I really love listening to Christmas music performed live so I take any opportunity I can to do so. One of my very favorite Christmas traditions is going to the Lower Lights Christmas concert which I did last night. It was just wonderful. The Lower Lights are a supergroup made up of over 30 insanely talented musicians and vocalists (many of whom are famous in their own rights) who come together to perform a series of Christmas concerts each year. They have a folksy bluegrass sound and have recorded some unique and innovative arrangements of hymns and Christmas music. Last night they performed all of their usual numbers but my very favorites were a sultry and bluesy version of "Still, Still, Still," an instrumental version of "What Child Is This?" featuring a guitar, steel guitar, mandolin, bass, and banjo, one of the most beautiful arrangements of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" with just a piano and steel guitar, and a rousing rendition of "Once in Royal David's City" that got everyone on their feet. They also performed quite a few of their gospel songs including "Old Time Religion," "Down to the River to Pray," "Go Tell It On the Mountain," and "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder." It took a while for the audience to get warmed up but these gospel songs got Kingsbury Hall jumping! They ended their set with "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" which was a lot of fun. For the encore they performed "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," which is a crowd favorite (people were calling out for it as soon as they came back on stage), and a rocking version of "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful." They ended the evening, as they often do, with a beautiful a capella version of "Silent Night" with a heartfelt message for the holidays. This gets me every time! This concert was a really great way to kick off the holiday season and it made me so happy to hear this music live. There are two more concerts and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here).
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