Wylie Gustafson | Christmas for Cowboys

Published: December 7, 2008

Montana son and Grand Ole Opry veteran Wylie Gustafson presents a likeable collection of Christmas music on this 2007 release. It’s a rendering of traditional hymns, with a dab of original music thrown in.

Gustafson’s bare-bones arrangements, backed by five stellar Tennessee musicians, work well here. The understated riffs from fiddle, mandolin, accordion, concertina, and electric guitar, fill out the sparse and spare cuts, contributing melody and mood. Fine percussion and bass carry the bottom.

The album comes out Texas-swinging on “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” And, as anyone knows about a Wylie album, the “oh-delay-e-hee” of a yodel makes an appearance right away. Fiddle strains infuse the title cut, a Steve Weisberg tune, about a trail rider expecting to spend Christmas on the wide-open plains. Gustafson puts in a pretty snippet of his own duet yodeling on this one.

The simple, pensive prayer, “In the Bleak Midwinter” is next; and a gospel version of “Behold that Star” rocks with its Peggy-Lee nuances of slappin’ bass and finger-snap, and a cool gospel chorus.

Gustafson yodels a verse on “Silent Night,” and sings a verse in German. “The Gifts They Gave,” a country-plunker à la Johnny Cash, tells of the animals that provided for the Baby Jesus on his birth night. And if there’s such a thing as a “gospel country waltz,” “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem,” by A. L. Phipps, is it.

This album is not only a treat for its musicianship, but also for the songs of old about the holiday.

Visit Gustafson at www.wyliewebsite.com.

– Mariss McTucker