Playlist: Christmas Morning     Louden Wainwright III      3:38 Song for Christmas     Jim Payne & Fergus O’Byrne      2:56 The Perfect Christmas Tree     Quartette     2:53 Banjo Cheer      Charles Osgood reading John Douglas   4:14 O Come All Ye Faithful   Tony Trischka and David Grier     2:32 Let the Good Guys Win     Toot Sweet     5:02 [No ..read more

Unbelievable! image source Playlist: Billy the Christmas Pig      Dale Baglo Broadcast Inc      3:41 Mister Santa      Dorothy Collins      2:00 Les Twist du Père Noël     Les Chaussettes Noires      1:53 Ol’ Nick and Rudy    Matt Anderson    2:58 Billy the Christmas Pig   This is a track from the above CD.  I can’t remember how I got it. Did I find it in a thrift store?  A garage sale ..read more

This is the last day in the “not only for kids” series and I end with songs that are kind and calm.  That is not always the way that kids are, but when they are that way it brings a very satisfying feeling to their parents (unless it causes them to worry that something must be wrong.)  Charlotte Diamond and Paul Gitlitz photo source This children’s song series ends as it began, with only two songs in the set.  The first one is The Giving Tree from Charlotte Diamond’s 1990 The Christmas Gift album. The song was written by multi-instrumentalist Paul Gitlitz, her long-time accomp ..read more

Playlist: Foster     Magpie Lane    3:21 Hail Chime On    patrons of the Black Bull Pub, Ecclesfield      2:36 Hail Chime On     Kate Rusby     4:12    Last Sunday I was at a Christmas carol singing party.  My friend Kerry and her offspring host singalong parties every month, and have done so for many years. They are always favourite events on my (purposely limited) social calendar. But the December ones are especially special: Kerry, Rebekkah and Briar ..read more

Playlist: Winterrise    Casey Sokol         3:02 Druidic Interlude       Molly Raher Newman       1:24 Firedance      Jaiya        5:44 L'Inverno - Allegro non molto   Red Priest     3:04 Today at 7:27pm Pacific Standard Time is the Winter Solstice.  That means that before that moment the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer. After 7:27 it is the other way ..read more

[Note:  Right after bragging about the credibility of my information about the history of Christmas music yesterday I messed up badly by accidently saying that the study into the origins of Silent Night had been commissioned by the Austrian government when I should have said that it was done by the German Confederation. That explains the confusion when I said that I assumed they were disappointed when it revealed that the song had been composed by an Austrian priest and choirmaster.  I’ve fixed that now.  Thank you Erik for bringing that to my attention.] There are a lot of C ..read more

Adorazione del Bambino_Gherardo delle Notti, by Gerrit van Honthorst image source Playlist: Silent Night (vocal)     Matt Andersen       3:18 Silent Night (instrumental)    The Sackville All Stars      5:41 I can already hear you thinking: Shame on you, Bill!  On the first day of this year’s series you promised, and I quote: “my selections will not be the mainstream ‘Christmas Classic’ songs.” (emphasis added)  And now you have included not just one but two versions of what has to be th ..read more

image source Playlist: 1957 BBC Radio introduction w. Bocastle Breakdown   1:00 Padstow Wassail      Charlie Bate    2:48 Somerset Gloucestershire Wassail     The Kingston Trio    1:48 Here We Come A-Wassailing (instrumental)   The Night Heron Consort   2:13 Apple Tree Wassail    The Watersons       2:12  If you received my Bill’s Midwinter Music series last year or got my Sampler CDs before I started this series you probably a ..read more

Playlist Le Noël des musiciens    Carmen Campagne     2:45 (abridged) Dans nos vielles maisons    Jean-François Poulin & Ariane Gauthier    2:21 La belle histoire    Charlotte Diamond    3:17 La cloche de Noël    Le chœur de l’ecole Riverdale, Surrey, BC    1:34 Carmen Campagne      photo source Le Noël de musiciens is a traditional Czech carol called Půjdem spolu do Betléma; in English it is commonly named by its translation Let ..read more

Playlist: Troika (from Prokofiev’s Lt. Kije Suite)      Caliban    2:47 Sleigh Ride      Craig Smith      2:05 Jingle Bells       Led Kaapana and Bob Brozman             1:54 Over the River and Through the Woods      “Ira Ironstrings” ( Alvino Rey)      2:03 image source Today’s selections are all instrumentals.  With songs (i.e,. with words) I a ..read more