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Emmylou Harris, "Light Of The Stable"Country music has a long, chequered history with the world of Christmas. Some of country music's biggest stars (Tex Ritter, Red Foley, Eddy Arnold) recorded Christmas songs in the 1940's, and Gene Autry waxed some of the earliest, best, and biggest Christmas hits of any genre. But, country music's treatment of the holiday has often since proved cursory in the extreme. Nashville's best and brightest would be parked in front of the Mitch Miller Orchestra to genuflect through a few hoary old holiday chestnuts. After posing for a cover photo with a stuffed horse, stage-prop sleigh, and fake snow, they'd punch the clock and pick up their check.

In other cases - say, Loretta Lynn's 1966 album Country Christmas - the star would record a couple of top-notch original songs like "To Heck With Ole Santa Claus," then fill out the album with dull, traditional covers. To make matters worse, it is inevitably the latter sort of song that is chosen to populate the dozens of "Country Christmas" compilations released every year - perpetuating the impression that Christmas in the country is tantamount to watching paint dry.

Emmylou Harris' Light Of The Stable is a bracing exception to this sad legacy. Exuding a warm Christmas glow, Light Of The Stable is a brilliant meeting of traditional mountain music and hippie country hoedown. Most great Christmas records evoke a curious combination of melancholy and joy, mirroring the odd commingling of loss and hope, dread and anticipation that the holiday often brings - particularly as we mature and accumulate psychic baggage. Harris' album captures this feeling perfectly. Younger readers should think of the music from O Brother Where Art Thou? - that's the sort of deeply traditional and heartfelt music we're talking about here, just translated into modern vernacular.

Emmylou Harris, "Light Of The Stable"The Newborn King

Emmylou Harris first released the title track of Light Of The Stable as a non-LP Reprise single in 1975. Written by Canadians Steven and Elizabeth Rhymer, it's a simple song celebrating the birth of Christ, and producer Brian Ahern gives it the perfect arrangement - simple, spare, swelling to a rousing, if restrained, finale. "Light Of The Stable," in fact, marked the coalescing of Harris' acclaimed Hot Band, including Emory Gordy, Jr., Hank DeVito, Rodney Crowell, James Burton, and Glen Hardin - plus harmony vocals by Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, and Neil Young.

In the age of "countrypolitan," Harris and Ahern were swimming upstream, and the single stiffed, topping out at #99 on Billboard's country chart. But, the bluegrass-inspired arrangement set the tone when Harris and Ahern recorded the rest of Light Of The Stable in 1979. Together, they brought the same passion and sense of history to the album that they had to Harris' recent, deeply influential records Luxury Liner (1977), Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town (1978), and, especially, Blue Kentucky Girl (1979). And, the same cast of stellar pickers that played on the "Light Of The Stable" single also appeared on the album, with the notable addition of Ricky Skaggs.

Harris' talented crew weaves a steady, acoustic sound through a varied line-up of songs - originals (Crowell's "Angel Eyes"), country classics (Tex Logan's "Christmas Time's A-Coming"), and carols both traditional ("Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem") and modern ("Little Drummer Boy"). The diversity of the repertoire, the consistency of Ahern's production, and Harris' indelible voice combine to make Light Of The Stable a strikingly original, instantly memorable record. All told, it is perhaps the best country Christmas album ever made - or at least the best since Gene Autry bestowed "Here Comes Santa Claus" upon us in 1947. Certainly, no one's cut a better one since - though Dwight Yoakam came close.

Emmylou Harris, "Light Of The Stable"A Thousand Words

Oddly, Light Of The Stable wasn't originally released in America. Warner Brothers released it in most of the world in 1979 with a completely different cover, waiting until 1980 to release it in the United States. That edition had brand new cover art featuring a young Emmylou looking very much like the Holy Madonna. In my mind, at least, that portrait became emblematic of the album almost as much as the music itself. Warner Brothers apparently did not agree, because when they reissued Light Of The Stable on CD in 1992, they replaced that iconic shot with something much more traditional: a contemporary portrait of Emmylou by a Christmas tree. Mercifully, there was no stuffed horse, and, thankfully, the music's pure Appalachian beauty remained unsullied.

Under the auspices of Rhino Records, things improved considerably in 2004, when Emmylou Harris revisited Light Of The Stable 25 years after its original release. Most notably, she recorded three new tracks, all prominently featuring Kate & Anna McGarrigle as well as many of the album's original players. However, except for "Cherry Tree Carol" (a traditional song), the new songs don't add much to the album. But, this new edition is sweetly remastered and admirably repackaged with detailed liner notes and attractive new artwork taken from the original picture sleeve for the "Light Of The Stable" single.

Sadly, Rhino chose not to include the original album cover - or even a picture of Emmylou - anywhere in the package. But all told, the 25th anniversary edition of Light Of The Stable is a major improvement over Warner's original CD reissue - and a worthy addition to the legacy of this all-time Christmas classic. [top of page]

Albums Albums

SongsEssential Songs

  • Angel Eyes (1979)
  • Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem (1979)
  • Cherry Tree Carol (2004)
  • Christmas Time's A-Coming (1979)
  • Light Of The Stable (1975) Top 100 Song
  • Little Drummer Boy (1979)
  • O Little Town Of Bethlehem (1979)

Further ListeningFurther Listening

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