I have to push my favorite Christmas album, A Tapestry of Carols by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band.
Rock fans may recognize Maddy’s name as the one-time lead singer of the English folk-rock band Steeleye Span. This is not a rock album, but it isn’t your traditional Christmas fare, either. The Carnival Band plays a miscellany of instruments including fiddle and drums and various winds, and the album manages to be both rollicking and reverent. I push it on everybody I know. Not everyone likes it, but those who do like it a lot. The link above is to the album’s page on eMusic, a music subscription service. I’m not positive whether you can hear the samples without being a member. It’s on a small label and you may have trouble finding it in local stores unless you live in a big city, but Amazon has it.
Amy Welborn (of Open Book) has a fine, a very fine, Christmas meditation on National Review Online.
And here’s something of mine, which appeared in the National Catholic Register some twenty-plus years ago and which I always kind of liked.
I wish all a Christmas which is both holy and merry.
–Maclin Horton
