If You Like James Taylor and Mellow Christmas Music, Check Out Ricky Fitzpatrick's Acoustically Christmas

Around this time last year, I bought In Time, the debut album of Celtic Thunder’s Ryan Kelly, from the folks at CD Baby, an online music store focusing on indie artists. Because of this, I started getting e-mails from them, and one that I received late last year caught my attention. Although I’d never heard of Ricky Fitzpatrick, I was intrigued by their description of him as a James Taylor sound-alike, and since his MP3-format-only album was being offered for a mere three dollars on Black Friday, I decided to check him out. Acoustically Christmas is a nice, mellow collection of songs that make for pleasant Christmas listening, especially since Fitzpatrick does indeed sound remarkably like James Taylor.

Fitzpatrick, a devout Baptist based in Georgia, focuses on the spiritual side of the season with quiet guitar-based arrangements of traditional carols. Ten of the tracks feature familiar favorites presented in a reflective manner, several with choral elements. What Child Is This is slow-paced with a gentle chorus mingling with the guitar in the background; O Come Emmanuel, a pure a cappella track, is even slower and plays with the melody a bit as the deep voices blend, almost chant-like.

Other songs are more upbeat, like the warmly cheerful Joy to the World and the strummy Little Drummer Boy. I love the guitar work and some of the harmonies on God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and the largely instrumental Silent Night has a rather unusual sound to it. The First Noel, the only purely instrumental track, is up-tempo with a bit of a jazzy flavor, and Will Taylor (no relation to James) joins in on Angels We Have Heard on High. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear and Little Town of Bethlehem are pretty straightforward without any really distinguishing features.

Whenever I pick up a Christmas album, I’m especially interested in songs that are unique to it. We have three tracks like that here. Fitzpatrick wrote O What A Song, a song of praise imagining the celestial and earthly chorus greeting Christ’s birth. This duet with Nathan Sheppard, who, like Will Taylor, is a Georgia musician, has a very joyful quality to it. The tone in Lullaby for a King, also by Fitzpatrick, is quieter and almost a bit muffled; it’s a little hard to catch all the words the first couple of times around. Similar in theme to O What a Song but more on the contemplative side of things.

God's Song - Twice as long as any of the others, this final track isn’t actually a song but is rather a reflection on the idea of God singing: “The song of God is a simple song; it starts with God and it ends with Jesus.” As Fitzpatrick gives what amounts to a sermon that turns into an altar call of sorts, guitar plays in the background. There’s no particular melody; it’s just rambly ambient music that acts as a nice mellowing agent, though at times it’s a bit distracting. Overall, it’s a nice message that closes with a Merry Christmas greeting. It’s neat to hear where he is coming from, though it’s probably good that he put this track on the end, since you probably don’t really want to listen to a nearly nine-minute-long meditation every time you’re in the mood for some acoustic Christmas carols.

The album’s liner notes are a bit vague, so I’m not sure in what respect some of the musicians he mentions were involved in the recording process, but he acknowledges several, including Michael Card, my favorite singer-songwriter in the Contemporary Christian Music genre, and Livingston Taylor, the brother of James Taylor. Acoustically Christmas doesn’t offer a whole lot of variety, but if you’re looking for a reverent collection of Christmas Eve service standards, this is a great collection.

Livingston Taylor Lives Up to the Family Name in Erie, PA October 4

I am a big fan of James Taylor, but I had never heard of his brother Livingston before this week. That was when I read that he would appear in concert this past Saturday with the Erie Philharmonic. Unfamiliar as I was, I had a hunch that the talent ran in the family. The article certainly presented Taylor as the type of artist I would enjoy seeing perform. So on Saturday night, my dad and I headed over to First Assembly of God and bought last-minute tickets for $10.

