(The links in the review below are usually to artists' websites or that of their record labels, but almost allof the CDs can be purchased at Amazon.com or CDBaby.com. Many are also reviewed in greater detail by my friends Richard Banks and Carol Swanson at ChristmasReviews.com. Check the webpage for the Dr. Christmas radio program for reviews of dozens of CDs that arrived too late for the roundup presemted here. Selections from virtually all of the CDs mentioned here will be aired as part of the Dr. Christmas Radio Show, broadcast 1-6 PM Dec. 18-24 on WRST-FM 90.3 in Oshkosh, with streaming audio available at WRST's website. And feel free to contact Dr. Christmas if you have trouble finding any recording listed here.)

BEST OF THE YEAR: (links are in the full review that follows)

Conspirare - "Love Calls You"
Roderick Elms - "Festive Frolic"
St. Olaf - "For God So Loved The World"
Concordia (Moorhead) - "On Our Way Rejoicing"
Chanticleer - "Let It Snow"
Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra - "Carol of the Bells"
Kathleen Ryan - "The Rebirth of Light"
Peter Janson - "Winter Gifts"
Royce Campbell - "A Solo Guitar Christmas"
Doug Smith - "A Guitar for Christmas"
RoseWynde - "A Merry Little Christmas"
Over The Rhine - "Snow Angels"
Crispin - "The Fresh Noel"
Marie Barlow Martin - "Years"
Jacqui Naylor - "Smashed For The Holidays"
Various Artists - "Not Just Another Holiday CD"
Mississippi Mass Choir - "We Have Seen His Star"
Bebo Norman - "Christmas From The Realms of Glory"

The 14th Annual Roundup of New Christmas CDs , for the Post Crescent from Gerry Grzyb (AKA Dr. Christmas)

Thousands upon thousands of Christmas CDs have been released, with each year bringing a few hundred more.  And each year I wonder, have I heard it all before?  But each year there are new gems that would even make Alice Barlow swoon.

CLASSICAL/CHORAL

The number of "big" classical works associated with Christmas fits in one mitten missing a couple of fingers -Handel's Messiah, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, and Bach's Christmas Oratorio.  But to me the best (and biggest) of all is Vaughan Williams' much less known and recorded "Hodie." This telling of the Christmas story through poetic texts, composed by a very old and not terribly religious man, is now available in a fine, affordable performance by the Guildford Choral Society and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Hilary Davan Wetton.   The final section, a setting of Milton's text "Ring Out, Ye Crystal Spheres" is one of the greatest roof-raisers ever.

In earlier columns I've sung the praises of the Christmas at the Carillon recordings by Austin, TX's Grammy-nominated choral group Conspirare.  The 2006 recording, "Love Calls You" contains the same unique mix of music (composers include the classical Holst and Palestrina, but also the contemporary Annie Lennox, David Gilmour, Sam Cooke, Leonard Cohen, and Percy Mayfield, along with Gregorian chant and Shaker hymns), "mashups" (like Nearer My God To Thee/When I Fall In Love), and top-drawer singing with only the sparest piano accompaniment.  John Boutte, known as the "voice of post-Katrina New Orleans", is the featured soloist. . The stated intention is to "bring us together in a spirit of unity, peace and hope, and to reflect on the sacredness of all things", and the feeling is unlike that of any other choral recording. 

If you loved the "big sound" Christmas recordings of mid-20th century by the likes of Robert Shaw and Eugene Ormandy, you need to hear the fresh settings of traditional carols as well as new pieces by Roderick Elms on "Festive Frolic."  The Joyful Company of Singers, the Royal Philharmonic, and a massive organ make for a huge, joyful noise indeed.

It looks as if both St. Olaf and Concordia (Moorhead) are now committed to releasing CDs of each year's Christmas concerts.  St.Olaf's 2-disc "For God So Loved The World" presents the 2006 edition, and it conveys the deep peace I have experienced the two times I was lucky enough to attend a St. Olaf Christmas festival.  And if you were lucky enough to hear the touring St. Olaf Choir (just one of their ensembles) at the PAC this year you know the continuing feeling of astonishment you get from hearing these young adults sing.

Concordia's 2006 offering "On Our Way Rejoicing" often takes advantage of the enormous sound the combined ensembles can produce.  Director Rene Clausen's setting of "O Little Town" and Maurice Durufle's "Sanctus are particular highlights.  Big sound is everything on Concordia's "Grand Christmas", a compilation containing classical Christmas and sacred works sung and played by the combined choirs (400 voices) and orchestra on recordings over the past 5 years.  It's the direct opposite of "background music."

