Source: Sony Music Nashville
Wednesday October 2, 6:05 pm ET
PRNewswire
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- As country music re-embraces its acoustic roots, few artists bring more authenticity to the task than Patty Loveless. Her recent "Mountain Soul" album, one of the new century's most critically acclaimed projects, found her placing her own indelible stamp on music that is both traditional and timeless. The result has been widely acknowledged as country music at its best. ADVERTISEMENT
Now, with "Bluegrass, White Snow - A Mountain Christmas," Patty brings that same spirit to her first Christmas album. Mixing centuries-old hymns and self-penned songs, clean acoustic arrangements and traditional instrumentation, the CD reinforces once again her standing as an artist of rare individualism and integrity. "Bluegrass, White Snow - A Mountain Christmas" combines the authentic mountain feel of "Mountain Soul" and the rich appreciation for Christmas and its music that Patty developed growing up in the hardscrabble mining country of southeastern Kentucky.
"The 'Mountain Soul' record gave me a chance to go back and revisit my roots," she says. "It was a process of recalling my family and home life as well as the music. This Christmas album gives me the same opportunity to recapture that same kind of feeling."
In fact, it wouldn't be out of line to refer to "Bluegrass, White Snow - A Mountain Christmas" as an extension of "Mountain Soul." Patty's husband Emory Gordy, Jr. is again producing, and the list of supporting musicians contains many of the same stellar players, joined by the Nashville Mandolin Ensemble.
What's more, Patty once again calls on some of her friends, a circle including some of contemporary music's best. Patty is joined for duets by Rebecca Lynn Howard on "Little Drummer Boy" and Jon Randall on "Joy To The World," and background vocalists include Claire Lynch and Trisha Yearwood on "Silent Night" and "The First Noel," Emmylou Harris on "Joy To The World," Vince Gill and Amy Grant on "Silver Bells," and Dolly Parton and Ricky Skaggs on the title cut.
The actual genesis of the project came in 1999, when Patty was invited to ride The Santa Train on its 57th anniversary, a CSX Railroad train that travels through eastern Kentucky and Tennessee in November, giving gifts to children who run to meet it in town after town.
"I had taken time off from the road, and I rode through the mountains around Pikeville, where I grew up, and got the chance to feel it all again," she says. "It stirred up the emotions of hearing my mother singing some of her favorite Christmas songs around the house--'Silent Night' and 'Away In A Manger.' Then there were the happier tunes I'd hear my brothers and sisters singing, or hear on the radio or the record player. It was then that we started to talk about a Christmas album."
Patty and Emory listened to their own extensive collection of Christmas albums of all types, comparing arrangements and looking for just the right mix of moods and approaches.
The arrangements on "Bluegrass, White Snow - A Mountain Christmas" are acoustic, and the feel ranges from somber reverence in the some of the classics to unadulterated mountain joy in "Christmas Time's A Comin'" and "Santa Train." The latter, celebrating the train that had been so important in spurring the album, is one of three songs written by Patty and Emory. The others are "Christmas Day At My House" and the title cut, which refers to her home state of Kentucky.
All of it contains echoes of Patty's deep appreciation for the season and its place in her childhood memories.
"The world is beautiful in a child's eyes," she says, "and Christmas is just magical. My mama and daddy had a hard time, but they always tried to find a way to make a Christmas for the kids. Even if they had to borrow from the company store or take a loan somewhere, they would find a way to buy us a special toy -- a doll was always a big deal to me. But as long as we had good food, warm clothes, music, and a warm place for the family, I think that's what mattered to mama and daddy the most."
The best of those sentiments -- family, home, and the human hope of the Nativity story -- are reflected in the music of "Bluegrass, White Snow." In this intimate, honest presentation of Christmas music, Patty Loveless has reaffirmed her position as one of music's real treasures while adding another gem to the season's treasure trove of recorded music.
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