|
| |
 |
|
“A rich mosaic of well-crafted originals and
beloved Scottish/Celtic holiday pieces. This is a terrific choice for
those who love warmly-executed folk music; every note is a treasure.
“What an emotional, lovely opening!
On Christ Child's Lullaby, O'Meara sets the tone with a soulful rendition
of the traditional Scottish carol. ... From the first bars of the
opening track, I knew that Christmas Light would be a first-rate treat.
“O'Meara contributes six new holiday
pieces, and she definitely knows how to marry melodies with lyrics into
masterful Christmas tales ... the stories had me hanging on every word.
... Folk aficionados who enjoy Celtic stylings and embrace newly-minted
holiday pieces should have a field day with this one. Enjoy the brilliant
Christmas Light!”
–Carol Swanson, christmasreviews.com,
November 2009
Read the full review:
http://christmasreviews.com/wlocklinroad2.shtml
|
|
"Christmas Light is easily the best submission of Christmas music
I received this year! Tenderly crafted arrangements of traditional
songs alongside brilliant new original tracks result in the perfect
blend of holiday folk music."
–Wendy Donahue, Cleveland Celtic Podcast, December 2009
|
One of the “simplest, sweetest CDs of this season.”
–Dr. Gerry Grzyb, aka “Dr. Christmas,” WRST-FM |
To hear samples of songs on Christmas
Light, order the Christmas Light CD or
download the full album or single songs, go to:
or 
or 
For more information, contact: sheriomeara@comcast.net
Christmas Light
Sheri O’Meara: Lead vocals, guitar
Dan Kowalke: Vocals, guitars, mandolin, and assorted wondrous sounds.
Gregg Weigand: Vocals, guitars.
Joan Olson: Flute (Light a Candle, Cherry Tree Carol, Auld Lang Syne) and vocals (Light a Candle)
Joanne Keenan: Vocals (Auld Lang Syne, Light a Candle)
Produced by Dan Kowalke at RVM Music. rvmmusic@yahoo.com
Christmas Light songs:
Christ Child’s Lullaby traditional
Scottish 5:05
A Bed for the Baby by Sheri
O’Meara 3:27
Cherry Tree Carol
traditional
Celtic 3:00
Light a Candle
by Sheri O’Meara
2:56
The Lambs on the
Green Hills
music
traditional Irish/words Sheri O’Meara 2:30
Ring That Bell
by Sheri
O’Meara 3:41
Broken Angel
by Sheri O’Meara
3:49
What Child is This
traditional
Celtic 3:55
Starlight Lullaby
by Sheri
O’Meara 4:23
Guardian Angel
by Sheri O’Meara
3:49
Auld Lang Syne
traditional Scottish
3:18
Sheri’s song notes:
| Setting out to
record a Christmas album is daunting. You just don't want to mess with people's
idea of what Christmas is. But neither did I want to do an album of all those
wonderful but "same old" carols. What we ended up with is a group of
songs very dear to me that reflect a more personal view of Christmas. We hope
they resonate with you, too:
|
1.
Christ Child’s
Lullaby traditional
Scottish
This hymn is still
sung at Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve in the Outer Hebrides, an island chain
off the west coast of
Scotland
, where Scottish Gaelic is still spoken. It is said that Father Ronald Rankin
wrote verses for his congregation to sing in Gaelic at Midnight on Christmas
Eve, and gave the song to them before he left for
Australia
in 1855. The original song has 29 verses, and several variations. I love the
ancient, haunting, emotional feel of this melody and heartfelt lyrics. In
recording this, Dan did a terrific job retaining this mood and a sense of
reverence for the holy night.
|
2.
A
Bed for the Baby by Sheri O'Meara
This song came all
at once to me a couple of years ago, while holding a tiny porcelain nativity
scene my mother had given me. Looking at it, I thought, "It looks so
picture perfect and holy and symbolic. But I'll bet there was just a lot of
basic human emotion going on. I'll bet Mary just wanted a bed for the
baby."
|
3.
