A selection of some of my favorite Christmas carols. A daily event through Christmas.

Today's selection: Blackmore's Night - "We Three Kings" - 1958

The song "We Three Kings" was written in 1857 by the rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Williamsport, PA for a Christmas pageant in NYC. It has been compared to music written in the Byzantium era and is the first popular carol written in America.

Ritchie Blackmore was a founding member of Deep Purple, Rainbow, and Blackmore's Night - a medieval folk group.

Not quite Deep Purple style, eh?

Candice Night first met Ritchie Blackmore at a 1989 Rainbow concert when she asked for an autograph. By 1991, they were a couple based on their interest in Renaissance-era music. "We Three Kings" was released in 2006 on their "Winter Carols" album.

A selection of some of my favorite Christmas carols. A daily event through Christmas.

Today's selection: Dean Martin - "Silver Bells" - 1950/1966

Originally written for the 1951 Bob Hope movie "Lemon Drop Kid" but first released by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards in 1950, this version was recorded by Dean Martin in 1966.

It's Christmas carols time ...

A sample of some obscure - and maybe not obscure - tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.

Today's selection: Insect Trust - "Declaration Of Independence" 1968

Today's selection was inspired by several of Jean's poems.

A New York band of sorts, the core of the band to be left for San Francisco in '66, singing for gas and food along the way as the Solip Singers. They gave up heading west, the Solip Singers broke up, and returned to Memphis. The Insect Trust congealed in 1966 in Memphis and bounced back and forth between Memphis and Hoboken. During their "success" time, they fronted for bands such as Santana and the doors but eventually, personnel problems - drugs and business didn't mix well - led to the final breakup in Hoboken.

This cut is from their first, self-titled album. As one critic put it: "The album did nothing, sales-wise ... But what was really remarkable was that, somehow or other, the Insect Trust got a second chance a year later with "Hoboken Saturday Night. After the 2nd release, the band quietly fell apart bit by bit."

A sample of some obscure - and maybe not obscure - tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.

Today's selection: Jane - "Jane Session" - 1974

German "kraut rock".
Jane was formed in 1970. This cut is off their third album, Jane III - "a scorching guitar blowout"

Wiki describes Jane as "Playing a melodious synthesis of symphonic hard rock, that has occasionally been compared to Pink Floyd"

Not sure I agree with that description, particularly "compared to Pink Floyd" but I like a fair amount of their stuff.
This cut is a dual-guitar instrumental.

A sample of some obscure - and maybe not obscure - tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.

Today's selection: James McMurtry "Vague Directions" - 1990

James McMurtry (1962 - ) is the son of the author of Lonesome Dove.

This place you say you're looking for
That's a place I used to know
Don't know the number of the road
But I can tell you how to go

Head on down 'till the pavement ends
Used to go back there now and then
I used to know it like the back of my hand
When I was just a boy

This place you say you're looking for
It's a good ways off the track
It'd take a quarter tank of Firechief
Just getting there and back

And of course there wasn't no pavement then
Once you got yourself around that bend
There wasn't nothing but the whistling wind
When I was just a boy

And the light shines long ago
On the cold December snow
And the river runs on through the (golden) past
I can see it in the bottom of the (whiskey) glass

Ain't seen you around here before
You kin to someone I know
What was your mama's name
Before she moved away

Did she tell you about that place up there
Did she show you how to curl that hair
A grown man would have never dared
When I was just a boy

This place you say you're looking for
Might have washed out with the rain
It might not be there anymore
It might not be the same

But if you find it won't you let me know
If I weren't so poorly I'd surely go
Don't you know I used to love it so
When I was just a boy

It's not a road anymore, just a path through the woods that have taken over.
The old bridge is washed out near where we used to park and ...
Even the abutments are gone.

For that matter, so's the bar with the whiskey glass.

And so is she ... and her name gone with her.
From when I was just a boy.