What Christmas (or other holiday season) CDs do you listen to?
I have been listening to:
Your King Has Come (Various Artists like Derek Webb, etc)
Behold the Lamb God (Andrew Peterson and friends)
Both are very acoustic driven and include both old songs, new arrangements of old songs, and brand new songs.
My girlfriend really likes The Trans Siberian Orchestra so I listen to that.
One of may favorites is Dulcimer Christmas. Various artists, all acoustic--hammer dulcimer, guitar, and violin. You can hear some clips on amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...ssical&n=507846 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000003BLU/qid=1102731076/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl15/002-2207494-8820058?v=glance&s=classical&n=507846)
I've been listening to a lot of guitar CDs. Right now my favorite is Doug Smith but there are other really good ones: Laurence Juber, the Mark Hanson instruction CDs (no instruction on the CDs themselves), El McMeen, Michael Dowdle, Lewis Ross and Rick Ruskin, to name a few. Wish Doyle Dykes and Tommy Emmanuel would do Christmas CDs.
For non-guitar, I like Mannheim Stamroller, Kurt Bestor and the Cambridge Singers. All are fun to listen to and run the gamut from traditional to contemporary to new ageish, whatever that means.
Windham Hill – The Carols of Christmas
John Michael Talbot – The Birth of Jesus
An Old English Christmas
Tennessee Ernie Ford – The Star Carol (my Dad's favorite, it always makes me think of home)
John Denver & the Muppets – A Christmas Together (family favorite)
Christmas Grass (various artists)
Ann Tolstedt – A Christmas Gift (she's a local singer/songwriter/guitarist--it's probably my favorite right now)
Lots more, but these are currently in the CD changer :D
Deb
I love Christmas music! We have so many Christmas CD's around here but our favorites are:
All Johnny Mathis
Carpenter's Christmas Album
John Denver's Rocky Mountain Christmas
All Mannheim Steamroller
Amy Grant's first Christmas album
Dean Martin
Bing Crosby
Anne Muarry
EmmyLou Harris
Carly Simon
Kenny Rogers
and...
The Ray Conniff Singers!
It's so hard to choose just a FEW.
Chuck
John Denver's Rocky Mountain Christmas--isn't that the one with the tune "Please Daddy, Don't Get Drunk on Christmas"? A true Christmas classic! Actually, it is a good album--I just remember my Mom begging my Dad not to play it because she hated that song.
Oh my gosh, how could I have forgotten the Bob Rivers Twisted Christmas collection. What a wonderful guilty pleasure! B)
I think my favorite is "The Chimney Song." The problem is that once I hear the parodies, when I hear the music in a more traditional setting, its hard not to think of the twisted version. B)