Search - Donna Ulisse :: All The Way To Bethlehem

Although inspired by the Biblical accounts of Christ's birth, Donna Ulisse's All the Way to Bethlehem is not a Christmas album in any conventional sense of the term. Rather, it is a dramatic story told in song-much like such other Bible-based musical productions as Jesus Christ Superstar,and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

In All the Way to Bethlehem,, we listen in to a drama told through many voices, all of them resounding with wonder. There is Joseph, puzzled by circumstances, daunted by responsibilities, yet resolutely determined to do the right thing; Elisabeth, Mary's much older cousin who also miraculously conceives a child; the compassionate but overburdened Innkeeper, who reluctantly tells the desperate young couple, You cannot stay here. ; the Star of Bethlehem, beaming with its' own importance; and, always and eternally, Mary, herself, who, while accepting the awful divine destiny of her newborn son, must in those first tender moments with him marvel, rejoice and dream as any mother would. It is a triumphant story vividly told.

Ulisse, who was nominated for the 2012 International Bluegrass Music Association's Songwriter of the Year award, wrote or co-wrote all 11 songs on the album in league with fellow composers Kerry Chater, Lynn Gillespie Chater, Mark Rossi, Rick Stanley, Jerry Salley and Rick Lang. Widely praised both as a country and a bluegrass artist, Ulisse is one of the most expressive vocal stylists in music today.

All the Way to Bethlehem is set primarily to acoustic instrumentation. The featured musicians are Keith Sewell, praised for his work with Lyle Lovett, Ricky Skaggs, the Dixie Chicks and Jerry Douglas (he's also the album's producer); Andy Leftwich of Skaggs' inimitable Kentucky Thunder band; Viktor Krauss, also long a mainstay in Lyle Lovett's band; Rob Ickes, the award-winning dobroist and member of the Grammy-nominated bluegrass group, Blue Highway; Byron House, whose many achievements include membership in Robert Plant's Band of Joy; John Mock, who counts James Taylor, Kathy Mattea and the National Orchestra of Ireland among his array of live and recorded credits; and vocalists Wendy Buckner Sewell, Ana Sewell and Rick Stanley.

All the Way to Bethlehem has a companion songbook and will be available in choral arrangements starting in 2013. Ulisse & her band The Poor Mountain Boys will also be performing the full album at Christmas shows during the season each year.