On a much smaller scale, the men of Chanticleer offer perhaps the finest singing of all on "Let It Snow", the latest of their many seasonal discs.  It's a mix of sacred and secular, sometimes with orchestral accompaniment, in the tight vocal jazz harmonies made popular by groups such as the Hi-Los. Most Christmas concerts cannot avoid being at least a little crossnational, since Christmas songs have come from so many nations. But Minnesota chamber choir World Voices are explicitly so on their interesting "A World of Christmas", because singing the music of many nations is the group's raison d'etre.

Last year I applauded a recent CD from the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, but this year I received an equally beautiful earlier one entitled "An American Christmas."   The disc typifies the sort of 20th -century choral recordings associated with groups such as the sorely-missed Dale Warland Singers, and includes such beauties as Heitzeg's setting of e.e. cummings' "Little Tree", Malcolm Sargent's ultra-peaceful Silent Night, and Eric Whitacre's glowing "Lux Aurumque" "Midwinter" from Boulder's Ars Nova Singers, long associated with new age instrumentalist Bill Douglas, is of the same genre, with Kverno's "Ave Maris Stella" as one of many highlights.

 "Christmas Joy" from Harrisonburg, VA's Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir is indeed a joy.  These kids, with occasional support from the Washington Symphonic Brass, show off a lot of polish and spirit.  The brass alone is also featured on a number of selections, playing jazzy versions of Christmas standards.  A year earlier the kids gave us "Silent Night", and on it they're more prominent and even more impressive.

Speaking of brass, does "Salvation Army" conjure a somewhat ragtag quartet of brass musicians on a streetcorner?  "Christmas with the Salvation Army" will quickly dispel that image.  The singing and playing of Christmas favorites by an apparently large number of musicians is downright lusty, with arrangements familiar enough that I'll bet you join in too.

But if you really need that little brass ensemble, how about one that can take credit for making Christmas brass popular in our time?  The Canadian Brass quintet had two big-selling Christmas LPs about 4 decades ago, and "Christmas Tradition" honors those earlier discs.  Made in Toronto's Rosedale United Church, it also features the big organ sound that has worked so well with brass since Bach's time.  You might also consider the group's earlier "Sweet Songs of Christmas", which takes full advantage of the many colors a brass quintet can produce.

"Christmas Favorites" from the Concordia College Percussion Ensemble and Marimba Choir certainly qualifies as one of the best surprise gifts of the year.  I expected a lot of noisy pounding, but instead found sparkling, innovative arrangements showing that people with mallets can make quite a few colors too.  Best of all, the bratty little drummer boy is nowhere to be heard (although his cousin Willie is on the scene).

The first time my Wisconsin-native self ever heard handbells was at a Christmas celebration in Huntsville's Alabama Constitutional Village.  Meanwhile, Alabama native Philip Roberts was first charmed by them in Wisconsin.  He made more of it than I did, and now directs Chicago Bronze.  On "Christmas in the City", its 14 accomplished ringers use five octaves of Malmark handbells (including one much bigger than a Packer lineman's head) and 4 octaves of handchimes, and they take me back to the moment I first fell in love with the warm sound made by this cold metal.

Finally, if you have a baroqueaholic among your acquaintances, "Machet die Tore weit: Baroque Christmas Cantatas from Central Germany" from the Sachsisches Vocalensemble and Batzdorfer Hofkapelle under Matthia Jung will not duplicate recordings already in their collections--I haven't heard of a single one of the six composers mentioned, much less heard their cantatas. But they sound, wel, like baroque Christmas cantatas. Not my thing, but judging from what's popular on Wisconsin Public Radio, baroque is the "thing" for many others.

JAZZ

Is it "crossover" or "smooth", "contemporary" or just good old "easy listening"?  Whatever you call it, the style dominated this year's Christmas jazz releases.  Guitarist Phil Sheeran offers lots of laid back goodies on "The First Noel", while guitarist Ross Nyberg offers his own plate of smooth jazz cookies on Acousticsol's "All Aglow." My pick of the six-stringers, though, was "Peter White Christmas", Peter's second Yuletide CD.  He gets able collaboration from trumpeter Rick Braun and saxophonist Mindi Abair, and all share in the vocal duties.

