A Sonic Season of Light & Evergreens

Our “Sonic Season” includes Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Boxing Day. We celebrate with New Orleans Zion Harmonizers live in our studio. Woody Guthrie sings a Hanukkah song while Bob Dylan tells of “Three Angels.” We interview a black Santa about his Christmas days in Vietnam, and Bob Dorough sings “Blue Xmas,” the song he wrote for Miles Davis. Meanwhile, life in America goes on… in hopes and dreams that bring light to the darkness…

HOUR ONE

Open Bed: Anji Simon & Garfunkel

Sounds of Silence , Columbia

California Dreaming Bobby Womack

Why Do Fools Fall in Love Soundtrack, Rhino

River Joni Mitchell

Blue, Warner Reprise

Winterlude Joe Ely

To Kate: A Benefit for Kate's Sake, Western Beat Records

Seasons of My Heart George Jones

Cup of Loneliness, The Classic Mercury Years, Mercury

Baby It's Cold Outside Ray Charles and Betty Carter

Ray Charles and Betty Carter/Dedicated to You, Rhino

I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm Billie Holiday

Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday, Columbia/Legacy

Instrumental: The Hidden Light Andy Statman

The Hidden Light, Sony Classical

On the King's Highway Andy Statman

Old Brooklyn, Shefa

Abi Gezunt Klezmer Conservatory Band

Oy Chanukah!, Rounder

Sleigh Ride Bela Kleck & the Flecktones

Jingle All the Way, Rounder

Hanukkah Dance Woody Guthrie

Hard Travelin': The Asch Recordings, Vol. 3, Smithsonian Folkways

Three Angels Bob Dylan

New Morning, Columbia

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Have Yourself a Jazzy Little Christmas, Verve

Christmas Night in Harlem Louis Armstrong

Hipster's Holiday: Vocal Jazz and R&B Classics, Rhino

Instrumental: Santa's Second Line New Birth Brass Band

A New Orleans Christmas, Putomayo

Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning Mississippi Fred McDowell

15 Down Home Gospel Classics , Arhoolie

We Free Kings Rahsaan Roland Kirk

We Free Kings, Mercury

CLIP: Zion Harmonizers

End Bed: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Jimmy Smith

Christmas Cookin' , Verve

HOUR TWO

Open Bed: Christmas Blues Ramsey Lewis

The Joy of Christmas Past, GNP

Faraway Christmas Blues Johnny Otis

The Johnny Otis R&B Caravan/Complete Savoy Recordings , Savoy

Baltimore Oriole Bob Dorough

Devil May Care, Bethlehem Archives

CLIP: Bob Dorough

Blue Christmas Lumineers

Blue Christmas- Single, Lumineers

Merry Christmas Baby Charles Brown

Blue Yule: Christmas Blues and R&B Classics , Rhino

Instrumental: Greensleeves Jimmy Smith

Christmas Cookin' , Verve

Christmas in Vietnam Johnny & Jon

Merry Christmas Baby, Ronn

SEGMENT: Chuck Siler

Santa Claus is Skating to Town Granville Williams Orchestra

Natty and Nice, A Reggae Christmas, Rhino

Christmas Is A Coming Leadbelly

Leadbelly Sings for Children, Smithsonian Folkways

J'ai Vu le Loup, Le Renard et la Belette Balfa Brothers

Balfa Brothers Play More Traditional Music, Swallow

Bachata en Navidad La Sonara Matancera featuring Celia Cruz

Celebremos Nochebuena con Sonora Matancera, Codigo Music

Feliz Navidad Los Straightjackets

'Tis the Season for Los Straightjackets, Yep Roc

Instrumental: Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy) Duke Ellington

Three Suites, Columbia

Sherburne (While Shephers Watched Their Flocks by Night) Sacred Harp Singers

Songs of the Christmas from the Alan Lomax Collection, Rounder

Cherry Tree Carol Pentangle

Solomon's Seal, Reprise

Greensleeves John Coltrane

The Best of John Coltrane: His Greatest Years, Vol. 2, Impulse

O Day Bessie Johnes/ Georgia Sea Island Singers

Songs of Christmas from the Alan Lomax Collection, Rounder

End Bed: Auld Lang Syne John Fahey

John Fahey Christmas Soli, Fantasy