Customer Reviews

To: Kate a Benefit for Kate's Sake

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If you're looking something to get you into the spirit you've found it! Besides the fact that all profits go to a more than worthy cause, this ecclectic CD is one no Christmas collection should be without! Plenty of classics, mixed with some new soon-to-be favorites. No joke, just listen to the rockin' sounds of "gift-wrapped boy" or the upbeat twang of "Holly and her mistletoe." Save the Elvis collection for next year, buy for Kate and you'll be glad you did! (...)

A mighty fine Christmas offering, with a humanitarian twist... Kate Kirk is a 3-year old Nashviller with a rare genetic disorder called Niemann-Pick Disease, Type A/B; her older sister Caroline also has the disease and doctors say it is too late to treat the 6-year old, but believe that a marrow transplant may help in Kate's case. Hence, this tribute album, which seeks to raise the money to pay for the operation. You may quibble about the person-by-person, band-aid approach that a lack of a national health care plan has brought to so many lives (I have a friend here in the Bay Area who had an auto accident and has a similar album out in his honor...), but it's hard to argue with the artistic successes of this disc... A lot of high-powered Americana luminaries pitch in on this one, including Joe Ely, John Prine, Buddy & Julie Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Raul Malo and Rosie Flores, and the tone of the album is surprisingly upbeat and life-affirming, considering the downbeat nature of the album's origin. Highlights include a duet between Steve Earle and Allison Moorer on his "Nothing But A Child," Jim Lauderdale's "Holly And Her Mistletoe" and a Guy Clark song covered by actor John Corbett, who has a promisingly gruff "old man" voice (and an album coming out soon...) This is a really nice record, with only a couple of songs that seem out of place (like a jarring rock song from Jason & The Scorchers... A welcome addition to the country Christmas canon, and a nice choice a holiday stocking stuffer. Recommended!

Truly a wonderful CD. The songs cover anyones taste and everyone will enjoy this CD. There's heart in every song.

Sometimes collections like this, for good causes, don't come through on the actual music. But this one does, splendidly...Excellent x-mas originals by top notch songwriters such as Jim Lauderdale and Henry Gross, mixed with very tasty covers by some beloved and supremely talented artists, like your Joe Ely, your John Prine...

If only all x-mas CDs were this good...this, and the current McGarrigles' Christmas Hour have elevated the genre....