FIRST CHRISTMAS GIFT

Review Among contemporary country performers, Robin and Linda Williams shine like a diamond amid rhinestones. -- Boston Globe Their songs possess the ageless ache of memory. -- USA Today They don't play at being country - they are country! -- No Depression This is the real deal! -- Bluegrass Unlimited Underlying their sound are lyrics that pluck at the nerve center of emotional experiences." -- Billboard Product Description Finally…a Christmas CD from "Prairie Home Companion" favorites Robin & Linda Williams! After 30 years of performing their trademark traditional and roots-inspired originals, Robin & Linda have created their first Christmas CD and it's exactly the warm and wonderful country-folk recording you would expect from these popular "A Prairie Home Companion" veterans. The CD includes great new Christmas songs of their own composition (many of which made their first appearance on the weekly national broadcast), as well as songs by John Prine, Roger Miller and Steve Earle. The supporting players are excellent as well and include such stand-out musicians as Sam Bush, Jimmy Gaudreau and King Wilkie's Nick Reeb. "The First Christmas Gift" is a CD destined to become a favorite and one that will take up residence in many a CD player annually during the holidays. From the Artist One of the great Christmas memories we have is reading aloud to one another A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens on a trip to Florida to spend the holidays with Linda's parents. There is a quote from Dickens that we remember each holiday season where he says: "I have always thought of Christmas as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of in the calendar of the year when men and women seem, by one consent, to open their shut-up hearts freely. I believe it has done me good, and I say, 'God bless it.' " When hearts are opened, there is hope for the world. As Steve Earle says in "Nothing But A Child," there is "another chance allowed," a chance to do good and to bring light into the darkness. "Hope eternal ever lives in The First Christmas Gift." - Robin & Linda About the Artist For three decades now, Robin & Linda Williams have made it their mission to perform the music that they love, "a robust blend of bluegrass, folk, old-time and acoustic country that combines wryly observant lyrics with a wide-ranging melodicism." Today some might call it "Americana," but these two revered music masters were living and breathing this elixir 20 years before that label was turned into a radio format. The list of artists who have covered their original songs include some of the greats of country music, names like Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall, George Hamilton IV, Tim & Mollie O'Brien, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kathy Mattea and The Seldom Scene. Robin is a Carolina native and Linda is from Alabama, but home for them these days is Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Despite being true children of the South, their career got its initial momentum up north in the Minneapolis folk scene. In 1975 they recorded their first album in Minneapolis and the same year they made their first appearance on a little radio show just getting off the ground called "A Prairie Home Companion." Their rich relationship with that icon of American broadcasting has continued for almost three decades and they recently finished filming movie based on A Prairie Home Companion (directed by Robert Altman, and starring Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline and Woody Harrelson, among others). They have recorded several fine albums over the years, many of them on Sugar Hill Records. However, with their last CD, "Deeper Waters," they began a new and fruitful relationship with the well-known roots music label Red House Records. They have also recorded, and on occasionally appear, with Garrison Keillor and Kate MacKenzie in the Hopeful Gospel Quartet (Kate was replaced in recent years by Molly O'Brien). The Williamses tour constantly with Their Fine Group. Band members include former Red Clay Rambler Jim Watson on bass, vocals and mandolin and bluegrass veteran Jimmy Gaudreau on mandolin and mandola.
ASIN: B000AA4J2K
VSKU: DBV.B000AA4J2K.G
Condition: Good
Author/Artist:Traditional|Robin Williams|Robin & Linda Williams|Linda Williams|Casey Van Beek|John Prine|Kevin McNoldy
Binding: Audio cd
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: Individually inspected: Guaranteed to play perfectly or your money back. Case may show wear and may be in library packaging. Ships Fast!