Search - Louvin Brothers :: Christmas With

The high, lonesome voices of Charlie and Ira Louvin were tailor-made for singing songs of praise--as fans of their gospel work can no doubt attest--and that's the foundation of this, their best-loved Christmas album. Interestingly, the brothers employ arrangements that bathe their harmonies in both the backing of traditional English choral singers and more down-home instrumentation like pedal steel and fiddle. The blend is a tantalizing one, especially on such carols as "Good Christian Men Rejoice" and "The First Noel" (which keeps it really country by allowing that Jesus was "borned in Bethlehem"). For this CD reissue, the original album is augmented by a pair of good-timey tracks, "It's Christmas Time" and "Santa's Big Parade." --David Sprague