The Petersens - Christmas Songs - Home Concerts, Branson, MO, 2019-2020

As I write this, it's Christmas Eve, and here is a very Christmas-y album. It's a little late for the season, but hopefully still in time for the Christmas. 

I waited until this last minute to post this because this year and last year the Petersens have posted some Christmas songs in the weeks leading up to the holiday, and last year they actually posted a song on Christmas Day. if there are one or more late arrivals this year, I'll update this album accordingly.

I've posted a couple of albums by the Petersens already. They're a family band that does a wide variety of songs with an acoustic bluegrass feel. Normally, I wouldn't be into this type of music, but they've come out of nowhere to have songs with millions of hits on YouTube, and for good reason. They have a pleasing style, and you don't have to be a serious bluegrass fan to enjoy their music.

This is a very uncharacteristic album for me to post. These are Christmas songs, many with a overt Christian theme, done in a bluegrass style, yet I'm normally not into bluegrass, Christmas music, or Christian music. But, like I said, they have a pleasing style, and I definitely do enjoy the acoustic focus. If I'm going to put on a Christmas album, I'd rather be this "down home" kind than the usual and overproduced slick type with drums and strings.

Note that, this year, the Petersens have released a Christmas album called "Christmas with the Petersens." It has many of the same songs, but a few here aren't on that, and vice versa. So if you really like this, I suggest you pick that up. All the performances here are from the band's YouTube videos, which are different performances than the ones on their album.

By the way, I don't think the song "I Am the Man, Thomas" is a Christmas song, per se. But it is a song about Jesus, so I figured it was close enough for horseshoes. As I said above, normally I'm not into Christian themed music, but I liked that song enough to want to include it here.

01 What Child Is This (Petersens)
02 O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - Come Thou Long Expected Jesus (Petersens)
03 Silent Night (Petersens)
04 I Am the Man, Thomas (Petersens)
05 Christmas Time's A-Comin' (Petersens)
06 God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Petersens)
07 Santa Train - Sleigh Ride (Petersens)
08 I'll Be Home for Christmas (Petersens)
09 Mele Kalikimaka (Petersens)
10 Joy to the World (Petersens)
11 I Heard the Bells (Petersens)
12 Go Tell It on the Mountain (Petersens)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15271274/TPetersns_2019-2020_ChrstmsSongsHmeConcrtsBransnMO__2019-2020_atse.zip.html

For the cover art, once again I relied on the help of PJ of his "Albums I Wish Existed" blog while I continue to resolve my computer problems. I took a screenshot of the band in Christmas sweaters from one of their YouTube videos. Then I asked PJ to make a cover as Christmas-y as possible. He came through with exactly the sort of cover I was looking for, so a big thanks to PJ. :)

Note that while the four Petersen siblings are shown, a couple of the band members are not. Both the bass player and lead guitarist didn't play on this particular song, so they weren't included in the video. But I picked this image because it was the most overtly Christmas-y one I found.