"Christmas Each Day" on Dulcimer Radio

Online Folk Radio Station - Live365 Internet Radio - Dulcimer Radio

Happy to say that I've made the Christmas playlist that's spinning this month on Dulcimer Radio, formerly known as Sweetwater Radio. Lots of great artists, but I'll let Cindy tell you about that herself:

It's up and ready, four hours of great Christmas/ holiday/Hanukkah music on
Dulcimer Radio!

The only sad thing about putting together such a lovely program of music -
you just can't use as much as you'd like. Due to governmental regulations,
I can only use two tracks from one album, or three tracks from two or more.
So, I've picked out some really interesting tracks..but leave many very
lovely and worthy tracks behind.

So, here is the list of Christmas/Holiday dulcimer recordings that I'm
pulling from. It's early in the season, so you can contact the artists if
you choose, do your holiday shopping, and enjoy the entire album. (Please
go to: www.myspace. com/dulcimerradi o for a list of contact information on
all the artists!)

Back Porch Friends: Christmas Jam

Butch Ross: The Dulcimer Christmas Card

Doug Thomson: Crackin' Choir

Esther Kreek and Charlie Pinzino: Christmas Joy

Evening Rose: Christmas Rose (new)

Jane Chevalier: Dulcimer Noel

Janita and Robert Baker: Hot Rod Sleigh!

Katie LaRaye Waldren: Cold Frosty Morning

Linda G Thomas: An Old English Christmas

Maggie Sansone: Sounds of the Season

Marcille Wallis: In Quiet Joy, Christmas with the Celts

Marcy Prochaska: What Child Is This?

Masters of the Mountain Dulcimer: Masters of the Mountain Dulcimer Play
Music for Christmas

Ned Spurlock: O Holy Night

Peggy Carter and Beverly Allison: A Touch of Christmas Around the World

Steve Scneider and Dave Neiman: The Door to Christmas

Susan Vinson Sherlock: Under the Winter Moon

Steve Eulberg: 'Twas in the Moon of Wintertime

Dave Haas and Bob Webb : Starry, Starry Night

Erich Overhultz: 7th Floor Christmas

Helicon: A Winter Solstice

Linda Brockinton: An Old Fashioned Christmas

Russell Cook: White Christmas

Other artitsts on this playlist: Brittany Bay, Don Pedi, David Schnaufer &
Stephen Seifert, Davie Moran & Hoe Morgan, Dan Evans, Circle of Friends,
Country Strings, Guy George, Hidid Muller, Hills of Kentucky Dulcimer, Jan
Hammond, Jeff Hames, Jim, Jim and the Fatboys, Joe Collins & Mike McGee,

John Blosser, Larkin Bryant and Friends, Metamora, Summerfield.

I'm planning to leave this playlist up all of December..but if I find time,
I 'may' go in and switch some things..just for some Ho-Ho's.

From me, and the North Harris County Dulcimer Society, we wish you all a
wonderful, warm and very musical Christmas / holiday / Hanukkah season!

Cindy

(and remember, with every note, an angel gets his/her wings!!! )

Christmas Each Day: Order Now!

The album is now completed and is beginning to ship out to folks who have pre-ordered.
Order now to get your copy by Thanksgiving!

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Bing Futch - "Christmas Each Day"

Bing's first Christmas album was partly inspired by the classic record "The Little Drummer Boy" by the Harry Simeone Chorale. With memories of that album as the soundtrack to every Christmas growing up in Los Angeles, California, the foundation was set for a magical trip through time and space with traditional hymns and carols spanning over 500 years while circumnavigating the globe.

The Appalachian mountain dulcimer is showcased here in a wide variety of musical styles and unique arrangements of timeless classics. From the Beach Boys style harmonies of the title track and the Celtic flavor of "Deck The Halls" to solo and ensemble mountain dulcimer orchestrations. World drums and percussion with symphonic intruments and acoustic guitar add beautiful textures to tracks like "The First Noel" and "Joy To The World" while 50's rock 'n' roll, roadhouse gospel blues, folk and old-time music all take a turn around the tree. It all weaves through a combination of the story of Christ's birth and holiday season favorites, alternately kicking it up a notch and taking it down to a whisper, finally ending up with the original orchestral piece "One Winter Solstice Morn."

Bing performs mountain dulcimer, baritone dulcimer, vocals, keyboards and arranged all of the tunes. His wife, Jae, makes her recorded singing debut with a playful and joyful renditon of "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree." Roger Zimish adds flavorful acoustic guitar to seven of the seventeen tracks.

(Hear a sample of each track here)

1. Christmas Each Day (Bing Futch, 1996)

Written in 1996 for "Disney Christmas Overload", this classic original was given new lyrics and a new vocal arrangement for the 21st century, continuing its message of hope, unity and love for the future.


