Category: bluegrass

Jesus Christ! pickin and grinnin

The Light of the World was born in the country, and country folk do appreciate him. So  many of the massive church numbers began as simple folk-grass.

The Staples Singers bicycle through “Wasn’t That a Mighty Day,” keeping the spiritual simple, showing their Xmas roots from when the power came from the words, not the orchestration and 3000 voices strong.

One of my favorite down-in-the-dirt folk albums is by some of the Seegers entitled American Folk Songs. Please to get your holy lowly from Colum MacColl’s own “Wasn’t That a Mighty Day” and Mike Seeger with “Sing a Lamb.” Well, garsh.

You can still hear traces of the heavenly choir in the harmonious Trail Band’s “New Baby King.” It’s a barn burner/praise raiser, without the tabernacle.

Jesus Christ! happy danceable bluegrass

The Reason for the Season is the appeasin’ of the diocese ‘n’ stuff like that. Don’t you go forgetting the J. Bae now. King of kings Joshua C. Carpenter got born out of Godhead and–c’mon–dead people finally get to go to Heaven. Hip hip… hosanna.

Most classic (old hat) Christmas carols praise the baby. Heck, the first songs sung for the high holy day were just hallelujah hymns, but louder. Not until about the 19th Century did we start singing about sleigh bells and trees and rooftops and santas. Let’s not hear those AGAIN.

And, by the way, every tin-roofed two-bit steeple has got ‘talented’ people attending who make up reverential songs every year hoping to amuse the mass. A guitar/piano noodling, calling Christ a ‘dude’ does not a noticeable novelty noel make unto thou. So let’s tread carefully through the minefield of modern manger music and find some GOOD STUFF.

Being in a mixed mood all month (March, y’know: lambs v. lions), I’ll alternate something classy/cool on odd numbered days with something kooky/comic on even numbered days.

Tonight’s first offering comes from Shiloh Worship Music (free music on their website, dude). I’m sure this bluegrass group are a fine looking bunch, but they hide under a bushel of stock New Testy footage for their “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” Still, the jouncy, bouncy banjo beat makes you rejoice, don’t it? I do!

BLUE ALERT: number one (5)

Urine and snowfall do not denote the Holidays, i’m sure. But some of these songs are so joyful, i hafta share witch y’all. This next one even points out how yellow snow makes you think of Spring already.

Newfoundlanders Buddy Wassisname and the Other Fellers have been crackin’ up NE Canada for decades. One of their standards is “Peeing in the Snow” from their 1990 album Flatout. They play all matter of strings, accordion, tupperware, and anything else they can pick up.

State Fifteen: South Carolina

FIFTY DAYS OF ‘MERICA-MAS
Okay, I found “A Charleston Christmas” by Richard Hippey, but the insistent tambourine backbeat, overpercussive zydeco (including–why?–tubular bells), and generic cookie-cutter lyrics (No Local Flavor: this could be Xmas Anywhere) keeps me from recommending it. (That falsetto last note–excuse me, I need aspirin.)
Still no great South Carolina Christmas music (not even from Stephen Colbert), at least none that sings out the phrase ‘South Carolina!’
So, back to “Christmas in Carolina”: Just DON’T bother with Lallie Bridges who uses the same bosa nova backbeaten song for “Carolina at Christmas” as she does for Georgia, Tennessee, and other locales. I can’t abide this peppermint parrotry, sorry… Not when Lorraine Jordan and Carolina Road are pickin’ and grinnin’ like they do for their “Christmas in Carolina.” These grandparent-types look like show-biz newbies, playing coffee houses and bluegrass get-togethers. But their downhome breakdowns make me feel the family joy and warm home & hearths i like associating with the holiday. Cheers!

State Fourteen: North Carolina

FIFTY DAYS OF ‘MERICA-MAS
I gotta tell ya. The Carolinas are worse than the Dakotas for differentiating the holiday music scene. Most songs don’t name N or S, but maintain a solidarity that all yall outsiders won’t get.
Check out Austin Rudy’s “Carolina Christmas.” It’s all USA-centric and too little ’bout states rights. Briana Atwell also sings (her original) “Carolina Christmas” available as a charity fund raiser on iTunes. Slurry blues tells it like it came upon a midnight clear. Even more romantically adult is the Marshall Tucker Band’s brassy disco-edged country version “Christmas in Carolina.” It’s slipperier ‘n a Swiss Colony sausage basket. Charlie Daniels & Friends narrates “A Carolina Christmas Carol” on his album Joy to the World: A Bluegrass Christmas. He’s trying to recapture childhood wonder about the no-snow South, but it’s just old folks’ talk (for over 16 minutes). Not A Song. Martin GT Middle School Choral Department finally has an angelic-sounding selection entitled “Carolina Christmas.” That should get you back on track for the season.
My pick of the “Carolina Christmas”es is by Squirrel Nut Zippers. Legend holds a man who drank potent moonshine (Nut Zipper) wound up climbed up a tree and was dubbed ‘Squirrel.’ These nutballs (there have been eighteen different band mates over the decades) wail with their eclectic fusion of Delta blues, gypsy jazz, 1930s-era swing, klezmer, etc (it’s on Wikipedia). Their Xmas album (Christmas Caravan) is a tradition ’round here, but don’t look for them on tour–they are been there done that so over they’re under clover. Their website has been dormant over a year now. Go, 1990s cat, go.