Well, it's that time of year again. We've passed Thanksgiving (at least, here in the U.S.) and we're going hell-for-leather down the home stretch to Christmas, Chanukah, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa, New Year's, and more college football bowl games than you can shake a pigskin at. In fact, in honor of the holidays, I wanted to review a CD of college football fight songs, but Cat and Brendan nixed that idea -- I always get too carried away praising "Hail to the Victors" and "We Are the Boys of Old Florida." So, anyway...

On Midwinter Night's Dream, Boys of the Lough include Aly Bain (fiddle), Cathal McConnell (flute, whistles, song), Dave Richardson (concertina, mandolin, cittern, accordion), and Christy O'Leary (uilleann pipes, whistles, song). They call on Christmas and winter traditions of Ireland, Scotland, Shetland, and Sweden to put together a fine CD.

Among the tunes, the better sets include the set of "The Greenland Man's Tune," (which the notes credit as an Eskimo tune), "Da Forfit o' Da Ship," and "Green Grow da Rashes," which have more of a wandering feel than one might expect during a North Seas winter. "Da Trowie Burn," an air commemorating perhaps a creek either inhabited by or protection from the "little people or Trows," beautifully summons the image of an eerie, winter landscape. "That Night in Bethlehem" is a lovely Irish Christmas carol. "The Hare's Lament" is a fine song of a hunt from the prey's point of view.

The highlight of the CD is a set consisting of the Swedish carol, "Sankt Staffan Han Rider" ("Saint Stephen was Riding"); the Shetland fiddle tune, "Christmas Day in the Morning," which is simply too good to be limited to a single day; and a Swedish march, "Trettondagsmarschen," which was too good to be limited to the winter and which is now also the official tune of a midsummer festival.

All in all, this is a solid CD from a masterful group. Much of the music here are tunes that are rarely, if ever, found elsewhere. It definitely summons the feel of the seasons, if a rather melancholy feel. Incidentally, the front cover photo of the Ring of Brodgar in the Orkney Islands is one of the most beautiful pieces of album art I've seen.

Based in Saratoga Springs, NY, the McKrells are a bluegrass group comprised (in this recording) of Kevin McKrell (lead vocals, readings), Chris "Bullets" Leske (banjo, mandolin, and guitar), Craig "Laz" Vance (Flatpick guitar), Brian Melick (percussion), John Kribs (bass, guitar), and Sara Milanovich (fiddle and flute). In addition, all members of the band take part in the singing at one time or another. Merry Christmas was put together at Kribs' home in the Adirondacks and has the feel of a bunch of friends getting together to play for the fun of it -- as indeed it basically was.

Most of the songs are traditional Christmas standards with only the first two tracks being original pieces. "Daddy It's Snowing Out Today" is a solid accounting of upstate New York weather in winter. The lyrics, "Hear the rumble of the plow/ Can we please go, hurry, now," definitely brings back memories of growing up in upstate New York, although for me it was hearing the rumble of the plow at night that I really liked. Milanovich's "Cead Caloige Sneachta" is a nicely written and played air -- all the more remarkable for Milanovich being only 16 years old at the time of this recording. (The McKrells Web site indicate she's recorded several previous solo albums, including her first at age 12).

The old standards are given a certain twist by the bluegrass arrangements. The McKrells' arrangement of "Silent Night" moves along nicely driven by the Leske's banjo. Oddly enough, the result has a passing resemblance to the sea shanty, "Blow the Man Down." "Angels We Have Heard on High" plays like a drive down a rural highway, After a standard choir-style singing of the "O Come All Ye Faithful," the band breaks into a ragtime version -- with the triangle still playing. Several of the songs are paired with readings by McKrell, including a well-read, extended excerpt for Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" -- the Cratchit family's dinner -- following up on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen."

With its cover art of Victorian carolers, you basically know what to expect from this CD: Solid performances of the standard carols. The bluegrass arrangements -- especially with Leske's banjo playing -- make some of the songs more up-tempo than normal, but that's certainly not a complaint from this corner.

Despite its title, I hesitate to call A Thistle & Shamrock Christmas Ceilidh a Christmas album. The liner notes describe a Christmas eve shindig, ending with the announcement that the local radio station would be playing a program of Celtic music, starting at midnight. The selections on the CD are supposedly that first radio broadcast. However, as most of the tracks on the CD are not Christmas or winter-related, this is, for all intents and purposes, a Green Linnet sampler, as chosen (I assume) by Fiona Ritchie.

Not that that's a bad thing. With tracks as recent as Lunasa's "Goodbye Miss Goodavich/Rosie's Reel" from 1999's Otherworld and as old as Tannahill Weavers "Auld Land Syne" from 1982's The Tannahill Weavers IV, there's a lot of good material for Ritchie to choose from. Several songs of the season are included. Besides the above-mentioned "Auld Land Syne," Altan's "The Snowy Path" (From Harvest Storm) and John Renbourn's "I Saw Three Ships" (from Christmas Guitars), fit the winter theme.

Outside of that, however, there's nothing but good music. Green Linnet samplers are infamous for making it hard to choose a few good songs. Nonetheless, I'll venture to select the title track from Andy M. Stewart & Manus Lunny's At It Again, a tale of a fellow who's just bad news; Touchstone's Breton set of "Garcon A Marier," "Orgies Nocturnes," and "Dans Fisel" from Jealousy; the twice aforementioned "Auld Lang Syne"; and Kips Bay's hot reel set, "The Moving Cloud" from Into the Light as my personal favorites .

For all that this is really a Christmas album in name only, it's the one of these three that would make the best present. After all, seasonal music given as a present is received just as the season is ending. There's not all that much time to enjoy it. But A Thistle and Shamrock Christmas Ceilidh is music for the whole year round -- and a good intro for someone wanting a taste of a variety of Celtic music.

[Chuck Lipsig]