Coyote Run - Tend The Fire: Christmas With The Coyotes

This was the ONLY Christmas CD I actually received as a Christmas present for the entire 2005 holiday season. I don't get too many Christmas CDs as gifts anymore; my family and friends gave up long ago.

My friend Heather Jinmaku knew I wouldn't have this album and sent this CD to me. Heather is a great singer in her own right (check out her first CD here) and surprised me when I discovered she is one of the backup singers on this album.

To quote Brian Belge, the artistic director of the Maine Renaissance Faire:

"Coyote Run is a multi-talented, personable group of 5 musicians playing about a bazillion instruments. I think the only instrument they don't include is the kazoo, but it's probably a matter of time before they do. The music hails from lands (and times) far and near; from traditional Celtic to original American Folk to the Macarena by way of Yankee Doodle. As if that weren't eclectic enough, a bit of Whale Song and a Polka are thrown in for good measure."

This is their first Christmas album and it's all of what's described above and more. The songs are traditional one moment, wickedly funny the next (sometimes even in the same song!). Where can you hear an instrumental version of "The Christmas Song" with a tuba as its lead instrument? My favorite song on the album (non-Heather singing) is "The Twelve Days After Christmas" whose first lyrics are:

"The first day after Christmas my true love had a fight.

And so I cut the pear tree down and burned it just for spite"

The three other folk music Christmas CDs in my collection are Joan Baez's "Noel", Linda Russell's "A Colonial Folk Christmas" and Pete Seeger's "Traditional Christmas Carols". I very rarely play them since I'm not a huge folk fan. Now if they sounded like Coyote Run's album...

You can purchase this album and others by Coyote Run at their website.

On to the next new Christmas CD in my collection...

Capt