Track Listing

1. Christmas Time's A-Coming - Cody Kilby, Molly Skaggs, Ricky Skaggs, Darrin Vincent
2. What Child Is This? - Rob Ickes, Cody Kilby, Alison Krauss, Ronnie McCoury, Darrin Vincent
3. Silver Bells - Joe Caverlee, Rob Ickes, Ronnie McCoury, Matt McGee, Danny Parks, Scott Vestal
4. Silent Night - Joe Caverlee, Rob Ickes, Ronnie McCoury, Danny Parks, Darrin Vincent
5. Winter Wonderland - Stuart Duncan, Rob Ickes, Ronnie McCoury, Danny Parks, Scott Vestal, Darrin Vincent
6. O Christmas Tree - Stuart Duncan, Rob Ickes, Cody Kilby, Ronnie McCoury, Darrin Vincent
7. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Stuart Duncan, Cody Kilby, Ronnie McCoury, Scott Vestal, Darrin Vincent
8. Away in a Manger - Stuart Duncan, Rob Ickes, Cody Kilby, Ronnie McCoury, Darrin Vincent
9. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town - Stuart Duncan, Matt McGee, Danny Parks, Scott Vestal, Rhonda Vincent
10. Carol of the Bells - Joe Caverlee, Cody Kilby, Darrin Vincent
11. Sleigh Ride - Joe Caverlee, Rob Ickes, Cody Kilby, Scott Vestal, Darrin Vincent
12. Deck the Halls - Stuart Duncan, Cody Kilby, Ronnie McCoury, Matt McGee, Scott Vestal
13. Joy to the World - Stuart Duncan, Rob Ickes, Cody Kilby, Ronnie McCoury, Scott Vestal, Darrin Vincent
14. Jingle Bells - Rob Ickes, Cody Kilby, Ronnie McCoury, Scott Vestal, Darrin Vincent
15. O Holy Night - Stuart Duncan, Cody Kilby, , Ronnie McCoury, Darrin Vincent

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #129093 in Music
• Released on: 2002-10-08
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Bluegrass covers of Christmas standards
This is an excellent album consisting entirely of familiar tunes, but only the final track (O holy night, sung by the Larkins) features voices. All the other tracks are instrumentals.

There is a nucleus of regular musicians on this album, these being Darrin Vincent (bass), Cody Kilby (acoustic guitar), Ronnie McCoury (mandolin), Rob Ickes (dobro), Danny Parkes (acoustic guitar), fiddle (Joe Caverlee), banjo (Scott Vestal), Stuart Duncan (fiddle) and Matt McGhee (bass).

Guest musicians (each only on one track) include Alison Krauss (fiddle), Ricky Skaggs (fiddle, mandolin) and Rhonda Vincent (mandolin), every one of them a fine instrumentalist. If you buy this hoping to hear them sing, you will be disappointed, because they don't.

The tunes open with the bluegrass standard Christmas time's a-coming, which I have yet to hear performed in any other style. The remaining tunes should be familiar to everybody, regardless of what music you normally listen to. You could amuse yourself by trying to `name that tune' without looking at the track listing - you should get more than half right on the first play through.

As background music, this works brilliantly. I've never been a huge fan of instrumental music, but I enjoy it occasionally and this is surely the best album of its kind. And when you reach the final track, you hear the Larkins sing. As I write this, they are new to me but they sound as if they have a great future in bluegrass music.

Tasteful- and tasty.
We have here a very nice acoustic, mostly instrumental Christmas album done all in bluegrass style. The song selection is very good, with a nice mix from traditional to fun. One of the things that makes this album a good choice is that the songs are always bigger than the individual players. Although the lineups have some "big hitters" (Ickes, McCoury, Duncan, etc.), there are no real attempts to outshine the music- it's all very tasteful and not a hint of an ego to be heard. The arrangements are genuine, simple, clean, open, airy, and most often mellow. I'd recommend it for the instrumentalist in you as you fill out your holiday collection with some quality, slightly-off-the-beaten-path selections. If you're looking for great players to tear though souped-up renditions of the songs, you're likely to be disappointed with this one.

A Christmas Bluegrass Treasure!
I have purchased a number of Christmas cds over the years, but I can already tell that this one will remain toward the top of my list! Familiar tunes linked with outstanding instrumental musicianship -- this is a very accessible album of favorites! A lot of spice, hooks and nice mellow touches! And I will definitely pick up Vol. 2 when I have the opportunity!