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Compilations can be pure gold, picking up small treasures from a variety of fine holiday releases and often including some fresh new interpretations, too. This is the case with Rounder's strong Home for Christmas: Voices from the Heartland. If you are fond of "roots music," you must explore Rounder Records for superb country, folk, cajun and bluegrass Americana, as well as Celtic and other international gems (www.rounder.com). Picking up Home for Christmas would be a valuable introduction to the Rounder catalog.

This album contains a dozen tracks; nine are from previously released Rounder (or Bullseye Blues) holiday albums, including Rhonda Vincent's fine Beautiful Star, which I reviewed earlier this season. In fact, I already own perhaps half of the offerings represented on this CD, and they are all keepers. The opening I'll Be Home for Christmas is a classic Riders-in-the-Sky welcome; buoyant, well-executed harmonies say "howdy" for the holidays. The next track is a cool about-face; soulful Sam Moore's Santa Claus Is Coming to Town radiates a rockin' heat (if you don't know Moore, B.B. King has described him as the Frank Sinatra of soul). The a cappella country medley by Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver delivers sweet, spot-on harmonies, and Wilson Pickett's rousing Jingle Bells is a raspy wonder. The album ends on just the right note--with Irma Thomas' gospel/soul interpretation of Oh, Holy Night.

On Home for Christmas: Voices from the Heartland, Rounder does a great job of balancing the diverse genres, making the overall effort more valuable than the sum of its individual parts. Of course, such a release does require that its listeners be equally open to country and soul stylings. In the end, that is what comprehensive music compilations and America's heartland are all about.

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2007)

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From the liner notes:

Compiled by Scott Billington
Mastered by Jonathan Wyner at M-Works, Cambridge, Massachusetts

From the Website:


From the Western swing of Riders in the Sky to the Memphis R&B of Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave) to the Missouri bluegrass of Rhonda Vincent to the New Orleans gospel of Irma Thomas, Home for Christmas is chock full of soulful interpretations of holiday music.

About Rounder Records:

In 1970, with only their passionate enthusiasm for American roots music lighting the way, three Cambridge, Massachusetts college students cast their lot into the perilous music industry. "Before founding Rounder, we were basically music fans," says Rounder Records co-founder Ken Irwin. "None of us," echoes co-conspirator Bill Nowlin, "had any record industry experience whatsoever."

"I doubt that 'industry experience' is a term we would have comprehended at the time we started Rounder!," interjects the third member of the Rounder triumvirate, Marian Leighton-Levy.

Yet this untested trio went the distance: from humble beginnings over thirty years ago to what is now America's premier independent record label. From its early interest in rural American music (via fiddle, stringband, blues, and bluegrass recordings) to an expansive catalogue of more than 3,000 titles running the gamut from folk to world, soul to socas, jazz to juju, Cajun to Celtic, and beyond, Rounder has emerged as the preeminent source for vital, uncompromised music of all genres.

Various Artists

Home for Christmas: Voices from the Heartland

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Track List