Sacred

Andy Griffith is well known to most everybody.  Having been born in Mount Airy, North Carolina in 1926, he was able to take his home spun accent and mannerisms to the highest level.  Easily regarded as one of the best sitcoms ever produced, The Andy Griffith Show is still in reruns to this day.  Many great moral lessons have been taught to children throughout all decades since.

Andy Griffith developed an interest in music and drama while in school.  He continued to act in drama productions at college while earning a Bachelor of Music degree.

His first foray into entertainment was as a standup comedian, mostly through story telling.  He would describe events in his life or even Shakespeare, all with a naïve and poor country demeanor.  He was a big hit early on.  The acting role that made him an overnight success was starring on Broadway in No Time For Sergeants in 1955.  The play tells the story of a bumbling, inept Country bumpkin that gets drafted into the Army.  The role was perfect for Andy Griffith, who understood the task and because of his North Carolina upbringing, was able to deliver a most convincing character.  This led to a starring role in the movie version of No Time For Sergeants in 1958.  Andy Griffith’s first starring movie role also earned him great acclaim in A Face In The Crowd, in 1957.

After The Andy Griffith Show, he starred in a few failed TV shows before hitting the big time again with the show Matlock.

All throughout his TV career, Andy Griffith released albums.  In the beginning, they were comedy records, similar to the routines he performed in comedy clubs.  After retiring from TV work, he released CDs of Sacred songs in the 1990’s.  His first Christmas record came in 1976, narrating the Rankin / Bass TV special Frosty’s Winter Wonderland.  (Look for a review of that album in this blog’s future).

This is Andy Griffith’s first release of Christmas songs, although true to Andy Griffith form, 4 of the selections are stories that describe the true meaning of Christmas.  The CD artwork is very good.  The cover presents Andy in a forest setting, looking directly at the camera with a look of pride on his face while holding his 1956 Martin guitar.  The back cover photo has Andy and his wife walking hand in hand in a forest.  Andy appears to be carrying a dobro.  Both front and back photos are in a sepia finish.

The CD cover comes out and is a 10-page booklet.  The first page contains production and recording credits followed by a personal message of thanks from Marty Stuart, the producer of Andy’s Christmas CD.  The third and fourth pages are a message of thanks from Andy himself and a brief history of how he approached Marty Stuart to produce this CD.

Starting with the fifth page, the songs are listed with performing artists, arrangers and orchestra directions under each song title.  On the opposite side of the printed pages are photos of Andy in different settings.  Some by himself, some with his wife and one with his dog.  The back of the booklet gives a brief history of Andy’s 1956 Martin guitar.

So, the artwork and information included is very good.  This CD performed very well on the Billboard Christmas chart, going as high as # 27 in 2003.

As I said earlier, 4 of the selections are ‘story’ songs and this CD opens with one of those.  The first track is The Christmas Guest, a story song written by Grandpa Jones in 1969.  It is one of the most common Christmas story songs and many Country artists have covered it.  All the story songs and 6 others feature instrumentation provided by Kristin Wilkinson & her Orchestra.

All the non-story songs are traditional hymns.  You won’t find Jingle Bells or Frosty The Snow Man on here.  That’s not much of a surprise considering the musical albums Andy released in the 90’s and 2000’s feature Sacred songs.  There was a certain message Andy Griffith wanted to communicate with this, his first independent Christmas release, and that was of the sacredness of Christmas.  That message is felt throughout the CD.

The best of the traditional hymns include O Come, O Come Emmanuel / What Child Is This?, Away In A Manger / Golden Slumber and Joy To The World.

As I said, I like the story songs the best.  And another one of my favorites is the 4^th track, Jesus’ Birth In Bethlehem, Luke 2.  I am most familiar with this through Tennessee Ernie Ford.  It is a recital of the Gospel of St. Luke, Chapter 2, usually verses 1 – 9.  It tells the story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.

This CD will not appeal much to the average listener.  I don’t want to take anything away from Andy Samuel Griffith, but he is not a great singer.  Perhaps it’s his age.  I’ve heard him sing on The Andy Griffith Show and he wasn’t that bad, but that was 40 years before recording this CD.  I enjoy his stories, but his vocals range from a tenor down to a baritone, all during the same song and are a bit lacking in pleasantness.

It’s not Pop, it is Country, but it is more along the lines of Sacred music.  Mainly because of the song selection and instrumentation.  If you’re looking for an upbeat Christmas CD to put on with friends during the holidays, you don’t want to put this one on.  This is more suited for a small group of 2 or 4, in a quiet setting.

As I said earlier, you won’t find Jingle Bells or Frosty The Snow Man on here, so if you’re wanting the classic Christmas experience, familiar Christmas songs to keep the season bright, look elsewhere.

I like Andy Griffith.  He lived and acted according to his convictions.  I like having his Christmas CD in my collection.

I give this CD :

**1/2*