Sacred

October 12, 2022

# 19

Andy Griffith
The Christmas Guest - Stories And Songs Of Christmas
2003

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(P) & © 2003 Sparrow Records®
Manufactured by Sparrow Label Group
Distributed in USA by Chordant Distribution Group®. Distributed in Canada by C.M.C.
Distribution. “SPARROW” and “CHORDANT” Reg. U.S. Pat. And TM Off.

# 27 – 2003 – Billboard Christmas

Genre : 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 directors 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 4th 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, but it has its drawbacks.

I give this CD :

**1/2*

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July 23, 2022

# 4

Chuck Wagon Gang
Christmas With The Chuck Wagon Gang
1994

(Originally released 1954 as Joy To The World on Columbia Records)

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©1994 Sony Music Entertainment Inc./ Sony Music Special Products Manufactured by Columbia Records/”Columbia” & “Sony” Reg. U.S. Patent & TM Office/Marca Registrada
Previously released as #CK 57182

Genre : Sacred

This should be a treat for many of you all!  If you like to collect Christmas music, and you like to collect vintage Christmas music, this is one for you.  Now, in all fairness, it is “old timey, sacred” music.  Originally recorded and released in 1954 as Joy To The World by the Chuck Wagon Gang; a group that was and still is known for performing sacred music.  The Chuck Wagon Gang, which is still active today and tours regularly, is still a family group.  They started in the mid 30’s as a family group led by “Dad” Carter, (no relation to The Carter Family) and 3 of his children. They were very popular and well known in the country music circles.  They signed to Columbia Records early in their career and set a record for being with the label for 39 years.  At one point, they were Columbia Records best-selling artists!

Their music is what I classify as Original Country, accompanied only by acoustic guitar.  Their song selection is Sacred.  Christian hymns, traditional mountain gospel music and similar song stylings.  I like it!  It’s vintage Christmas Country music.

So, on to the CD.  As stated earlier, this was originally released as Joy To The World in 1954 with 8 songs.  It was re-issued in 1965 as Christmas With The Chuck Wagon Gang, with 2 additional songs.  This CD is a re-release of the 1965 LP.

The cover artwork for the CD is considerably different from the cover artwork of the 1965 album.  In 1965, the cover depicted a large family farmhouse with barns and outbuildings at dusk.  The ground is covered in snow and because it’s dusk, the lighting is low.  The cover for the CD shows a drawing of a covered wagon coming through a western town.  The image gives to a feeling that this was a harsh winter; the sky is deeply overcast, and the town’s road is covered in deep snow.

The back of the CD shows the same drawing as the front cover, albeit there is more to it.  It’s a little larger on the sides.  The CD title and a numerical track listing in sentence format appears in a green box a little below center and slightly to the right.  Typical publishing and copywrite notices are presented at the bottom.

The front cover comes out and opens along a single fold, revealing a left and right side.  Unfornately, and especially since this is a Sony Music reissue, there is no information inside the front cover.  Both sides are blank.  I hate it when they do that.  Especially for a group many people have never heard of, and from a group so dedicated to their music.

And the back of the front cover insert doesn’t offer much more help either.  It features the same track listing as on the back of the CD, but the colors are reversed.  On the back of the CD insert, the track listing is presented in a red box against a green background.  The same publishing and copywrite notices appear at the bottom as well.  But there is one piece of information that I really love to see.  At the bottom right corner are the letters “AAD”.  This stands for Analog-Analog-Digital.  The original recording was done on Analog equipment, so at least we know it was before 1985.  The second “Analog” refers to the mastering of the record.  So, these selections have not been remastered digitally, and the original masters were used to produce this reissue.  And the last “Digital” refers to the medium the music is presented in; this CD.  When I buy CDs of older Christmas music, I definitely look for the “AAD”.  At least then I know I’m getting something most likely recorded during the Classic Christmas Music Recording Era.

The CD begins with Joy To The World, with terrific harmonies layered over a slow, temporal acoustic guitar.  If you listen closely, you can clearly hear each of the four voices singing slightly different harmonies.

Silent Night is performed soulfully with acoustic guitar.  This music has a wonderful gospel feel to it.  Even in their Christmas songs, The Chuck Wagon Gang has a gospel sound.

The First Noel is one of my favorites of the whole CD.  A wonderful rendition of a classic Christian hymn.

The 5th track is a non-traditional Christmas hymn, In The Garden.  It is well known as a traditional sacred song.  It is one of two songs that did not appear on the original LP, but were included in the first re-issue in 1965.  I like that they included it on their Christmas LP.  It may not be a true Christmas hymn, but when you spend time listening to Christmas hymns, a lot of sacred songs fit in really well.

The 7th song, O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles), is one of the stand out selections throughout the whole CD.  I’m not exactly sure as to what makes this so special.  It’s a straight ahead traditional everything; song selection, musical arrangement, vocal arrangement; but it’s very soulful and just the perfect song to play on Christmas morning.

The rest of the CD is filled with similar, acoustic guitar led, traditional Christmas hymns performed with conviction and compassion.

The CD closes out with the other song from the 1965 re-issue, In The Sweet Forever.  Also, a non-traditional Christmas hymn, it is a great way to finish this CD.  It presents itself much more upbeat than the other selections presented here, the harmonies are more call and response structured.  Classic gospel music from the mid 60’s.

As I’ve said throughout this blog, one of my goals is to collect as much of the oldest Christmas music as I can.  This CD is technically from 1954, performed by a group that started in 1935 and whose sound did not change much in 20 years.  So, you get a Christmas CD with a very old-time Country sound.

That being said, this CD will not appeal to most listeners today.  Yes, it is authentic; yes, it comes across as real; performed by a family gospel group that was dedicated to professing their faith.  The instrumentation is bare; solo acoustic guitar.  If you like Original Country, circa 1930’s music, and you like to collect Christmas music, you definitely need to have this in your collection.  Otherwise, keep this one on the shelf during Christmas parties.  Best saved for family times, a quiet morning or afternoon on Christmas day, sitting by the window watching the snow fall.

I give this CD :

***

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