Hey, Rangersteve!

Merry Christmas. My favorite Christmas music comes from widely different sources. I have a CD I put together of a Rhythm and Blues Christmas that my wife and I really love. Last year, I picked up a CD titled A Mandolin Christmas which I think any folkie would love. It's on Unison Music and is an instrumental album with mandolin, guitar, viola, harmonica acoustic bass and drums. The album is done basically by one person: John Darnall. He multitracks all the parts.
Joy to the World is as Joyful as I've ever heard it, with mandolin and guitar exchanging licks, cutting each as surely as the dueling banjos in Deliverance... Great, great stuff.

The third CD I've been listening to this Christmas is actually a mandolin concerto with mandolin, violin, viola and lute. The compositions were by Giuliani in the early 1800s. I first found the music on a Vox lp back in the early 60's. I've tried to replace it with a CD ever since CDs first came out and couldn't find it anywhere. I just found a recording, finally, recorded in Brussels, and released in France. It was worth the wait.

Jerry