Sunday Afternoon Listening Cafe #9

Merry Christmas, The New Christy Minstrels

This one is my mother’s favourite Christmas album. She doesn’t remember much anymore but she remembers and can sing these songs. I make a point of playing it for her and it’s very emotional for me.

The group is a fascinating one. Formed by Randy Sparks by bringing in folk groups into his existing trio, the group became a revolving door of singers, some who became famous artists in their own right. ¹ Amazingly, the band still exists as a foundation. Sparks created the group as a response to choral groups incorporating folk music into their repertoires, feeling they lacked “rustic character”.²

By the time this album was released in fall 1963, they had become regulars on The Andy Williams Show, had a hit single³ and had won a Grammy for their debut album the year before. The album is produced by their regular producer Jim Harbert, who was Doris Day’s longtime producer and also worked with Sammy Davis Jr and Frank Sinatra. The album features some gorgeous arrangements done by original members Nick Woods and Art Podell (of Art & Paul fame).

There’s text on the back of the album explaining the album, which was standard at the time. It talks about how hard it was to find Christmas spirit in the summer when they needed to record so they threw themselves a Christmas party to get into the spirit. “To the Christies, belief in the music we sing is paramount.” They go on to give a description paragraph:

In this album we are proud to offer a folk-song approach to the Season, not merely a rehash of the beautiful but perhaps overly familiar carols. The songs are fun, descriptive, reverent. The performances are sincere!

Beautiful City is a rip-roaring opening to the album. Tell it on the Mountain and It’ll Be a Merry Christmas are the familiar tracks but feel fresh in the group’s hands. One Star and Tell Me are hauntingly beautiful. Christmas Wishes is a plea for peace and love. Sing Along with Santa is a hoot, even though it hasn’t aged well. I was a big fan of Parson Brown (Our Christmas Dinner) when I was a kid.

It’s a short album and it does feel of its time but it’s still worth listening to. Enjoy this week’s café!

1. Kenny Rogers, Barry McGuire, Kim Carnes, Larry Ramos, & Gene Clark

2. He also named the group after Christy's Minstrels, a blackface group formed by showman Edwin Pearce Christy in 1842 which was known for introducing Stephen Foster's compositions. In his blog a few years ago, he patted himself on the back for “single-handedly rescued the word ‘minstrel’ from the landfill of Political Correctness. Successfully fought Columbia Records who refused to allow ‘racist word’ to be associated with the label.” Yeah. There also appears to have been some racist stuff connected with Larry Ramos although I do need to give him props for bringing Ramos in. Let’s just say I’m not Sparks’ biggest fan.

3. Green Green, which became huge in Japan after being translated for a children’s show.