Track Listing

1. Corn, Water and Wood
2. Let It Snow/The Last Christmas Medley You'll Ever Need to Hear
3. Christmas Yodel
4. Sidemeat's Christmas Stew
5. Prairie Dog Christmas Ball
6. Friendly Beasts
7. Virgin Maria
8. I'll Be Home for Christmas
9. Old Fashioned Christmas Polka
10. Twelve Days of Cowboy Christmas
11. Just Put a Ribbon in Your Hair
12. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #123675 in Music
• Released on: 1999-10-05
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
If you aren't familiar with Woody Paul and Ranger Doug, these are real cowboy singers whose smooth three-part harmonies, bad jokes, and old-timey taste in tunes make for engaging and entertaining performances and albums. Like sons of the Sons of the Pioneers, Riders in the Sky do a ranch-hand-like job of exploring the Christmas spirit on their second holiday album. With titles such as "The Prairie Dog Christmas Ball," "Sidemeat's Christmas Stew," and "The Twelve Days of Cowboy Christmas," you get a pretty clear picture of how much fun these buckaroos are having. Which isn't to say they can't be serious ("Virgen Maria" is a moving song of faith). But "The Christmas Yodel" is more their forte. Each disc ought to come with a slice of ham. --Martin Keller

Customer Reviews

Surprisingly deep
These guys are enormously talented musicians. Even so, I figured their Christmas album would probably be a little cheesy, if only because Christmas itself has become a little cheesy these days. However this album is anything but cheesy--on the contrary, the songs have clearly been chosen with extreme care and fine taste. There are hymns, old cowboy songs, folk songs, each precisely arranged and performed by the exceedingly capable Riders. This album is sure to delight.

Riders Christmas CD Review
As a 10 year collector of "non-standard" non-traditional Christmas hymns, I look every year for albums which have songs with a different approach/arrangement to the holiday season. This album has four of these songs - "Corn Water & Wood"(also on Michael Martin Murphey's CD), "The Friendly Beasts", "Virgen Maria" and "Just Put A Ribbon In Your Hair". These (except for Friendly Beasts) songs indicate more than a little effort to find holiday music which is not right in front of everyone's nose and for which any listener may obtain with a trip to the music store. This means the Riders (and their staff)put some extra effort into finding and arranging songs to expand the listener's music variety. Many artists make no effort at all to record anything but the most traditional (Same song - different voice).

There are some songs with appeal to children, consistent with the Rider's history. Others are traditional with a Western flair. The addition of an accordion to the combo takes a little getting used to (polka & cowboy music is a different mix) but does provide some variety.

Overall, from my holiday music perspective, when I can find 4 appealing songs of 11, 12 or 13 which are non-traditional and more obscure, I consider the product to be a success and one which warrants a purchase recommendation.

New Songs, Still Satisfying!
Loved their first Christmas album so much we've worn the tape out! So this was a no-brainer buy - LOVED it. Not the same old boring holiday fare, a great mix of fun and feeling.