A "Christmas Present" from sax player Boney James contains a great new arrangement of "Santa Baby" with singer Chante Moore and a funky "Merry Christmas Baby" with Angie Stone, as well as a slow blues "Silent Night."  Longtime standards songbird Rebecca Kilgore joins pianist Tom Grant again on "Winter Warm" his second Christmas CD,  presenting a selection of familiar tunes that is light on the jazz but the season's best on the cuddle-up factor (Santa does allow naughty on Christmas Eve--too much trouble to take the presents back to the North Pole!). Natasha Miller is another gifted singer who gets jazz backing (mostly piano and guitar) on her fine "The Season". But she adds to my list of strange tunes on Christmas albums by including "One Hand One Heart" from West Side Story.

My top pick in jazz is "Carol of the Bells" from the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra.  BWJO has a BIG traditional sound, innovative arrangements, and fine vocals from Everett Greene, a discovery of saxman Houston Person.  Their "Silent Night" sounds like the kind of thing the band plays at the end of Saturday Night Live.  If a Dixieland band is your thing, check out "Swingin' The Season" by the Boilermaker Jazz Band.  Their "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" is hotter than a roasting chestnut about to pop.

PIANO

Two of my top picks here also have jazz flavor.  Mike Strickland's "Have Yourself A Jazzy Little Christmas" features higher energy finger-snappin' renditions compared to the other piano CDs listed here.  It is consistently interesting, and singer Greta Matassa provides fine vocals.  Mark Burnell's  "Christmas Piano" is a lightly jazzy solo effort that I found equally enjoyable.

Kathleen Ryan's "The Rebirth of Light" has high musical interest and superb playing, containing originals as well as seasonal standards in totally fresh versions (check out her "Drummer Boy").  The opening title cut is just a gorgeous ray of peace.  Frederick Isaac's  "Christmas Fantasies"  is also marked by innovative, sometimes startling takes on beloved carols.  Other pianists sometimes start with an unusual intro, then play the melody straight, but not Isaac.  Often interesting piano solos are also the stuff of "Christmas Time Is Here" by Steve August.  He offers particularly nice treatments of "Linus & Lucy" and the title cut.

Some pianists have taken to accompanying themselves with electronic "orchestrations", using samples of other instruments or purely electronic sounds.  Stewart Dudley's dreamlike "Comfort & Joy"  is one such example, and it reminded me very much of the early Narada Christmas compilations featuring folks like David Arkenstone.   Steve Hall's third Christmas CD "Rejoice" is considerably more upbeat, with more interesting arrangements.   Michael Allen Harrison's  "Enchanted Christmas Vol. 3" includes classical non-Christmas as well, and the Christmas tunes are agreeably spacey.

Minnesota's Lorie Line is practically a Christmas industry, like Christopher Radko or Department 56.  Her latest, "The Glory of Christmas" is more heavily orchestrated than the other discs here, and uses live musicians.  The musical styles vary throughout, and not all tracks "work", but check out her very unusual "Hallelujah Chorus" for something really interesting.  "Homecoming" is the latest Christmas CD from Jim Brickman, and while he doesn't yet seem to have a following quite as large as Line's, his recent appearance at the PAC suggests there are many folks who appreciate his easy listening approach. His arrangements are less orchestrated than Line's, though sometimes they're also a bit too stylistically similar to one another.. Finally, the old-fashioned in-the-parlor sound of carols played on the piano alone, in straightforward style with lots of ornamentation, is well represented by Robin Spielberg's "The Christmas Collection."

GUITAR

Just as the Christmas spirit gets lost in the clamor of the shopping mall, so too do the soft sounds of acoustic guitar getting Steamrollered across Trans-Siberia.  But little else so effectively adds to the atmosphere of a quiet Christmas.  Peter Janson's "Winter Gifts"  really captures the feeling.  Beautiful playing on extended versions of two familiar carols plus Peter's originals  make for hypnotic "gazing out at the snow" stuff. 

Royce Campbell's "A Solo Guitar Christmas" is a disc of wonderful slow renditions of seasonal tunes with lots of jazz chording.  Royce's jazz proclivities were even more apparent on his earlier "A Jazz Guitar Christmas", where he leads a traditional jazz trio.  Jazz with lilting South American flavor is topped by the sensitive guitar playing of Columbian Juan Carlos Quintero on "Joy To The World."