Cherry Tree
Carol traditional
Celtic
I first sang this
in church choir and loved it. It is one of the rare traditional tunes that is
both a Christmas carol and one of the Child Ballads (No. 54), the collection of
305 English and Scottish folk ballads collected by Francis James Child in the
19th century. The song was said to have been sung at the Feast of Corpus Christi
in the early 15th century. In modern times it has been recorded by some of my
very favorites—Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris. That's Gregg
singing with me on this one, and Joan adding her lovely flute.
|
4.
Light a
Candle by Sheri O'Meara
When I first
learned of the Irish tradition of lighting a candle in the window on Christmas
Eve to welcome the passing stranger—I knew I had to write this song. Joan and
Joanne sing with me on this, and there's Joan's beautiful flute again.
|
5.
The Lambs on the Green
Hills
music
traditional Irish/words
Sheri O'Meara
I love this
traditional tune. But a song about jilted love just doesn't belong at
Christmastime. So I kept the tune, the title and the original first line of the
song ("The lambs on the green hills they sport and they play") and
re-wrote the song to focus on the lambs at Christmas. |
6.
Ring That Bell
by Sheri O'Meara
I'm told this song
is my "Christmas rock song." With a great, big nod to Andrew Lloyd
Webber: The melody came after I was humming "Music of the Night" from
Phantom of the Opera, then sped it up and changed it and thought of church bells
and Norman Rockwell … and the words came. I love the bells Dan came up with
for this cd (how do we do this live??), and how Dan and Gregg sing their part.
|
7.
Broken
Angel by Sheri O'Meara
The subtitle to
this could be "The Superglue Song." One December in the weeks before
Christmas, at about midnight one night, I was attempting to Superglue the broken
wings back on two different Christmas angels. Didn't work. I Superglued my
fingers together, and my pajamas to the kitchen counter. But the angels stayed
broken. (Note to self: Superglue does NOT work on porcelain.) Frustrated, I
almost threw away the angels, muttering, "What do you do with a broken
angel?" And there was the lyric around which I built the song. Those are
Gregg and Dan's lovely guitars here. |
8.
What Child is
This traditional
Simply my favorite
Christmas carol ever. "What Child Is This" lyrics were written in 1865
by William Chatterton Dix as part of his song "The Manger Throne," set
to the traditional English melody of "Greensleeves," an ancient
English folk song. |
9.
Starlight
Lullaby by Sheri O'Meara
This song reflects
the quiet of that first Christmas Eve and how I imagined it might have been for
Mary, and how all of nature might have paid homage. After Dan determined the
mystery chord I had been missing (G+), we were good to go. |
10.
Guardian
Angel by Sheri O'Meara
This song was
written for my godson, nephew Teddy, for his baptism. A song about an angel sung
for a baby—it seems to also fit Christmas, don't you think?
|
11.
Auld Lang
Syne traditional
Scottish
I loved gathering
everyone for this song—Gregg, Dan, Joanne and Joan. The Scottish poem was
written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song.
These days, we really only hear it on New Year's Eve. The title may be
translated as "old long since," or "long long ago" or
"days gone by."
|
BONUS:
Wait a few seconds after
song #11.... There's a special surprise here for purchasers of the physical CD.
No, it's not a mistake. But it was a surprise to me until the very, VERY end of
the production process, so we
decided to leave it an unannounced "bonus" on the cd, too. I had
rejected this song, leaving it on the cutting room floor, until Dan secretly
added some magical sounds, and delivered two "final" versions of the
CD: one with and one without this song. See if we made the right call.
|
“What a
magnificent collection of songs! Truthfully,
it's the only Christmas music I have bought in over
5 years. It is refreshing and I enjoy the talents of
Locklin Road. A disc you can listen to over and over.”
–author
“J.C.” on CDBaby
|
|
|
|
