Mark O'Connor's "An Appalachian Christmas" album was released in 2011 and it inspired his annual national tours by the same name. Maggie O'Connor joined up with the Christmas tours starting in 2014 shortly after the couple wed. Several years later when Mark and Maggie produced their vocal album Life After Life while developing instrumental repertoire for their duo concerts, Mark decided to have the duo perform the 2022 An Appalachian Christmas tour all on their own. The result was magic! The Christmas songs they played on acoustic stringed instruments were inviting, warm and virtuosic all at the same time. The couple sang and played with an authentic folksy goodness of their upbringing, combined with the refined mastery, accomplished by considerable practice and resolve over time. During the 2024 Christmas tour, one of the stops for the duo was St. Louis, Missouri at the historic 1912 Sheldon Music Hall. Mark had recorded his solo album Midnight on the Water there nearly 30 years before-the beautiful old hall with it's original wooden pews were preserved. When the couple arrived for soundcheck in the afternoon, Mark was pleased to discover that the assistant engineer for his old album was still doing house sound in the hall. After trading a few treasured stories about the recording, Mark announced, "Let's record the concert tonight!" So what you are listening to is the result of that rather impromptu decision. A single concert of music by Mark and Maggie played through a single microphone capturing their instruments and vocals in front of a Sheldon Hall capacity audience. A show filled with Americana, bluegrass, jazz and American classical elements, played with a sophisticated elegance that held the spectator's beguiled attention from the first note to their last. (The audience hadn't any idea of it being recorded for an album). No re-takes, overdubs, patch session nor editing-the extraneous noises and reactions can be heard. Just the one shot at each of the Christmas selections they played on their fiddles, guitar, mandolin and mandocello. It's a joyous celebration of Christmas music performance like you've never heard before! Enjoy!

Track List

1. The Holly and the Ivy
2. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
3. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
4. Christmas Time's A Comin'
5. Silent Night
6. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
7. Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring F.C.'s Jig
8. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
9. The Cherry Tree Carol
10. The First Noel
11. What Child Is This?
12. Carol of the Gypsy Bells
13. Hold That Tiger Rudolph