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So what is The Cold Hard Truth About Christmas? This is rockin' rockabilly at its finest! The Blackstone Valley Sinners (BVS) consist of Slim Cessna (vocals, rhythm guitar), Rich Gilbert (guitars, banjo, keyboards, percussion, backing vocals), and JudithAnn Winters (upright bass, backing vocals); they are the top country trio in Rhode Island. To tell you the cold hard truth, BVS would be the top country trio in just about any jurisdiction!

The Cold Hard Truth About Christmas has 12 songs, including 3 rip-roaring originals by Gilbert. The album opens with Gilbert's smokin' instrumental entitled "Hay" (which includes bell accents and one loudly proclaimed "Hay!"). My favorite, however, has to be the highly addictive "Katie Dang," ("How I wanted to be there, I remembered Katie Dang" at Christmas); I replayed the track perhaps 10 times, tapping my feet and singing the refrain loudly at my dining room table! "Santa Swing" is the final original, a refreshing and fun instrumental with slack-key, Hawaiian overtones.

This is no pretty package of sickly-sweet holiday standards! This album is a bluesy country romp, and it is big fun from start to stop. The choices are eclectic, unusual (only four numbers were familiar to me), and sweetly perverse. The photo on the album's front sets the tone: a man comes home bearing holiday gifts, only to find his sweetie-pie draped over Santa's lap on the living room couch. This picture may present the sad story told by "Gift of the Blues" ("I traveled miles and miles to find my baby, wrapped up so neatly in someone else's arms"). In that tune, the wronged lover opines, "I hope you had a very, very merry, and that your season's wishes came true, but mine were all quite the contrary, for I received the gift of the blues." Other songs reflect the same jaded (but tongue in cheek) perspective: "Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day" ("Since you went away&"); "To Heck With Ole Santa Claus" ("Well, I'd like to hit him in his ho-ho-ho with a bunch of big snow balls&!") and "Christmas Is Just Another Day For Me" (a broken heart under the tree).

Now don't get me wrong--The Cold Hard Truth About Christmas is far from a cynical mopefest! In addition to the twisted themes of love gone horribly wrong, BVS also celebrates the traditional joys of the holidays, with numbers such as "Jingle Bell Rock" (a countrified rock 'n roll pleasure), "Mary's Boy Child" (with great opening harmonies), "C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S" (delivered with emotional fervor), and "Feliz Navidad" (laden with a fascinating heavy metal flavor).

In the end, the song that will remain with me is that dang "Katie Dang." Great stuff!

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2004)

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From the liner notes:

Slim Cessna: Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Rich Gilbert: Guitars, Banjo, Keyboards, Percussion, Backing Vocals
JudithAnn Winters: Upright Bass, Backing Vocals
Special guests:

Johnny "The Colonel" Maguire on track #4
Joel Thibodeau on track #5
Jeff Robbins on track #6
Tanya Donelly on track #8
Chris Daltry on track #10
Jason Kendall on track #12
Pete Weiss: additional backing vocals

From the website:

THE BLACKSTONE VALLEY SINNERS are the number one country trio in Rhode Island.

SLIM CESSNA (also currently performs with SLIM CESSNAS AUTO CLUB, formerly played with THE BOOGERHEADS) on strikingly beautiful lead vocals and rhythm guitar.

RICH GILBERT (also currently performs with FRANK BLACK & THE CATHOLICS and has played with TANYA DONELLY, STEVE WYNN, HUMAN SEXUAL RESPONSE, THE ZULUS, CONCUSSION ENSEMBLE) on lead guitar, steel guitar, dobro, banjo, piano and backup vocals.

JUDITHANN (also currently performs with SLIM CESSNAS AUTO CLUB, formerly played with THE BOOGERHEADS) on bass and backup vocals.

The trio first performed as a group in 2001 at the 3rd Annual Pawtucket Film Festival. Their music was met with such exuberant response that they decided to join forces and become The Blackstone Valley Sinners. The group's premier cd "It's a Sin" was released on their own Valley Records in January of 2003.

The Blackstone Valley Sinners

The Cold Hard Truth About Christmas

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Track List