A harp guitar carries a second neck with harp strings for some deeper tones, and Muriel Anderson makes full use of this unusual hybrid on her very peaceful "Harp Guitar Christmas."  A dozen years ago, she and guitarist Jean-Felix-Lalanne created "A Little Christmas Gift", using different makes and models of conventional guitars to produce a distinctively enjoyable disc.

Solid Air Records is completely devoted to the acoustic guitar, and has many titles from some of the best players around.  They include a half-dozen Christmas CDs, with Jim Earp's "Bright Star.Tiny Babe.One Guitar" and Doug Smith's "A Guitar for Christmas" added this year.  Earp's arrangements are melody-focused and not too fancy, making for perfect singalong accompaniment.   Smith's arrangements are more interesting to my jaded ear.

"Slack key" is a method of tuning developed by Hawaiian cowboys, and it produces a warm, familiar sound  as eight different guitarists employ it for the carols on "Slack Key Christmas."

MISCELLANEOUS INSTRUMENTS AND VOICES

The one purely Celtic CD in the pack is "Yuledance" by Molly's Revenge with Jesse Autumn, and it's a fine example of the genre that always leads to dancing.  RoseWynde is flutist Sandy Duffy Norman and concert harpist Kathryn Cater, and there's some Celtic spirit on "A Merry Little Christmas."  Caccini's achingly beautiful "Ave Maria" graces a disc of delicacy such as only these instruments can produce. Not all of tunes were of Christmas on their earlier "Winter Ayres", but the atmosphere is the same. Just two unnamed musicians also constitute the Clearwater Ensemble, and they employ guitars, mandolin, and synthesized strings to create their own diverse arrangements of ten Christmas classics on "Enchanted Christmas."

Seven Christmas carols are given a fascinating trancelike feel through the use of such instruments as tabla, mandolin, and bandir on Solterre's "Songs of Solstice - Volume One."  But perhaps the most unusual CDs of the season come from Native American music label Canyon Records.  One, "Navajo Christmas" by the Todi Neesh Zhee Singers & Friends, begins with carols and social dance songs in traditional style, meaning lots of chanting.  Four more carols are sung in both Navajo and English, and Consuela Chacon's unaccompanied "Silent Night" is not to be missed.  "Red Christmas - A Round Dance Christmas Celebration" comes from Warscout, composed of Cree, Lumbee, and Apache/Navajo musicians.  The typical sung injects English lyrics into spirited "hey yah" chanting with startling effect.

While the Native American flutes of Mark Holland are at the center of "Greatest Gift - An Autumn's Child Christmas", their CD is really in the "world music" category.   The diversity of instruments and musical styles make for a recording that is both meditative and entertaining. "Christmas Lights" by Charm City Sound is anything but meditative. It's polka party time, with exuberant accordion-led playing on standards, Polish carols, and originals. However, they also have the truly horrible vocals that always seem to characterize polka bands (I should know--with a Polish last name, and "wedding photographer" in my past, I've heard many, many polka bands). But you'll probably be too busy stomping around the dancefloor to notice.

POP/ROCK/R&B

"Snow Angels" from Over The Rhine-the team of Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler-- is simply stunning.  The music is an interesting pop/folk/country/blues mix, but it's the lyrics (mostly by Linford) that amaze.  While others struggle to write even one good new Christmas tune, here's a dozen without a trifle among them.  My favorite was "Little Town", which turns a familiar carol into a plea for peace in the Middle East. These aren't traditional tunes at all-they're Christmas in the way Joni Mitchell's "River" or Gordon Lightfoot's "Song for a Winter's Night" (made popular by Sarah McLachlan) are Christmas.

Crispin's "The Fresh Noel" also tops my Yuletide stack o' shinies.  Funk, Latin, rock, and jazz elements are applied to twelve standards, with results as new as the title promises.  The penultimate 8-minute plus "Little Drummer Boy" will actually force you to dance around the tree!

Darlene Love is a Christmas perennial on David Letterman's show, and "It's Christmas, Of Course" is her sleighride through popular Christmas tunes of a few decades ago-tunes by such as Tom Petty, Chrissie Hynde, James Brown, Robbie Robertson, and John Lennon.  Carnie Wilson's "Christmas With Carnie" is classic, heavily produced pop/rock.  While not the greatest singer ever, her album is quite enjoyable, and reminds me a bit of Karen Carpenter.  Juice Newton's "The Gift of Christmas" was pleasant pop, and I'm sure her fans will love it, but it wasn't distinctive enough for me.

