this year Arista, Warner Bros., RCA, and BNA all have new multi-artist holiday records available.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the most interesting Christmas music from Nashville doesn’t involve country stars. Indeed, of anything to come out of this town this year, the Nashville Mandolin Ensemble’s Gifts has the best chance of becoming a perennial holiday favorite. Consisting of six mandolins, two mandolas, mandocello, guitar, and bass, along with the occasional clarinet and penny whistle, the ensemble concentrates on instrumental versions of old-world folk songs and European classics. The 11-piece orchestra’s shimmering, delicate style proves perfect for a reverent interpretation of age-old carols and hymns. Gifts features beautiful interpretations of “The First Noel,” Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Mirlitons,” the Ukrainian “Carol of the Bells,” the Celtic “Christmas in County Kerry,” and the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts.” The record ends with the bell-like tones of the upbeat “Sleigh Ride.”
Like the Nashville Mandolin Ensemble, Badabing Badaboom’s music is refreshing partly because it’s so out-of-step with current trends. The local group plays vibrant swing tunes that learn more toward the vocal harmonies of the Andrews Sisters than toward the big-band jive of Count Basie. On its recent cassette of four bright Christmas originals, all written by bandleader/guitarist Eddie Mugavero, Badabing Badaboom sounds light, sparse, and playful. Mugavero writes in colorful, distinct images, and his words are as snappy as the dialogue from a classic Hollywood comedy. Vocalists Maureen Mohr and Rebecca Sayre deliver the songs with just the right mix of rhythmic sass and class, while trumpeter Bob Dellaposta and fiddler Stephen Dudash offer inventive solos without crossing over into self-indulgence.
A decidedly more modern combo featuring Nashville über-bassist Dave Pomeroy and keyboardist Johnny Neel has released an expanded CD version of its Blue Christmas tape, originally released in 1992. Joined by guitarists Larry Cheney and Russ Pahl, drummer John Gardner, and percussionist Sam Bacco, Pomeroy and Neel perform pop-jazz instrumentals, using the melodies of “The Little Drummer Boy” and “Good King Wenceslas” to launch into extended jams. If you like your music improvised and full of dramatic, complex arrangements, then this is the holiday record for you. The group featured on the CD will perform its 10th annual Blue Christmas show, with special guests Gretchen Peters and Don Henry, Dec. 19 at Caffé Milano. Proceeds from the concert and the CD go to Room in the Inn, a local organization that works with the homeless.
A couple of other notable Christmas albums also have Nashville ties. Snow Angels, a striking collection of acoustic and folk music, was originally released as a limited-edition offering by the Hear Music catalog, a mail-order house that specializes in music by singer-songwriters. Nashville’s Compass Records picked up the album for national release this year. The marquee name is Joan Osborne, who contributes an Odetta-styled a cappella version of “Children, Go Where I Send Thee,” recorded about a year before she became a national phenomenon. Catie Curtis, Pierce Pettis, and Jonatha Brooke are all names that will appeal to acoustic music fans, but several powerful songs come from lesser-known performers, such as Grace Griffith, who delivers a Celtic-inspired medley of “Sans Day Carol/Christ Child Lullabye”; Laurie Sargeant, who provides an accordion-driven deconstruction of “Merry Christmas, Baby”; and Louise Taylor, who takes a wise, mature turn on “The Little Drummer Boy.” This last selection proves that even the most overworked of songs can find new life in creative hands.
A few Nashville residents make memorable contributions to Tinsel Tunes: More Holiday Treats From Sugar Hill Records. Sam Bush, on mandolin, joins with guitarist Darrell Scott and bassist Viktor Krauss for a thrilling take on “Sleigh Ride,” while Jerry Douglas’ Dobro provides the perfect foil for vocalist Mollie O’Brien on the beautiful “In the Bleak Mid-Winter.” The Nashville Bluegrass Band add to their unerring repertoire with a folk-based original, “Christmas Story,” and a joint effort with the Fairfield Four on an astonishing a cappella roof-shaker, “The Last Month of the Year.” The highly recommended collection also features such gems as Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen’s version of Buck Owens’ “Blue Christmas Lights,” The Brother Boys’ rousing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” and Robert Earl Keen’s cracked “Merry Christmas From the Family.”
In the end, Christmas music isn’t about setting cultural trends or changing a listener’s life; it’s about atmosphere and tradition. Nashville is fortunate to have so many musicians who recognize this simple truth—a truth that labels frequently forget in their mad rush for listener’s wallets. For better or worse, this year’s hits will come and go; “Jingle Bells” is forever.
Comments (0)