The Rose Ensemble: Early American Christmas

Airs Tuesday, December 20, at 11 a.m.  Early American vocal and instrumental music, which features Shaker hymns, Colonial anthems, country dances, shape-note hymns from The Southern Harmony and The Original Sacred Harp, and a variety of 19th-century spiritual songs featuring the close harmonies that gave birth to bluegrass and old-time music. While we do not consider this exclusively a holiday recording, there are a number of selections appropriate for winter and Christmastide, including a beautiful new choral setting of Christ the Apple-tree by John Bitterman.