Of a Winter’s Night is Tony Trischka's always eagerly awaited acoustic celebration of the holiday season. Based on his 2015 CD release of the same name, recorded at Levon Helm’s Barn in Woodstock, NY, this show features a wide variety of seasonal tunes where he turns his considerable melodic inventiveness loose on Bluegrass and Americana music for the holidays. Joined by multi-instrumentalist & shape-note singer Tim Eriksen, Trischka and Eriksen put a warm spin on a wealth of festive fare. Eriksen, a master of Americana music, has also worked closely with T Bone Burnett on the soundtrack for the film Cold Mountain. Trischka & Eriksen have invited Hannah Read on guitar, violin and vocals to join them. The stark, haunting sound of shape note music is the perfect complement to the music Trischka recorded on his critically acclaimed Rounder Records Glory Shone Around and the new music he has arranged for this show. They are joined by Jared Engel on bass and vocals and Sean Trischka on vocals and drums. Performing from the 1844 hymnbook Sacred Harp, some of the evening’s songs date back to the Revolutionary era. Other selections range from classics such as “Come All Ye Faithful,” to lesser-known tunes like The Pretenders’ “2000 Miles,” and Trischka’s “Christmas Morn.” Old-time holiday fiddle music joins with classically influenced carols. Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie songs are juxtaposed with the hard-driving bluegrass flavor of “Christmas Time’s A’Comin.’” A diverse, highly textural seasonal collection, Trischka revels in songs long forgotten and little known.
