Bluegrass and White Snow: A Mountain Christmas (CD - 2002)

Personnel includes: Patty Loveless, Ricky Skaggs, Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Trisha Yearwood, Rebeccca Lynn Howard, Jim Horn, Rob Ickes, Stuart Duncan.

Personnel: Patty Loveless (sleigh bell); Biff Watson (guitar, baritone guitar); Steve Gibson (guitar, banjo, bouzouki, mandola, percussion); Emory Gordy, Gene Ford (guitar); Butch Lee (dobro, bass drum, glass, percussion, bells, wind chime); Rob Ickes (dobro); Blake Williams, Alan O'Bryant (banjo); Stuart Duncan (mandocello, mandolin, fiddle); John Hedgecoth (mandocello); Charlie Derrington (mandola); Deanie Richardson (mandolin, fiddle); Jon Randall, Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, Tim Hensley (mandolin, background vocals); Bruce Sweetman, Rob Haines, Todd Cerney, Van Manakas, Stephan Dudash, Butch Baldassari (mandolin); Carmella Ramsey (fiddle, background vocals); Jim Horn (recorder); Claire Lynch, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Amy Grant, Trisha Yearwood (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Justin Niebank.

Recording information: Hounds Ear, Franklin, TN; The Sound Kitchen, Franklin, TN.

Photographer: Russ Harrington.

Arrangers: Emory Gordy; Paul Zonn; Nashville Mandolin Ensemble.

In the wake of the success of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, with its traditional country and bluegrass music, Epic Records green-lighted Patty Loveless' plan to record an acoustic country album, and she earned critical kudos and respectable sales for 2001's Mountain Soul. Bluegrass and White Snow: A Mountain Christmas, her holiday follow-up, repeats the approach on a collection of traditional and original seasonal music. As with Mountain Soul, Loveless and her husband and producer, Emory Gordy, Jr., display their knowledge of bluegrass and mountain music, filling the tracks with mandolins, dobros, and fiddles, over which Loveless sings fervently in her Kentucky twang. But the songs on Mountain Soul tended to be ones written in the styles in which they were being played, whereas many of the Christmas carols heard here are being adapted to these arrangements. "Silver Bells," for example, isn't even a traditional song, but rather a composition by the Hollywood movie songwriters Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, and "Little Drummer Boy," another ringer, is given perhaps its first arrangement not to feature any drums. Meanwhile, in his pursuit of a mountain sound, Gordy isn't above eliminating his wife, whose name is on the front of the album: "Carol of the Bells" is an instrumental featuring the Nashville Mandolin Ensemble on which Loveless does not perform. The album is better, and sounds more authentic, on country-oriented material such as "Christmas Time's a Comin'" and "Beautiful Star of Bethlehem," and on the three new songs written by Loveless and Gordy, especially the up-tempo "Santa Town" and "Christmas Day at My House," which should have been sequenced earlier on the disc for better balance. So, while effective, the album is not as good as it could have been. ~ William Ruhlmann

Having returned to her childhood musical roots with 2001's MOUNTAIN SOUL, Patty Loveless continues in that vein and gives this journey a holiday twist with the warm embrace of BLUEGRASS & WHITE SNOW: A MOUNTAIN CHRISTMAS. Infused with plenty of trilling mandolin, fiddle, and dobro, with nary a drum or electric guitar in sight, this is the kind of collection that's tailor-made for an evening in front of the fireplace trimming the tree. Aided by producer/hubby Emory Gordy Jr., Loveless tucks into a mix of covers and originals steeped more in the religious aspects of the holidays.

Among the more familiar songs featured are a stripped-down "Silent Night," a virtually a capella duet of "Joy To The World" with Jon Randall, and a Celtic-flavored "Little Drummer Boy" (with Rebecca Lynn Howard). Other highlights include a chiming instrumental "Carol of the Bells" spearheaded by the Nashville Mandolin Ensemble and the folksy "Christmas Time's A Comin'" ringing with the background vocals of Carmella Ramsey and Tim Hensley. Serving as a perfect complement to this Tex Logan chestnut are Loveless's own chugging twangfest "Christmas Day At My House" and the rich title track gilded by the puzzle-piece harmonies of Ricky Skaggs and Dolly Parton. minimize