By David McGee
A PINECASTLE CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION
Various Artists
Pinecastle Records
An anthology for this and every ensuing Christmas season, Pinecastle Records shows off its outstanding bluegrass roster on 13 seasonal songs, original and traditional, by 11 outstanding artists. One new group of seasoned bluegrassers calling itself Red Camel Collective, ahead of its first album Pinecastle album release on February 21 of the new year, issued an original holiday single, “Through the Eyes of a Child,” written by group member Heather Berry Mabe and featuring none other than Michael Cleveland in a guest appearance on fiddle. Theirs is a gentle reflection on Yuletides past and every bit in tune with the rootsy ambience, kind hearts and gentle souls found throughout this Christmas celebration. It’s also a Deep Roots 2024 Stocking Stuffer.
‘The Polar Express,’ Williamson Branch, from A Pinecastle Christmas Celebration
On the uptempo side, Williamson Branch sprints through a furious fiddle onslaught on “The Polar Express”; Wilson Banjo Co. offers an energetic strut in animating Frank Loesser’s 1944 seasonal chestnut, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” adding a mountain tinge to the pop standard; and Troy Engle, featured on two original songs, kicks off the festivities with his ebullient “Frosty Pines,” celebrating homecoming with tart mandolin, banjo and fiddle backup.
‘An Old Fashioned Christmas,’ Daryl Mosley, from A Pinecastle Christmas Celebration
But quieter moments rule the day here, ranging from Daryl Mosley’s tender, folk-influenced slice-of-life portrait of family Yules of yore in “An Old-Fashioned Christmas,” name checking Bing Crosby and Lionel trains along the way; to the Tony Wray-Tim Crouch-Ethan Burkhart feathery acoustic meditation on Vince Guaraldi’s “Chrstmas is Here”; t0 Danny Burns closing things out with a plaintive rendering of Steve Earle’s vastly underrated spiritual evocation in “Nothing But a Child.”
Lord of the Strings, channeling the original Drifters on ‘White Christmas,’ from A Pinecastle Christmas Celebration
Lord of the Strings (with two contributions), Steve Thomas (with an evocative, down-from-the-mountain take on “What Child is This”), Lindley Creek, and Bobby & Teddy Cyrus all add compelling voices to the mix. Arguably the most surprising moment: Lord of the Strings channeling the original Drifters of 1954 in offering a hybrid bluegrass-R&B rendition of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” with tight group harmony backing a bass singer doing his best Bill Pinkney lead and another group member hitting Clyde McPhatter-like falsetto heights, as low-key banjo and fiddle soloing adds backwoods flavor.
In his song Daryl Mosley asks, “Whatever happened to an old-fashioned Christmas?” His answer is in his own song as well as in a dozen other tracks; in telling it like it was, A Pinecastle Christmas Celebration tells it as it should be—“a little lower in volume, a little slower in speed,” in the timeless Mosley formulation.
