Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Silent Night


"Silent Night" the Christmas carol was first performed in 1818 in a church in Austria. The melody was written by a local village organist to guitar accompaniment. Legend has it that the organ was broken and song was performed only with guitar. Which brings me to the current - Charlie Byrd's CD of eighteen Christmas songs on solo guitar with no accompaniment - just pure Byrd recorded in 1980.
I met the man around that time on a rustic beach in Dewey Beach, Delaware where he was sitting on a cottage porch strumming away wearing a three day beard. His handshake was very soft similar to a surgeon's. Around that time he and his wife were active playing around Annapolis, Maryland and the Washington D.C. area. A nice rendition.
tjs
Next - Spell Check

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