Biography

TRACKS:
1. Home, Sweet Home 2. O Little Town of Bethlehem
3. The First Noël 4. In the Bleak Midwinter
5. 'Twas in the Moon of Wintertime 6. Away in a Manger
7. Joy to the World 8. It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
9. We Three Kings 10. Go Tell It on the Mountain
11. Silent Night 12. What Child Is This?
13. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day 14. Home, Sweet Home (Reprise)

MUSICIANS:
M.M. Murphey: lead vocals, harmony vocals, guitar, and tambourine. Ryan Murphey: guitar. Laura Murphey: vocals. Brennan Murphey: guitar. Bea McTye: pipe organ. Paul Sadler: hammer dulcimer. John McEuen: guitar, banjo, mandolin, tambourine,Indian drum. Tony Laupheimer: percussion. Joey Miskulin: accordion.

Personal Notes about the Album…by Michael Martin Murphey:

This album was recorded in the small-town church I attend, St. James Episcopal of Taos, and in my own local studio, Taos Recording Studio. While I was working on it, I sometimes drove out to help my partner, Fred Hargrove,with the chores at our Rocking 3M Cattle Company grazing lease, and at The Double D Ranch. While feeding and bringing water to the cattle, goats, sheep, donkeys, chickens, horses, dogs and barn cats, I often reflected on the wonderful “country” images of The Nativity. Jesus was born in a stable, and shepherds knew about it first. Christmas is a folksy story about small-town people.

The instrumentation here is simple. The pipe organ was built around 1900 and is entirely mechanical, with no added electronics. The arrangements are reflective of
the sounds of a solitary minstrel, or a small group of friends and family singing in a tiny chapel or around the fireside. The instrumentation here is simple. The pipe organ was built around 1900 and is entirely mechanical, with no added electronics. The arrangements are reflective of the sounds of a solitary minstrel, or a small group of friends and family singing in a tiny chapel or around the fireside.

Rural Rhythm Records