2. Deck The Halls (Traditional Welsh)

Though Welsh in origin, this familiar Christmas classic features a Celtic swing vibe and a "dueling dulcimers" arrangement fleshed out by bodhran and bass.


3. O Tannenbaum (Traditional German)

Baritone mountain dulcimer and acoustic guitar in a quiet treatment of this tune, also known as "O Christmas Tree."


4. Stille Nacht (Traditional Austrian, Franz Gruber, 1816)

One of the most popular Christmas songs is presented here with three separate mountain dulcimer parts, woven together in a spacious arrangement.


5. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Traditional English, 1833)
We Three Kings (Traditional - John Henry Hopkins Jr., 1857)

These two traditional tunes, being both in the key of E minor, fit well together thematically in another duet between mountain dulcimer and acoustic guitar.


6. The First Noel (Traditional English)

The slow cadence of distant drums powers this simple and dramatic arrangement that features intertwining mountain dulcimer parts and a luscious string section.


7. Jingle Bells (James Lord Pierpoint, 1857)

This fun track features Bing's signature vocals and harmonies (along with a few well-placed sound effects) in an up-tempo journey through the snow, complete with the rarely-heard original lyrics.


8. Up On The House Top (Benjamin Hanby, 1860)

Rendered in an old-time style with just mountain dulcimer played via noter.


9. Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree (Johnny Marks, 1958)
© 1958 J. Marks/St. Nicholas Music (BMI)

Mrs. Futch makes her singing debut on any record with this playful rendition of the 1950's Brenda Lee classic.


10. Away In A Manger (James R. Murray, 1887)

Mountain dulcimer and acoustic guitar combine together in this emotional rendition of the classic Christmas carol.


11. Un Flambeau, Jeannette, Isabelle (Traditional French, 1553)
What Child Is This? (Traditional English, 1580)

Another combination of tunes that go well together, beginning with a solo dulcimer run though a song also known as "Bring The Torch Jeannette Isabella." Then, dramatic segue into the traditional tune also known as "Greensleeves" with acoustic guitar serving as foundation.


12. Sans Day Carol (Traditional Cornish, 19th Century)

Solo baritone dulcimer makes this lesser-known Cornish carol a warm and inviting call to celebrate.


13. Cantique de Noël (Adolphe Adam, 1847)

The tune, also known as "O Holy Night", gets a reverential treatment with mountain dulcimer and acoustic guitar.


14. Go Tell It On The Mountain (Lyrics, John W. Work Jr., 1907, Traditional African)

Inspired by a swing gospel recording on "The Little Drummer Boy", Bing took this popular hymn and infused it with the rockin' rhythms of roadhouse blues music, complete with mountain dulcimer, Hammond organ, soulful guitar and a gospel choir.


15. Hark The Herald Angels Sing (Felix Mendelssohn, 1840)

A contemplative remembrance in an airy arrangement with baritone mountain dulcimer and acoustic guitar.


16. Joy To The World (Lowell Mason, 17th Century, adapted from Handel, 1741)

Another one of the most popular and triumphant of Christmas songs, this tune gets a world-beat pulse with a number of hand percussion rhythms, bass, bells, violins, harpsichord and a dance-inspiring mountain dulcimer drone and groove.


17. One Winter Solstice Morn (Bing Futch, 2006)

To close out the album, the only track without any mountain dulcimer present, this original orchestral piece paints a picture of a fresh snowfall and all the activity of a winter solstice morning through variations on a theme passed amongst flutes, clarinets, oboes, french horns, strings and other instruments. A big movie-soundtrack finish to Bing's first Christmas record!

Pretty much ahead of schedule

I've got to record Jae's vocals on "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" and Roger Zimish is laying down guitar tracks this weekend, but other than that - I am pretty much done with "Christmas Each Day", my first Christmas album in a recording career that's been going on now for over 20 years.

Song samples can be found on my site here:

www.darkstudios.com/ced.html

The last thing to be recorded was the title track, "Christmas Each Day", which was first written in 1996 for "Disney Christmas Overload." Looking back, I felt like the tune needed a bigger audience (and better recording), so I hauled off and named the album after it, not even thinking about what I would do with the tune.

After a few lyric revisions to bring it up to the 21st century, I kept pretty true to the original arrangement, but added mountain dulcimer into the mix and made it the heartbeat of the song. Then, as I recorded vocals, something inside of me got bold and decided to go the Beach Boys route and add a new background vocal part towards the end. This, and "Jingle Bells", were probably the most fun tracks to record.

So, the graphics have already been shipped off to the printer and after Jae and I return from Savannah, Georgia (we're spending Hallowe'en weekend there), I'll do one more mix to incorporate her vocals and Roger's guitar and then it, too, will head off to the presses.

