Customer Reviews

Christmas At The Ranch

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I have to confess that when I saw this locally among the Christmas albums, I didn't recognize the name, although the album's title suggested that as a country music fan, I needed to investigate further. When I did, I realized that this album was, at least for me, irresistible. Ben Keith is, of course, a musician and record producer with a long and distinguished career, especially supporting Neil Young but also much else besides. Ben's name appears among the credits on plenty of my albums, yet only now have I come to realize his significance.

Ben Keith plays dobro, vibes and slide guitar, but mostly he plays the steel guitar. He is joined by a stellar cast of musicians and singers. About half the tracks are instrumentals, but I would have been happy if it had been a wholly instrumental album. Whether that would have made it a better album, I don't know, but the inclusion of vocalists probably encourages healthier sales.

This album was originally released in 1994 as Seven gates. Perhaps the tracks have been re-mastered, but exactly what differences there are between that release and this re-titled album are not clear, since the track listings and there is nothing within the booklet to explain any changes.

Most of the tunes are instantly recognizable, as they are so much a part of Christmas, but there are exceptions. Les trois cloches, given its original French title, is nevertheless sung in English by Neil Young. You probably know it better with its English language title The three bells. It was a huge hit in the late fifties for the Browns in Britain and America, but I don`t recall finding it on another Christmas album. We will rock you (rocking) is a traditional English carol but I don't come across recordings of it very often. O sanctissima, here performed as an instrumental, is known in German as O du Fröhliche, in which form I have a vocal version by Andrea Jürgens on her album Weihnachten Mit Andrea Jürgens, but it's not a song one comes across very often on mainstream American Christmas albums.

Bluegrass fans will know Christmas time's a-coming, but I've yet to see a non-bluegrass cover of this song and the way it's done here doesn't change that, although it sounds somewhat downbeat compared to other versions I've heard. I suspect that a lot of people listening to this album will not have heard it before, though Emmylou Harris included the song on her Christmas album, Light of the Stable, and her version is much more typical of the way the song is normally performed.

The set opens with an outstanding instrumental version of Ave Maria, dominated by Ben`s steel guitar, which sets the standard for the album. Other standards include Little drummer boy, which features vocals by Neil Young and Johnny Cash, as well as great instrumental versions of Silver bells and Away in a manger, together with predominately instrumental versions of It came upon the midnight clear and Blue Christmas. The album is rounded of with an excellent vocal version of Greensleeves, a song that was probably written by King Henry VIII.

This is a great album for country and bluegrass fans. Neil Young's fans who enjoy his more country-flavored albums such as Harvest, Comes a Time, Old Ways and Harvest Moon will probably enjoy it too.

I haven't heard the remastered and revised version of Ben Keith's Christmas album yet -- originally called "Seven Gates" but now retitled "Christmas at the Ranch" -- but I know the original album well and really love it. I would expect the new version to be at least as good, if not better.

Ben, the long-time pedal steel and slide guitarist for Neil Young, apparently always wanted to add some new elements to the original album, and once he did so, he gave the revised version a new title, to distinguish it from the original release.

Neil Young, as well as J.J. Cale, Neil's wife Pegi Young, Johnny Cash, Nicolette Larson, and Rusty Kershaw are among the guests.

The tracks are split between instrumental and vocal versions, with the singing handled by Ben's guests. This is no cheesy "guest star" album, though -- Mr. Keith has done an outstanding job of creating an album that's stylistically and thematically consistent throughout. The style is a gentle country/folk sound, and the theme is, of course, Christmas.

As you've probably seen, the song selections include both well-known Christmas classics (Silver Bells, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, Greensleeves/What Child Is This) as well as less well-known but beautifully performed songs like We Will Rock You (Rocking) [not the Queen song of similar title] and Christmas Time's A-Comin', which maintain the holiday feeling. Little Drummer Boy is, if I remember correctly, a vocal duet between Johnny Cash and Neil Young, and it's one of the best versions of this song (better than even Johnny's own solo version).

I highly recommend this beautiful holiday album conceived by a master musician, Ben Keith.