Carols For All Seasons is an album by Jean Ritchie

Jean Ritchie

Jean Ritchie is an American folk singer, songwriter, and Appalachian dulcimer player.- Out of Kentucky :Abigail and Balis Ritchie of Viper, Kentucky had 14 children, and Jean was the youngest...

. It was recorded with two classical musicians, which is not unusual for the late 1950s. The sound anticipates the slightly baroque arrangements that Shirley Collins

Shirley Collins

Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE is a British folksinger who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s...

 would later use on Anthems in Eden

Anthems in Eden

Anthems in Eden is a 1969 album by Shirley and Dolly Collins, with the Early Music Consort of London, directed by David Munrow. The album originally consisted of a 28-minute set of folk songs plus 7 other individual pieces performed by the same group. The musical arrangements for these 8 pieces...

. As well as some often heard carols, there are some rare ones ("Dame Get up and Bake Your Pies") and four unique ones - carols that Jean had learned while she was a child in the Appalachian mountains. In particular "Cherry Tree of Cumberland" has a haunting quality. "The Flower Carol" (Tempus adest floridum) is the song that originally owned the tune "Good King Wenceslas

Good King Wenceslas

"Good King Wenceslas" is a popular Christmas carol about a king who goes out to give alms to a poor peasant on the Feast of Stephen . During the journey, his page is about to give up the struggle against the cold weather, but is enabled to continue by following the king's footprints, step for step,...

" before Rev J.M. Neale substituted new words in 1853. It is very rarely heard. At the time Jean was the only singer to accompany herself on mountain dulcimer. This can heard on "Children Go Where I Send Thee" and "The May Day Carol". Liner notes by Jean Ritchie. The original title in 1959 was "Carols of All Seasons". It was reissued in 1997.

Track listing

1. "The Carnal and the Crane
   The Carnal and the Crane
   "The Carnal and the Crane" is Child ballad 55 and a Christmas carol. It depicts a conversation between two birds—apparently, although the species of the "carnal" has never been identified with any certainty, though crow is generally assumed.-Synopsis:...
   
   " (instr) (Trad)
2. "I Saw Three Ships" (Trad)
3. "Dame Get Up and Bake Your Pies" (Trad)
4. "Children Go Where I Send Thee" (Appalachian carol) (Trad)
5. "Down in Yon Forest" (Trad)
6. "Brightest and Best" (Appalachian carol) (Trad)
7. "Cherry Tree of Cumberlands" (Appalachian carol) (Trad)
8. "The Pig Went out to Dig" (Trad)
9. "Christ Church Bells" (Tune:Trad, Words: J Ritchie)
10. "The Flower Carol" (to the tune "Good King Wenceslas") (Trad)
11. "The May Day Carol" (Trad)
12. "The Cambridge May Song" (Trad)
13. "The Holy Well" (Trad)
14. "The Little Family" (Appalachian carol) (Trad)
15. "Christ Was Born in Bethlehem" (Trad)
16. "The Holly Bears The Berry" (Sans Day Carol) (Trad)
17. "Wassail Song" (instr) (Trad)

Credits

Jean Ritchie (vocals, lap dulcimer), Robert Abramson (harpsichord), LaNoue Davenport (recorder).