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Sweet! Raison D'Etre, which in French means "the reason for being," may just give you reason to listen to holiday music this Christmas season. Raison D'Etre is also an extraordinary women's trio(Vickie Ellis, Roberta Schultz, and Violet Rae Downey) from Northern Kentucky. In Christmas Belles, these women offer voices that are crystal pure and harmonies that are bright, tight, and bursting with beauty!

These artists sing with a warm folksy feel, but deliver pristine clarity. I have tremendous admiration for these women--their craft is extremely difficult, and they excel at every level. For the most part, they sing a cappella, which forces every vocal wart to the forefront, but Raison D'Etre (so far as I can tell!) is a delightfully wart-free group. Their voices blend in virtually seamless precision, and their harmonizations are liquid gold.

The 16 holiday selections err on the side of traditional folk music and are mostly well-loved carols. This album is jam-packed full of crowd-pleasing moments; for example, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" has an excellent chorus, with lower harmonies dropping in deliciously on "Shall come to thee, O Israel..." The vocal blends in "Light of the Stable" are also priceless, and the spiritual numbers, like swingin' stars, shine especially brightly here ("Sweet Little Jesus Boy," "Mary Had a Baby," and "Go Tell It on the Mountain").

In the end, you can just sense that these women LOVE what they are doing, and that emotion permeates every note. Such fun! Although life perpetually raises perplexing questions with few answers, Raison D'Etre's Christmas Belles may give you reason for being well-satisfied, musically speaking, throughout the holiday season.

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2004)

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From the liner notes:

Raison D'Etre:
Vickie Ellis: vocals, keyboard
Roberta Schultz: vocals, guitar
Violet Rae Downey: vocals, guitar

All arrangements: Raison d'Etre
Bruce Ellis, engineer

From the Website:

Three women who know their reason for being: they live to sing together.

Raison D'Etre is a women's group from Northern Kentucky specializing in tight vocal harmonies, introspective original songs, and a performing repertoire featuring everything from Shaker to swing.

The trio features Violet Rae Downey on vocals, acoustic guitar, and percussion, Roberta Schultz on vocals, acoustic guitar and percussion and Vickie Ellis on vocals, keyboard, (occasionally adding mountain dulcimer and autoharp.)

Raison D'Etre

Christmas Belles

Artist link

Track List