I can't let this season escape without looking at six more favorite Christmas albums.
At the top of this list is the 2000 release of "You Better Watch Out" by Michigan's own Three Men and a Tenor. I'm pretty sure it is Chuck Colby's rendition of Elvis's "Blue Christmas" that gets me singing along with their a cappella arrangements. The 3MT guys are regulars around Michigan and deserve to be heard again and again.
"Come Darkness, Come Light -- Twelve Songs of Christmas" by Mary Chapin Carpenter fits the category of holiday albums that feature winter, thanksgiving and Christmas, all on the same disk. Her "Children, Go Where I Send Thee" is plaintive, yet festive, and a carol that is not so over done on albums.
I have to include "The Muppet Christmas Carol" which is available as a DVD and a CD. My nephew Matt loves this production and watching it with him brings out all the subtle lyrics, especially those by the long suffering Beaker. My favorite song, "Bless Us All," is sentimental and syrupy and right to the point. It's a Jim Henson production with songs by Paul Williams.
My sis-in-law Sue gave us a copy of "Carols By Candlelight," that features the Falcone concert grand piano at Marshall United Methodist Church. Performed by Dr. David Sly, this collection of piano music is what I listen to when I'm in the kitchen making cookies. It is a limited edition album with local connections that warms the heart. Somewhere I have a Philadelphia Singers album from my sister Heidi that falls into this category, too.
I'm a Harry Connick fan, especially at Christmas. "When My Heart Finds Christmas" is from 1993 and includes "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve," a great song for a guy like Harry to have recorded.
NPR fans willl recognize Garrison Keillor's "Now It Is Christmas Again," a compendium from the Lake Wobegon Lutheran Church, with story and song. My high school choir director was a graduate of St. Olaf College and in his choir you learned Norweigan carols, many of which are on the album and take me back to my Ripon High School choir days.
There you have it. Six more holidays favorites from Wanda's big box of well loved holiday CDs. Enjoy.
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