Search - Christmas Grass Deluxe :: Christmas Grass Deluxe

Bluegrass covers of Christmas standards

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 06/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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.

Peter Durward Harris | 12/31/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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!

Richard L. Alford, Jr. | Durham, NC, USA | 12/23/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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!"