Among the male crooners, Jon Secada's  "A Christmas Fiesta" brings the expected Latin pop flavor to familiar tunes.  A simultaneous release with an identical cover, "Una Fiesta Navidena", presents many of the same songs in Spanish, so be sure to get the right one if you aren't bilingual.  On "It's That Time of Year Again" Sal Anthony's fine voice is heard in country and pop arrangements of classic carols as well as new tunes that often have the spiritual element found on many country recordings.  

Jeff Meegan sings a dozen tunes-almost all originals by Brad or Gale Tolan Hatfield and Jeff-on "Season of Love."  The style is smooth jazz and Jeff's voice is light, reminding me most of Harry Connick Jr.  Michael Bolton's "A Swingin' Christmas" is an extended version of last year's release under the same title, adding "Silent Night" and "Joy To The World.".  Don't buy it if you already have the earlier CD.

Marie Barlow Martin has one of the most purely beautiful voices on any CD reviewed here, and on unaccompanied portions of songs such as "I Wonder As I Wander" it is literally breathtaking.  Her CD his entitled "Years", and alternates reverential sacred and jazz-flavored secular songs throughout.   On her second Christmas CD, "Breath of Heaven", Sara Botkin uses here equally beautiful but more classically trained voice to deliver a full disc of 22 songs. Although there are only 7 Christmas favorites on Annelise LeCheminant's short "Christmas", her voice and interpretations, and the instrumental accompaniment, are so strong as to make it a must. A salacious "Santa Baby" begins alto Rosie Carlino's equally short "Christmas With You", a completely secular disc that completely lives up to its "for lovers" kind of title.

Jacqui Naylor is a singer who mixes jazz, folk-rock, and adult alternative influences.  But she mixes tunes as well as styles on "Smashed for the Holidays", making for one of the most diverse CDs of the season.  "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" is smashed with "Sweet Home Alabama", "What Child Is This" with Led Zep's "Baby, I'm Gonna Leave You", and so on.  It could all have disastrous, unintentionally hilarious results, but instead becomes one of my top picks.

 There is a different kind of beauty in "Christmas Feelings" by Toronto's Ault Sisters.  There isn't a strong voice among the three young adolescents, but the blending of their high sweet voices is often magical, especially on arrangements that were clearly created just for them by their teacher.  It is the sound of the smaller, less flashy angels.  Strong spiritual originals are the best part of singer/songwriter Carolyn Arends "The Irrational Season", although the musicianship is superb throughout as well.  If you're looking for a truly Christian recording, buy this instead of the usual overproduced pop that dominates the contemporary Christian music scene.

Hard-core R&B/rock 'n' roll is what you get on "Merry Christmas" with R&B legend General Johnson  and The Chairmen of the Board.  John Fluker's R&B stylings on "J Is For Joy" are smoother, in an Eighties way.   And "This is Christmas" finds the sweet tenor of Canadian Shawn Glynn floating over a variety of R&B-influenced styles on a too-short CD.  Shawn is a true Packer backer, which means he is a man of discernment and taste in more than just music!

Names like Winger, Twisted Sister, Queensryche, Dokken, and Stryper tell you you've entered the heavy metal part of the forest, and that's what's in store on "Monster Ballads Xmas."  An "acoustic jangle pop" band is how the allmusic site describes Sister Hazel,  but whatever that means-and it sure beats me-- "Santa's Playlist" made for much listening pleasure.  The New York Room's "Ghosts of Christmas Past" pairs fragile female vocals with the gloomy, synth-heavy arrangements and originals of keyboardist Matthew Ervin.  It's too dark for me, but that goth teenager of yours will scowl approvingly at it.

The title says it all on Frank Lee Sprague's "Merry Christmas: Traditional Carols Arranged as Traditional Rock Songs"-"We Three Kings" Moody Blues-style, "Hark The Herald Angels Sing" as the Bobby Fuller Four might have done it, "Joy to the World" from The Who-you get the idea, and Sprague has the chops to pull it all off.
Last year he produced "Merry Merseybeat Christmas" originals for those whose pacemaker is still triggered by Gerry and the Pacemakers.

