O Christmas Tree

O Christmas Tree-Bluegrass Collection for the Holi (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 5, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rounder / Umgd
• ASIN: B00006LHW2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,557 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Christmas Time's A Coming - Rhonda Vincent

2. Christmas Time is Near - Open Road

3. Winter Wonderland - Shankman Twins

4. The Friendly Beast - Johnson Mountain Boys

5. Beautiful Star of Bethlehem - Alecia Nugent

6. Silver Bells - Ron Stewart

7. Smokey Mountain Christmas - Jeannie Kendall

8. Blue Christmas - Open Road

9. Go Tell It On the Mountain - The Cox Family

10. Silver Bells - Bill Grant and Delia Bell

11. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - Lynn Morris

12. Precious Child - Tony Trischka with Dudley Connell

13. Here Comes Santa Claus - Shankman Twins

14. Call Collect at Christmas - James King Band

15. O Christmas Tree - Rhonda Vincent

16. O Come All Ye Faithful - Tony Trischka

17. Auld Lang Syne - Bill Keith

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Banjos, fiddles, mandolins, and terrific twangy harmonies are the spirit of things here, and this collection of holiday tunes by modern bluegrass greats will put you in mind of a genuine country Christmas, even if you're celebrating in the big city. A long--but never boring–-set, it features both veterans and newcomers mixing obscurities with traditional standards, including cool covers of two Gene Autry chart toppers and Ron Stewart's George Jones-ish take on "Silver Bells." It's the newcomers who make the most memorable contributions, including the sweet Emmylou Harris-meets-the-Andrews Sisters vocals of the Shankman Twins and the primal hillbilly fire of Open Road, who deliver a "Blue Christmas" that's about as faithful to Elvis's version as the King's "Blue Moon of Kentucky" was to Bill Monroe. Though recorded in 2002, this'll make you feel like you're spending Christmas at the Ryman Auditorium in the '50s or even by a fire in the Appalachian Mountains today. O Christmas Tree is a real treat for bluegrass and Christmas music aficionados alike. --Bill Holdship

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars O brilliant !!!! - best blugrass Christmas album yet ?, November 24, 2002

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: O Christmas Tree (Audio CD)

After the various O brother and O sister compilations, it was perhaps inevitable that an album with O Christmas in the title would follow - but it's well up to the standard I hoped for, as well as including some wonderful surprise new singers.
First, the expected - Rhonda Vincent opens the set with a magnificent rendition of Christmas time's a-coming, which seems to appear on every bluegrass Christmas collection (including the one by Patty Loveless), but rarely appears anywhere else. Some day, a rock band will discover this song, record it and take it to the wider audience that it deserves.

Other excellent performances from established names in bluegrass include The friendly beasts (The Johnson mountain boys), Go tell it on the mountain (Cox family), Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer (Lynn Morris), O Christmas tree (Rhonda Vincent) and a medley by Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver.

I was also pleased to see Jeannie Kendall's name here - this was not a surprise as she also appeared on O sister 2. Jeannie uses her unique voice to sing Smoky mountain Christmas.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is the quality of the recordings by some of the new names that Rounder have chosen to introduce.

You've heard Winter wonderland and Here comes Santa Claus many times, but the Shankman twins (two sisters that are new to me) sing them with such entusiasm that really captures the fun of Christmas. Unquestionably, these are among the finest recordings of these songs I've heard, maybe the best of all.

Another interesting new act is Open road, who also do two songs - Christmas is near and Blue Christmas (this is given a completely different, uptempo arrangement - I'm not sure if it really suits the song, but it makes a nice change and is very well done).

This is an outstanding album of all-new recordings by singers and pickers who clearly enjoyed themselves. The general feel is very upbeat, making it suitable for playing at any time over the Christmas period. It deserves to win many new fans for bluegrass music.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars O YES!, December 19, 2002

By 

Alan W. Petrucelli (THE ENTERTAINMENT REPORT (ALAN W. PETRUCELLI)) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: O Christmas Tree (Audio CD)

Acoustic instruments, sublime vocal harmonies, some of the biggest names (along with some discoveries) in the field of bluegrass. O, color this one a winner!

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars If you want instrumental...., December 15, 2005

By 

J. Kysar - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: O Christmas Tree (Audio CD)

I searched for quite awhile looking for an instrumental bluegrass Christmas CD. Everyhting I searched pointed me to this CD... however I was greatly disappointed to find only one instrumental cut. From the other posted reviews it sounded as though the CD was mostly instrumental. So if your search for instumental leads you here to this CD.... keep looking!