The Minor Planets are renowned Bluegrass musician Eric Christopher and renowned Americana vocalist Dana Thompson (plus a rotating assortment of Bluegrass, Country and Jazz musicians). Eric and Dana have worked together, off and on, for many years, though they each have other projects that keep them plenty busy. Together, their music has a sound that they describe as "soulful bluegrass...more inspired by the Walker Brothers than the Louvin Brothers." The Minor Planets are warming up to the release of the first Minor Planets album in more than 10 years; "Shadow In The Water" is slated for a January release. To chum the waters a bit, The Minor Planets have a two track holiday single that you can download for free through Bandcamp. They won't even ask you for an email address. Track one is "In The Bleak Midwinter", which sounds truly wonderful, and track two is "Holy, Holy, Holy".
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1. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen 2. Bethlehem House Of Bread 3. Mary Had A Baby 4. Hark 5. Little Baby 6. Jingle Bells 7. Christmas On Cripple Creek 8. I Dreamed Of Christmas 9. When The Christmas Baby Cries 10. Holy Christmas Day DOWNLOAD FROM NOISETRADE I've been a fan of the Annie Moses Band since I discovered their wonderful Christmas albums a few years back. Ostensibly, they're a Contemporary Christian group, but their instrumentation is sort of Bluegrass meets Rock and their arrangements can sometimes venture into out-and-out Jazz or even Progressive Rock--"fiddle fusion" they call it. Annie (technically not the Annie this family band is named after--that would be her great-grandmother) plays a mean fiddle, too, so you're sure to catch dramatic classical flourishes as well. That kind of creativity deserves applause. One of my Annie Moses Band favorites is "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". Well, the group has packaged up an entire album's worth of their Christmas music and the set leads off with "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". And they're giving it away free through Noisetrade. So here's your chance to sample this awesome band and it won't cost you a cent (unless you choose to Tip the band). I won't speak to the rest of the set--there are a lot of ballads here (the vocals are reminiscent of Alison Krauss by the way)--but you're gonna love "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". "Christmas On Cripple Creek" is kinda fun, too. Head to Noisetrade and get you some Annie. If you like what you hear, head to the Annie Moses Band web site and buy their Christmas special--two Christmas albums, a Christmas DVD and the band's "String Crossings" CD--for the holiday price of just $19.95.
1. RANDY TRAVIS - O Holy Night 2. STEEL MAGNOLIA - It's Christmas Time 3. PHIL VASSAR - What Child Is This? 4. SKAGGS FAMILY - Christmas Time's A-Coming 5. JOEY + RORY - Remember Me 6. CARTER'S CHORD - Up On The Housetop 7. JACOB LYDA - Tis The Season To Be Lonesome 8. MANDY BARNETT - This Time Of Year 9. ATTWATER - All I Want For Christmas Is You 10. ANDY GIBSON - The Christmas Song SEE PEOPLE MAGAZINE ON LINE FOR DIRECTIONS I should probably tell you up front, this is an iTunes deal. Yeah, I feel ya. Sorry about that. But for those of you who like iTunes, read on. People Magazine can usually be counted on for a free Christmas song or two. This year, they're giving you TEN. It's part of their "Country Christmas Special" issue, so they're pulling out all the stops. Among the 10 selections are tracks from 2011 holiday releases by Joey + Rory, Ricky Scagga & Family, and Phil Vassar. The downloads also include 2011 Christmas singles from Jacob Lyda, Attwater, and Andy Gibson. To get your redemption code, head to the People offer (click the magazine cover above or the link in the next paragraph). To redeem your free downloads from People Magazine and iTunes, go to your iTunes store, click the "Redeem" button on the upper right, and--when prompted--enter the code. If you don't already have iTunes (and aren't averse to getting it), you can download it free and then continue. The redemption code expires on 12/31/11. To make things as simple as possible, just see the promotion at People and click the iTunes button (if you're from Canada, you'll have to click the Canadian flag and it's possible there may be a different redemption code for you folks, eh?). It's more complicated than it needs to be, but not as complicated as it sounds. Honestly. UPDATE: Well, Rick Perry had his "Oops" moment; I guess this was mine. I thought there was one code, but People generates a new one for each ISP. The wonders of the Internets. Anyway, you'll actually have to go to the offer page to get your code. I've changed the copy above to reflect that. So it's 3 steps: Go to People and get your redemption code, go to iTunes and punch the "redeem" button, and then.....oh....ah....the...... third.....there's...........I, uh......hmmmmm..........nope, I can't do it. Oops. Yeah, I know, gratuitous...but fun. 1. Angels We Have Heard On High 2. Good King Wenceslas 3. The First Noel 4. I Saw Three Ships 5. Go Tell It On The Mountain 6. What Child Is This 7. Little Drummer Boy 8. O Come, O Come Emmanuel 9. Do You Hear What I Hear? 10. We Three Kings 11. O Holy Night 12. O Little Town Of Bethlehem When good friends get together, sometimes good things happen. I'm not sure whether We Three Kings is a regular band or not; they don't seem to have a web site that I can find. But these folks sure make a joyous sound. Although We Three Kings bill themselves as a Folk and Bluegrass band, there really isn't much in the way of Bluegrass here. This is pretty much a straight up Indie Folk effort.
Having said that, "The 12 Songs of Christmas" is a pretty good listen. On rare occasion, We Three Kings miss, but when they are good, they are very very good. "Go Tell It On The Mountain", for example, gets a bluesy makeover that reminded me a bit of George Thorogood's version of "One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer". "Little Drummer Boy" has a nice arrangement as well. And, when everything comes together, as on "O Holy Night", you get a tune that's truly memorable--start to finish. It's all free at NoiseTrade, so you might as well check em out for yourself. I think you might just dig it. |
The FREE ListHere we hope to direct you to some of the Christmas music on the web that can be yours absolutely free. We will not direct you to mp3 or sharity sites, here, but only to artist sites, label sites, and other authorized and unquestionably legal locations. Archives2010 Free List Categories
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