While I would have expected the cheapest tickets to land us somewhere in the nosebleed section, they weren't marked with a particular seat assignment so we were told we could sit anywhere except the "A" section. That landed us eight rows from the stage. A pleasant surprise, but this was a church after all, and "the last shall become first" was true in this case! The Erie Philharmonic generally performs at the Warner Theater, but it is under renovations so First Assembly offered its space as a replacement. It worked very nicely as a concert hall.

I have been to concerts of this type before, most notably when I saw Art Garfunkel in Pittsburgh and Buffalo. In both of those cases, the Philharmonic performed alone during the first half, and Art came out for the second half. That was the plan for this show, but they decided to change it up a bit. The Philharmonic, under the direction of Jeff Tyzik, performed a number of hymns and spirituals; I wonder if the location had anything to do with that? The orchestra played Tyzik's arrangement of Amazing Grace, which he said was supposed to present a feeling of unity. The Mercyhurst College Choir lent their vocals to Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, John Williams' Hymn to the Fallen, and a spiritual by Erie native Harry Burleigh.

Livingston came out to do a couple of songs before the intermission. He wore a vest and a blue bow tie and bore quite a resemblance to James, an impression that was only strengthened when I heard him sing. His voice is lower than his brother's but very similar in tone. He sang I Will Be In Love With You and Glad I Know You Well before the break; both were very nice songs, and his guitar picking skills were impressive.

From the start, he seemed like a very down-to-earth and friendly person, bantering back and forth easily with Tyzik as though they were old friends and grinning throughout. He commented that he is generally used to playing for audiences half the size of the orchestra so that was taking some getting used to! I got the impression that he does most of his gigs on his own. He didn't have a band with him on this night.

The Philharmonic's performance of Aaron Copeland's Rodeo was moved to the beginning of the second half, leaving Livingston time to grab a bite to eat after the intermission crowd had died down. My dad and I bumped into him on our way back and directed him towards the concessions, assuring him that they had coffee. The Copeland movements were fun, culminating in the familiar soundtrack for the "Beef: It's What's For Dinner" commercials. After this, Livingston was ready to take the stage once again.

He started out with Somewhere Over the Rainbow, including a little-heard introductory verse to the song. From there, he sang When Sunny Gets Blue, getting down off the stage at one point to dance with a woman in the front row. He gave a nod to his famous brother by singing Carolina On My Mind and let the brass section shine on Blind, a song he had written as a teenager.

Perhaps the most entertaining performance of the evening was the Railroad Medley, including I've Been Working on the Railroad, Chattanooga Choo Choo, Atcheson, Topeka & Santa Fe, and The Trolley Song. He was incredibly animated throughout this performance, acting out the songs from chugging along like a locomotive for the first song to panicking over the attentions of a girl in the last. I wonder if this is a medley he usually performs or if it was specific to this concert, as he noted that our city is right in the rust belt and that railroads have played a big part in Erie's development.

The regular set ended with Banjo Extravaganza, which he introduced by playing Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring on the banjo and commenting on his love of the instrument. He said he was going to play a little something that he didn't expect the Philharmonic to know but that they should feel welcome to fill in should they feel so inclined. He began playing, and gradually more and more of the orchestra joined in, starting with percussion and branching out. When he ended the song, the orchestra kept on playing, so he had to work himself back into the song for a grand finale. This was also a very entertaining performance that reminded me a lot of Eric Weissberg and Warren Bernhardt's Dueling Banjos at Art Garfunkel's concert in Erie.

After receiving a standing ovation, Livingston came back for one a capella encore, a spiritual-like tribute entitled Grandma's Hands. All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening, well worth the ticket price. I only wish he had sold some albums there, because I would have bought one. I now have another Taylor to add to my list of admired musicians. Livingston is not as widely known as his brother, but from what I saw at this concert he shares many of the qualities that I admire in James. His discography is also quite impressive, so finding an album or two of his shouldn't be very difficult. I imagine that the concerts he usually does, without a backing orchestra, have a very different feel to them but are also very enjoyable. I would certainly recommend him to any fans of his brother or of mellow music in general.