The Stanley Brothers - Holiday Pickin' / Christmas Is Near

(Starday 413) Nov 1958

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This 7" featured Ralph's song Christmas Is Near, which the Stanley Brothers later re-recorded for the Various Artist - Y'All Come Have A Country Christmas LP, and which Ralph would revisit again on his Christmas Time With... CD and the Various Artists - A Very Special Acoustic Christmas CD.

Holiday Pickin' is another of Ralph's great banjo instrumentals, which has resurfaced under several pseudonyms:- An early live version, entitled Wild Horse can be found on the Valley View Park 1957 CD; and it has also appeared on the Various Artists - Fire On The Strings as Fire On The Strings; and on the Various Artists - Mountain Folks Song Concert Bluegrass Style as Pickin' The Five String...

'Billboard' magazine reviewed the single in their 16th Nov 1959 edition, giving Holiday Pickin' 4 stars and describing it as: "Very strong country instrumental, with banjo and fiddling of a high sort. Anyone fond of authentic picking fiddling in the mountain style has it here."; and Christmas Is Near - 3 stars: "Here's the true hill sound, both in the pickin' and singin'. Added to this is the Christmas lyric, in keeping with the upcoming season."^[1]

Both sides of the single can be found on The Early Starday/King Years, 1958-1961 4xCD box set.

PS: For the banjo players, this one's in 'D' tuning (f# D F# A D)...

For a detailed breakdown and background to the Stanley's session, check Gary B. Reid's The Music Of The Stanley Brothers book, pages 86-88 and 137.

Other artwork / related images:

[1] https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9wcEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA47&lpg=PA47&dq=starday+466+billboard+highway+of+regret&source=bl&ots=GErPkcan9P&sig=si8f8_7iycYidCzFU2zC9fQwtt0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2kYHOwNjUAhXkLcAKHTNsCUwQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=starday%20466%20billboard%20highway%20of%20regret&f=false