For those of you wanting a copy - orders are now rolling in, with the first shipments heading out towards the middle of next week. If you'd like to get your copy before Thanksgiving, now's the time to reserve a copy!

Thanks for all of the inquiries - Happy Hallowe'en, Day of the Dead, Samhain and All Saints Day to you!

Final Touches

I've been burning the midnight oil this week, trying to get "Christmas Each Day" finished before Halloween weekend. That will leave me plenty of time to get them duplicated, sent out to appropriate radio stations and ready for shipping three weeks before Thanksgiving. The sense of accomplishment at this stage is enormous, for many reasons. The time factor. The research and development phase. The-so-many-other-things-going-on-effect. But Mr. Eleventh Hour here didn't do too bad with kick-starting the project after three years of "I should..." which turned into three years of "oh, well maybe next year." I even got started in August like I promised - last week of the month, but still August.

I'm using Garageband, which comes bundled with Mac computers - it's an excellent program and it's amazing what you can do with something that's valued at around $40. The drawbacks to recording your own album have much to do with having to engineer and perform, which can drive you bat-crappy. Also - I'm set up as a project studio for film scores, which involves not a lot of live microphones. So, there were plenty takes ruined by helicopters, passing boom cars, not-so-distant sirens and meowing cats who open doors by themselves.

Now, from scratch, I've got sixteen tracks that are in the mixing process and the two most difficult tunes are pretty much completed. "Go Tell It On The Mountain" ended up sounding a lot more gospel than I thought it would, since I was aiming for a sort of roadhouse blues approach. Once I got the backing vocals in place and a little blues organ, it really took on a life of its own.

I'm also pretty stoked about "Jingle Bells", a tune for which I didn't have any big plans. The biggest deal about this version is that it is, verse for verse, the same lyrics as the 1857 original. Unlike the tune that we tend to sing today, this story goes much deeper than just "dashing through the snow" and laughing heartily while in a "one-horse open sleigh." Nay. This version features hot mamas, sleigh accidents, the need for speed and even a dose of schadenfreude
. In other words, it's more like life. I love it. And recording it was too much fun - from the traditional arrangement, complete with key changes and sound effects to the eight-part choral vocal arrangement at the end that came out sounding like a mixture of "Yellow Submarine" and the theme to "Knott's Bear-y Tales." There's a lot of fun here and it's probably my favorite track on the entire album.

Samples will begin showing up on the website of all the songs, but here's at least one full song to give you an idea of what I've been up to.

"Silent Night " - 5:12 (6 mb)

The album is available for pre-sale from my online store - which means that when it's finished November 1st, orders will begin shipping out in time for Thanksgiving, typically the time that people start to get into Christmas music - although officially, at our house, it's the day after.

Except this year.

Recording

I've been recording albums since 1985 and have never released one for Christmas; not sure why. Well, p'raps the reason is that in order to have a Christmas album ready for Christmas, you have to record it sometime during the year, which can be odd, sort of like snow in July.

But finally, after some folks began asking about one, I decided that this year would be the summer that I hunker down and begin recording a bona-fide Christmas album. Research and tracking began in late August as I went digging for the original lyrics and melodies to some traditional favorites. There are lyrics and a story to "Jingle Bells" that I never knew existed - so they're ending up on the release. Also, besides some lesser-known carols (like the "St. Day Carol"), I wanted to present versions of Christmas songs that were easily recognizable, but just a little different from what people might've heard before, and that's been the challenge; to find a way to really make each tune and track unique in some way.

My approach has been pretty simple - to let the film composer side of me have at it with the mountain dulcimer. The result has been instrumentals that stick to the basics, yet support the melodies and chord changes with vividly different colors than may be expected. I'm also "orchestrating" the dulcimer as I would a small ensemble, so even in the sparsely arranged pieces, there are definitive parts being performed by separate instruments along with parts being played all together on the dulcimer. Equal parts separation and drone are converging on the record thus far.

There are some vocal tunes and some upbeat arrangements featuring some percussion and guitar. Roger Zimish is contributing some of the latter. Today, I'm working on "Go Tell It On The Mountain", a negro spiritual that I fell in love with as a child. My approach to the tune will not be as orchestrated as the one that I first heard - but will feature more of the traditional lyrics. Likewise, and as mentioned before, "Jingle Bells" goes back to the original lyrics that are often left out of the song - a story of how a sleigh-ride in the snow turns bumpy. I've had some fun with this one, even adding some cartoon sound effects at one particular moment to underscore the action.

I'll have more blogging on this release, which is scheduled to be available in about three weeks, so obviously I'm up against time on this one. Some samples will be posted here soon!