By David McGee
IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME
Balsam Range
Mountain Home (2017)
At only six songs clocking in at 18 minutes, Balsam Range’s bluegrass renderings of Yuletide gems goes by fast but memorably and movingly. One of the EP’s calling cards is the presence of the Nashville Recording Orchestra, which may not sound promising on a bluegrass outing but turns out to be a nice, measured enhancement providing a subtle extra emotional lift to the close three-part harmony perfection marking these proceedings. Doc Watson’s “Christmas Lullaby” opens the disc on a tender, rustic note with the orchestra easing unobtrusively following tasty mandolin and fiddle solos. This is the pattern throughout, and it works beautifully, especially on “The First Noel” when the strings and the soaring harmony singing produce a potent emotional pull on the listener. The pace picks up on a jaunty treatment of Johnny Marks’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” with Buddy Melton (IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year, 2014) giving it a lively reading and Sam Levine adding a sax solo in a nod to the late, great Boots Randolph.
‘I’m Going Home, It’s Christmas,’ Balsam Range does right by a Stanley Brothers evergreen on It’s Christmas Time
The Stanley Brothers’ “I’m Going Home, It’s Christmas” (the only cut lacking orchestral backing) also struts at a sprightly pace fueled by banjo, mandolin and fiddle, is a heart tugging ode to home and hearth. But the true spirit of the season is nowhere better evoked than in the rich arrangement with soaring harmonies and complementary strings, along with vocals deeply invested in the song’s, and the season’s, message. Great work all around.
