I received an e-mail this morning from one of the members of Starland Vocal Band, detailing the story behind Christmas At Home. I thought I’d share it with you. Next year, how cool would it be if we could get all of the artists to submit information on their tracks? Then again, if we’re ripping them all apart, I doubt it’ll work. Props to SVB for taking my post with a sense of humor!
Hey Jason,
Thru no fault of your own you’ve entered a sort of time ravine which has brought you to "Christmas at Home" by the Starland Vocal Band.
The album was done at the request of a friend of the group for a local charity.
The idea, and what they did, was to get together in Bill’s home studio, practice a Christmas song a day, and record it ( not consecutively; spread out over two weeks). The profits, (there were few expenses) went to the charity.
The machines were simple and the Steel player, Danny Pendleton engineered.
Only available instruments were used.: a Prophet 5 synthesizer, a steel guitar, piano, guitars, various percussion devices.
Since the group members had all grown up Catholic, they knew all the traditional carols and each claimed
their favorite to be included. And then they did the others.
"Here Comes Santa Claus" is one of Bills favorites as he tries to be faithful to the Gene Autry version he heard in his youth. (JH: Now I feel awful!)
The children singing were from Emma Danoff’s (Bill and Taffy’s daughter) kindergarten class.
The idea was to use "just a touch". SVB took them, with supervision, for an hour to do those simple lines and credited them on the album. It’s those children’s parent who probably own all the existing copies of the recording. (JH: Okay, so which parent is selling out their kid by putting it on eBay? Fess up!)
It was a spontaneous act of love that the group is proud of.
Peace and Love,
CHRISTMAS AT HOME
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