Cherish the Ladies - On Christmas Night

December is upon us and for the next few weeks JigTime will be recommending some very good albums to help fill a few stockings.

Not all of them will have any sort of Christmas theme, they will simply be my favorite albums of the last few months and should suit almost anyone who likes the music that we at JigTime love. In fact they won't be just my favorites. I will also ask my diligent and very cool gang of contributors to tell us their own picks of the crop of CDs that have been released recently so you don't have to trust my occasionally dubious musical judgment.

But just to set the mood of the holiday season I thought I would start with a new CD from Cherish the Ladies.

The band are American based and feature five very different women with different musical styles and backgrounds. They have been together for the last sixteen years in various forms and have become one of the most popular Irish/American Celtic bands ever. The band comprises of Joanie Madden from New York on flute, whistles and harmony vocals. Heidi Talbot from Co Kildare on lead vocals and bodhran, Mary Coogan on guitar, banjo and mandolin, Mirella Murray from Connemara on accordion and Roisin Dillon from Belfast on fiddle.

With beautiful vocals, accomplished arrangements and exciting step dancing the band have taken their music all over the world. On stage they have a warmth and presence as well as an obvious enjoyment of each other's company and the music itself.

This seasonal release "On Christmas Night" combines all their Irish and Celtic influences and lends them to many old Irish Christmas songs as well as some more worldwide favorites.

The CD kicks off with the lovely title track with the tune Charles O'Connor following along and highlights Heidi Talbot's strong, bright vocals. The singing throughout is great and the harmonies sweet. The arrangements are simply but filled with joy and this CD certainly stirs some warm seasonal memories. Their rendition of Hark the Herald Angels Sing took me back far too many years to my time as a soprano in the Buncrana Choir. Silent Night is done as beautifully as any version I have heard and The Castle of Drumore has a true Irish Christmas feel.

It is not a rare thing for bands to go from a song into a tune but few bands do it well. Cherish the Ladies however do it seamlessly and naturally and sets this recording apart from the typical Christmas fare that is currently been shoveled at us in great quantities. It also means that this is a CD you may actually listen to way after the Christmas Tree has been turned to wood chips.

This CD is definitely not for those who want pure traditional music but will certainly suit those who love Christmas to have an Irish feel to it.

The album is out on Rounder Records (http://www.rounder.com) and more info on the band can be found at http://www.cherishtheladies.com