Inspiring beyond Christmas
Robert G. Inskeep | Raleigh NC | 11/29/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"christmas in carolina - bill leslie
a review
Bill acceded to my wishes by including more vocals on this CD, including a definitive Sweet Little Jesus Boy that communicates with understated voice and guitar the deep and poignant message of this song. The other vocals are drawn from songs Bill wrote for his home church for the lighting of the Advent candles.
They too have a profundity that requires listening to the words attentively - and musically they're graced by the angelic harmonies of Marty Suttle. Road to Bethlehem will lift you to new heights.
Bill's lifelong friend, pianist Bill Covington's uniquely fresh arrangements of Silent Night, Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming, and The First Noel will delight anyone who is looking for "Christmassy" music.
The rest of the varied collection might better be labeled as a spiritual offering from the heart of Bill. As always, the songs evoke images of his beloved home state of North Carolina, with echoes of his Celtic ancestry.. delicately intertwining guitar, Celtic whistle, violin - occasionally hammered dulcimer and synthesizer. Bill has a remarkable gift for melody and how to reweave it.
His music is soothing to the soul. But turn it up now and then to hear marvelous touches you missed the first several times you listened.
This CD will have a long shelf life. I'm thinking I'll be pulling it out at Easter, Pentecost, All Saints Day, and surely next year at Advent.
If you seek to draw closer to God at Christmas, Bill is near to God's heart and you can hear it, inspiringly!
Rev. Bob Inskeep is associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Raleigh NC."
"Christmas in Carolina" Just 'Round the Bend
David P. McKnight | Chapel Hill, N.C. | 11/30/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"When you listen to Bill Leslie's "Christmas in Carolina" CD, you can't help but wonder if the miraculous Christian heritage events surrounding the birth of Jesus might have occurred just around the bend or down the road a piece. That's because Leslie and his harmonious entourage of instrumentalists and vocalists have succeeded in crafting a truly remarkable portrait of the very legacy of Christmas as it affects the individual believer, casting reflections from the wonderous story's setting in ancient Bethlehem to the wintry sunrises and sunsets of the New World.
With a brilliant ensemble combining strings, winds, piano and guitars, the singer-songwriter and Raleigh, N.C., television broadcast journalist adds a good measure of home-cooking to this remarkable musical journey. In "Christmas in Carolina," Bill Leslie and his supporting cast offer us a stirring sequence of songs and instrumentals connecting the threads of personal experiences from the Christmastime season with a sprinkling of distinctive interpretations of traditional seasonal favorites along the way.
Cellist Clark Wang and violinists Sherry Buchheit and Jennifer Curtis bring the life-breath of string sounds to the orchestration, flavored as well by skyward flute passages by Linda Metz, a nifty guest guitar solo on the title song, "Christmas in Carolina," by Brent Cotten, percussion touches by Will Leslie, additonal vocals by Marty Suttle and augmented most distinctively by the piano interpretations of traditional favorites by Bill Covington. Add a sparkling array of Leslie's Celtic whistles to this platform, highlighted by an awakening, Lightfoot-gone-South, if you will, vocal reach of the singer-songwriter, and you'll no doubt be wanting to take this CD out for a test drive via sled or horseback at the first opportunity.
If you didn't know that Leslie himself is providing the lilting Celtic whistle passages heard around the bends of this naturalist and spiritual Appalachian and Blue Ridge excursion, you might think that these songs were composed way across the seas in one of those Scottish coves or in an Irish coastal hamlet from which many a journey to America has emanated through the centuries. But when you add to this glow and mystique from distant musical homelands the unmistakably Southern regional flavoring of the fine guitar figures Leslie adds to these blends of voices and instruments, then you realize that "Christmas in Carolina" is offering us a rare chance to hear the wonder of the great Christian harkening toward the very coming of Jesus from that landscape of the Israel of old yet soothingly brushed with a back-country touch from all the neighborhoods back home. Thus is given to this miracle from afar a relevance known to all who have experienced that familiar crossing from the next ridge over, yielding a marvelous meandering through the Carolina country, adaptable quite naturally to all the hills and plains across the land, with the compelling artistic imprint of the Christmas experience enchantingly evident at every stop along the way.
"
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1