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Our Review

For those who embrace folk music, Neal & Leandra's Listen to the Angels: A Christmas Collection will likely bring tears to your eyes. Just heavenly. Smart writing, excellent execution, and superb singing to boot! If you are not familiar with this amazing pair, wake up! They are the real deal, the complete package, etc. Can you tell that I really, really love this album yet? I do.

I enjoy diverse musical genres and can appreciate Christmas tunes of just about any flavor. That being said, my personal preferences tend to run toward intimate presentations of vocal music with lovely layers of harmonies. Neal & Leandra are national treasures, a husband-and-wife team that makes the most marvelous music together. The harmonic blends are heart-breakingly beautiful, the voices are full and rich with texture, and the songwriting is stellar. This is folk music of the highest order.

Listen to the Angels smartly mixes familiar friends with wonderful original numbers. On his It Happened Once, Neal sings about lost childhood and the rediscovery of Christmas magic through the birth of his daughter, providing the refrain, "Oh, nothing's lost that can't be found. It happened once to me." The title number (another Neal Hagberg original) rings out like a modern spiritual, exuding great rhythms and a smokin' organ. Leandra's lead vocal on A La Nanita Nana sets the gold standard; her voice effortlessly embraces every note, and her Spanish sounds completely natural. Every cut is just about Neal & Leandra, their guitars, and one other player (on most pieces). This minimalism works brilliantly.

The tone throughout the album conveys intense beauty and grace in a peaceful framework. I could listen to this album on an endless loop for days.

I could go on and on and on, but I will stop here. I want to give you time to go and buy Neal & Leandra's Listen to the Angels before another holiday slips by on the calendar. Time is short. If you enjoy folk music, then this album belongs in your home and in your heart.

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2009)

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From the liner notes:

This recording was a joy to make. We had talked of making a recording of quiet ballads, but until now, it hadn't been thr right timing. God knows, no season needs quiet as much as the holiday season. We made a decision to have only one other instrument (besides our guitars) on each song and to never repeat an instrument. It seemed like this would point us in the right direction. We have tried to return to the hushed, unadorned roots and simpliccity of a season that has become increasingly defined by a wild rush for more. We hope you enjoy it.
Neal & Leandra

Produced by Neal Hagberg and Leandra Peak
Engineered, Mixed and Mastered by Rob Genadek, BrewHouse Studio, Minneapolis, MN

Vocals & Guitars: Neal Hagberg and Leandra Peak

Also appearing:
Jeff Victor: melodica, piano
Kevin Barnes: dobro
Peter Ostroushko: fiddle, mandolin
Merilee Klemp: oboe
Jeff Victor: Hammond B3 organ
Dean Magraw: guitar
Dan Newton: accordion



From the Website:

Hagberg was on his way to medical school and Peak to a career in international business when the road veered. Since then they have found themselves singing to sold out thousand seat venues in some towns and four people and a sick dog (true story) in others.

Leandra - private by nature - was dragged kicking and screaming into the spotlight. Even though she had acted in a professional theater group as a teenager, she had no desire to make a career out of it, and refused even to take solos in the high school choir. As a little girl, all she ever wanted was to be on Johnny Carson. Not for her voice, not for her writing or stage presence, but because she thought Johnny would simply find her funny.
Neal thought a career in professional sports sounded good. Being a small college wishbone quarterback did not exactly prepare him for the NFL. It didn't prepare him for the folk world either, but he figured at least in music he wouldn't get landed on by 300 lb. noseguards. So, he wrote some songs, some people liked them, and he quit his med school plans to go on the road. He somehow convinced Leandra to go along.

That is the story in a nutshell. Leandra grew up in Louisville, KY, Neal in Montevideo, MN. Leandra was raised on Perry Como and barbershop, Neal on The Mamas and the Papas and Swedish hymns. They met at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota in 1981. Off-again, on-again dating, excursions into graduate school (Leandra in Spanish, Neal receiving a Masters of Divinity) only resulted in a postponement of careers as singer/songwriters.

Hagberg and Peak married in 1989 and began touring as a duo full time.

Neal & Leandra

Listen to the Angels: A Christmas Collection

Artist link

Track List