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In 1998, Kate and Anna McGarrigle released The McGarrigle Hour, a very successful and eclectic frolic with friends and family members. Following in those fine footsteps, The McGarrigle Christmas Hour is a magnificent mélange of traditional numbers, contemporary pieces, and creative originals, all performed with the help of family members like Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright, and friends like Emmylou Harris. Although the homespun recipe presents quite a diverse mix, this is folk music of the finest sort.

Kate and Anna McGarrigle are Canadian folk music icons, intensely talented sisters with endless songwriting skills and edgy vocals. Popular for over 30 years, these women now have famous musical artists as children, and three perform on this album. I personally own albums by Kate McGarrigle's kids, Rufus and Martha Wainwright (their daddy is the also-famous Loudon Wainwright III). That family is frighteningly talented, with idiosyncratic voices that brim over with character and texture.

It is difficult to characterize the song selection here. Everything from "Camel Bells" to "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" rolls from the album. Rufus Wainwright's "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" is especially winning. The offering ends appropriately with a gently bluesy "Blue Christmas." In essence, this recording offers something for just about everyone! Unfortunately, my review copy lacks liner notes, and the tracks are not in their final order, making it difficult to comment with greater specificity on the individual cuts.

The McGarrigle Christmas Hour is indeed a special holiday treat for those who enjoy folk music, both old and new. Join the family and sing along!

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2005)

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From the liner notes:

Kate and Anna McGarrigle have been performing their brand of folk, French Canadian ballads, waltzes, ragtime and contemporary pop songs for more than three decades. On November 1, Nonesuch Records will release The McGarrigle Christmas Hour, a collection of traditional and contemporary holiday songs. The release is a celebration of family and friends; among the many contributors are Emmylou Harris, Anna's daughter Lily Lanken, and Kate's children Martha and Rufus Wainwright.

The fifteen tracks on the album comprise a wide variety of holiday songs--Emmylou Harris sings "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and Kate and Anna, with their daughters Martha and Lily, harmonize the traditional French song "Il Est Né." More modern tracks include rufus's original "Spotlight On Christmas," and his version of "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve," and Martha and Lily's rendition of Jackson Browne's "Rebel Jesus."

From the Web site:

Kate and Anna McGarrigle are singers, musicians and songwriters of international reputation. They have performed to critical and popular acclaim throughout North America, Europe and the Far East. Their albums have earned "record of the year" awards from Melody Maker, Stereo Review, the New York Times and other authorities. And songs they have composed have been widely recorded by other artists, including Linda Ronstadt, Judy Collins, Emmylou Harris and Nana Mouskouri.

Kate and Anna were born in Montreal of mixed English- and French-Canadian background, and grew up in the Laurentian Mountains village of Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts, Québec. They took piano lessons from the village nuns, while family singing sessions around the living room piano were a regular habit.

Kate and Anna McGarrigle

The McGarrigle Christmas Hour

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Track List