Since releasing
Despite Our Differences in 2006,
the Indigo Girls have been broadening their songwriting and recording projects, trying out new recording techniques, experimenting with different side musicians, rocking up their sound more, and turning their trademark harmonies inside-out as they've continued to grow creatively as a duo. Holly Happy Days, their third outing for the IGR/Vanguard imprint and their first holiday-themed offering, is no exception to that rule. Containing nine standards and three originals,
Amy Ray and
Emily Saliers cut the set during two weeks in May. The tunes are a mix of sacred and secular numbers, from the traditional -- "O Holy Night," "In the Bleak Midwinter," and "Angels We Have Heard on High" (with
Brandi Carlile on backing vocals), to less-often heard songs of the season such as
Woody Guthrie's "Happy Joyous Hanukkah," with backing vocals from
Mary Gauthier and
Janis Ian, and contemporary songs from
Chely Wright ("It Really Is (A Wonderful Life)") and
Beth Nielsen Chapman ("There's Still My Joy.") Generally,
Saliers and
Ray have rooted the album's sound in acoustic instrumentation with more than a little bluegrass flavor. Guest players include banjo ace
Alison Brown, mandolin, fiddle, and guitar ace
Luke Bulla, and bassist
Viktor Krauss, to mention a few.
Saliers' "Your Holiday Song" begins with
Krauss' upright bass and
Bulla's mandolin, and becomes a handclapping, anthemic, open ride. It strays from the bluegrass model, but even with its infectious folk-pop hooks,
Brown's wood banjo and
Lloyd Maines' pedal steel and dobro imbue it with a high lonesome color.
Ray's "The Wonder Song" is straight-up,
Bill Monroe-flavored bluegrass.
Wright's tune, with a glockenspiel and Wurlitzer, walks on the swing jazz side of the aisle, and is one of the set's high points. The music to the
Guthrie lyric was written by
Lorin Sklamberg of the
Klezmatics is another deviation, and one that touches on Yiddish traditional and klezmer music, but is rooted hard in the American folk of
Guthrie. In sum, this is an enjoyable, somewhat offbeat, and fresh take on the holiday album, and another fresh chapter in the
Indigo Girls catalog. ~ Thom Jurek