A New CD from SimpleGifts for 2009 Holiday Tour

Every holiday season bustles with the sounds — and stress — of the season. With A Small Town Christmas, SimpleGifts, the six-member ensemble led by award-winning musician Billy McLaughlin, has arranged acoustic instrumental and vocal music that harkens back to a quieter, simpler time. Featuring 13 traditional carols, hymns, and holiday favorites recorded live in an intimate, rural setting of Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota, the music is eloquently framed by the accomplished musicians that comprise SimpleGifts.

The ensemble balances the sacred yuletide offerings of O Come, O Come Emmanuel, O Holy Night, Silent Night with warm, sentimental favorites like Carol of the Bells, Mary Did You Know, Breath of Heaven and seven other seasonal classics making A Small Town Christmas as joyful to give as to receive. With Celtic whistle, piano, acoustic guitar, violin and beautifully blended female voices, the album finds its strengths in the stirring arrangements that combine traditional folk music with more modern elements that both soothe and inspire listeners.

SimpleGifts came together originally as just a quartet for five weeks in 2002. McLaughlin founded the group partly as a way to keep playing despite the affects of focal dystonia — a neuromuscular disorder —  that was impeding his solo career as a national touring and recording artist. Now, seven years later, the group of nationally recognized singers and players See Press Page has taken on a life of its own with two new members and this newest album.

With national distribution from Allegro Music, a national publicity campaign and a regional tour of Minnesota and neighboring states in support of the CD, A Small Town Christmas is sure to lift up the hearts of all who hear it.

SimpleGifts’ A Small Town Christmas will serve as a simple reminder of how to recapture what the Christmas spirit is all about.

Featured Artists: Billy McLaughlin, acoustic guitar; Jeni-Lyn Starr, piano, Celtic whistles; Heather Garborg, vocals, violin; Karen Paurus, vocals; Carin Vagle, vocals; Billy O, percussion; and special guest Dan Schwartz, lap-steel guitar.