Fans of Fifties rock will love The Mighty Echoes mighty enjoyable "Doo Wop Around The Christmas Tree", the only fault of which is a 28 minute length.   A more contemporary doowop sound colors Tonic Sol Fa's "On Top of The World", on which this first-rate a cappella group really mixes it up with strongly religious songs, "Ay Ay Ay It's Christmas",  McCartney's "Goodnight", plus a grinch and a baby king. 

Speaking of the Fifties, Fats Domino shows up (with many other musicians) on "Have A Merry South Louisiana Christmas."  It's a long, swampy romp (18 tracks) that once again shows why compilations from "various artists" can be lots more fun that single-artist releases.  But another of my top picks this year, "Not Just Another Holiday CD" from Garagista Music, tops them all for variety.  It's hard to think of a genre not prepresented, and it is well  done throughout.

Some years ago I played a Christmas CD from a Kaukauna group called Relativity on my show, but I did it out of some kind of local obligation--it was pretty bad (I recall a lead female singer who seemed to always be hiding the key under the mat). So I put off even opening their new "Christmas Favorites." When I finally auditioned it, whilst driving around Anoka, MN on Thanksgiving, I was very pleasantly surprised by the sound of sweet of sweet female vocal harmonizing. They're still strictly "local" talent (the alto is still a bit of a weak spot), but the kind you'd actually go to hear. Contact Allison Mischler at 766-2887 to get a copy of their enjoyable CD.

GOSPEL/CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN

I'm a sucker for big mass choir recordings, and there's none better than the Mississippi Mass Choir.  Their "We Have Seen His Star" is one long shout of ecstatic joy, with choral singing and highly melismatic solos just about as far as you can get from contemplative chanting monks.  It simply explodes, culminating in a hair-raising "O Come All Ye Faithful." 

An equally time-honored sound, that of a gospel quartet, is heard on The Sensational Nightingales' "A Nightingales Christmas."  They've been around for 65 years (not the original members, of course), but this is their first Christmas CD.  "Christmas with Luther Barnes" is marked by a more polished contemporary sound.   Barnes is a well-known gospel artist with a a tenor voice both strong and smooth.

Bebo Norman's "Christmas from the Realms of Glory" was inspired by the words of Jackson Browne's "The Rebel Jesus."  The CD has traditional tunes in Bebo's fresh arrangements, excellent originals, and Browne's thought-provoking tune, which reminds us that whoever you think Jesus was, he certainly didn't come to be the savior of Wall Street and Walmart.   John Jones "A Brand New Christmas" has a somewhat more traditional gospel sound, but his strong voice is the real treat on this mix of familiar and unfamiliar tunes.

Two Christian "alternative" groups with plenty of sales beyond a narrow category have recommended Christmas CDs.  Jars of Clay offers "Christmas Songs" and the more "attitude" Relient K gives us "Let It Snow Baby.Let It Reindeer"-an extended version of last year's "Deck, the Halls, Bruise Your Hand."  Relient K rocks harder if that will decide it for you-even Handel gets the treatment--but both of these discs are thoroughly enjoyable, and far removed from treacly "praise music."

COUNTRY

"Christmas in the Sierra" is where David John and the Comstock Cowboys spend the season, and their CD looks back to the likes of Hank Snow and Tex Ritter, with songs about Christmas on the trail or on the ranch.  I actually enjoyed it more than "Classic Christmas" from cowboy-hatted Toby Keith.  Toby spreads two 1 CD worth of songs over two CDs, but though he has a good voice, he take the songs (all classics) too straight for me.  He was best in the faster numbers; in the slower numbers, I wished he was Randy Travis. 

In contrast to the earlier discs in the series, "Christmas Grass Vol. 3" features just one bluegrass group (3 Fox Drive) and guests.  While the CD had definite high spots, the last cut, which concludes with Charlie Daniels reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, is downright strange.   Christmas belongs to everybody, and to associate it with one nation just sullies it as much as any screaming retailer could.

It somehow seems appropriate to end this year's round up with the work of songwriters Whit Hill and John Latini, whose separate efforts decorate "D-E-A-R S-A-N-T-A."  The songs are most often in a country/folk/pop style (they call it "beatnik alt-country"), and cover all kinds of stuff usually overlooked, such as "Christmas in Michigan" ("tryin' to stay out of that ditch again"), "Mama Made Her Getaway" (you can guess why), and "Lionel" ("Lionel, Lionel, makes that train I love so well").  This disc is just a lot of fun in a season that is partly insane anyway (just ask that screaming toddler in the department store Santa's lap on the cover).