Home For Christmas

Well folks, I got stuck with the Working Christmas Blues yet again (I am scheduled for 6 days and 72 hours next week), so this will likely be my last post for the year.

Like most sane people, I utterly loath shopping at this time of year due to the traffic, impatient shoppers, and so much rampant and nonsensical consumerism. Then there is the awful music that bombards us at nearly every outlet. It’s enough to keep me huddled at home in my office working on projects like this. So consider this post my personal antidote to all that pains your poor spirit during the silly season. May peace and joy find you and your family in 2012 and beyond.

Home For Christmas was a 3-LP boxset compilation of traditional folk, gospel, bluegrass and classical music produced by Wendy Ruopp and Diane Oltarzewski and published by The Book Of The Month Club in 1982. I culled the selections below from sides 2,3,4 and 6, removing the classical and caroling tracks so that this compilation could fit onto one CD — for those who still burn such things.

Home For Christmas [podcast, 27:31]:

1. Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring – Leo Kottke
2. There Was a Star – The Staples Singers: Roebuck “Pop” Staples, guitar/vocal; Cleo, Yvonne and Mavis Staples, vocals – 2:22
3. Go I Will Send Thee – John Fahey – 2:54
4. Last Month of the Year – The Staples Singers – 2:21
5. Christ Was Born on Christmas Morn – Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers (circa 1920s): Frankie “Half Pint” Jackson, vocal; Punch Miller, cornet; unknown piano and trombone; Bill Johnson, bass – 3:22
6. Go Tell It On The Mountain – Odetta, w/Bill Lee, bass – 2:01
7. Christmas Is A Comin’ – Leadbelly (aka Huddie Ledbetter) – 1:04
8. Glory To That Newborn King – Pete Seeger – 2:29
9. Away In A Manger - Jean Redpath and Lisa Neustadt – 1:53
10. Carol of the Bells - John Fahey and Richard Ruskin, guitar duet – 2:32
11. The Burgundian Carol (Carol of the Beasts) – Pete Seeger, banjo/vocal – 1:58
12. The Christ-Child’s Lullaby - Jean Redpath – 2:46

Home For Christmas [compilation, 77:26]:

1. African Noel - Danniebelle Hall, w/Bill Maxwell, drums; Kenneth Nash, percussion – 1:30
2. Joy to the World – Mahalia Jackson, w/Buster Bailey and Bob Prince, vibraphone/chimes; Milton Hinton, bass; Mildred Falls, piano; Ralph Jones, organ; orchestra and chorus directed by Sid Bass – 3:01
3. There Was a Star – The Staples Singers: Roebuck “Pop” Staples, guitar/vocal; Cleo, Yvonne and Mavis Staples, vocals – 2:22
4. Go I Will Send Thee – John Fahey – 2:54
5. Last Month of the Year – The Staples Singers – 2:21
6. Christ Was Born on Christmas Morn – Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers (circa 1920s): Frankie “Half Pint” Jackson, vocal; Punch Miller, cornet; unknown piano and trombone; Bill Johnson, bass – 3:22
7. Go Tell It On The Mountain – Odetta, w/Bill Lee, bass – 2:01
8. Oh Come, All Ye Faithful – Danniebelle Hall, w/Harlan Rogers, piano – 3:17
9. Christmas Is A Comin’ – Leadbelly (aka Huddie Ledbetter) – 1:04
10. Familiar Carol Medley – Fred Breunig, fiddle; John Roberts, English concertina; Steve Woodruff, button accordion – 2:47
11. Three Little Drummers From Africa – The Beers Family: Bob Beers, violin/fiddle/psaltery/wing psaltery; Evelyne Beers, “Strawbeating”/”fiddlesticks”/”limberjacks”; Bill Boyer, autoharp/Appalachin dulcimer/concertina/accordion; Janet Boyer, violincello/banjo; Susan Boyer, guitar/banjo/psaltery; Joe Boyer, string bass; Becky Boyer, guitar/Appalachian dulcimer/psaltery/violin/fiddle/pennywhistle/drum; John Boyer, tambourine; Eric Nagler, banjo/guitar/mandolin/fiddle/psaltery; Martha Nagler, guitar/banjo/psaltery/Appalachin dulcimer/”straws” – 3:07
12. Glory To That Newborn King – Pete Seeger – 2:29
13. Away In A Manger - Jean Redpath and Lisa Neustadt – 1:53
14. We Wish You A Merry Christmas - William Wright, fiddle/mandolin; James Reiman, guitar – 1:27
15. Christmas Is Near - Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers: Larry Sparks, vocal/guitar; Tommy Boyd, banjo/dobro; Tim Duran, mandolin; Bobby Slone, fiddle; Bob Poole, bass – 1:54
16. Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem – Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys: Ralph Stanley, guitar/banjo/vocal; Keith Whitley, guitar/vocal; Jack Cooke, bass/vocal; Renfro Profitt, lead guitar – 3:42
17. Slowly Fall The Snowflakes – Bill Carroll, vocal/guitar; Charlie Waller, guitar; John Duffey, mandolin; Eddie Adcock, banjo; Russ Hooper, dobro; unknown fiddle and bass – 1:31
18. Good King Wenceslas – William Wright, fiddle/mandolin; James Reiman, guitar – 1:44
19. Home For Christmas – Red Ellis and the Huron Valley Boys: Red Ellis, lead guitar and vocal; Nolam Faulkner, mandolin; Bill Carpenter, dobro; Leonard Styles, banjo; Everett Sanders, tenor vocal; Roy Maples, bass – 2:50
20. Deck The Halls - William Wright, fiddle/mandolin; James Reiman, guitar/bells/tambourine – 2:00
21. Christmas Time Back Home – The Country Gentlemen: Charlie Waller, guitar/vocal; John Duffey, mandolin and lead vocal; Eddie Adcock, banjo; Tom Gray, bass; unknown vibraharp – 3:00
22. Blue Christmas - Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers – 2:42
23. Somerset Wassail – Fred Breunig, Steve Woodruff, Tony Barrand, vocals; John Roberts, English concertina, chorus vocal – 3:19
24. Carol of the Bells - John Fahey and Richard Ruskin, guitar duet – 2:32
25. The Burgundian Carol (Carol of the Beasts) – Pete Seeger, banjo/vocal – 1:58
26. The Christ-Child’s Lullaby - Jean Redpath – 2:46
27. The Cherry Tree Carol - Tony Barrand, vocal; Fred Breunig, fiddle; John Roberts, English concertina; Steve Woodruff, pennywhistle – 3:26
28. Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring – Leo Kottke – 2:18
29. Still the Night – Lisa Neustadt and Jean Redpath – 3:04
30. Run Like a Deer - The Beers Family: Susan Boyer, lead singer/guitar; Janet Boyer, banjo/vocal; Eric Nagler, guitar/vocal; other Beers Family voices – 2:38
31. Hearth and Fire – Gordon Bok, guitar/lead singer; Ann Mayo Muir, chorus vocal; Ed Trickett, hammer dulcimer/chorus vocal – 2:44