“Music From the Mountains,” a program of Appalachian and Ozark folk Christmas music, will be presented Sunday evening by the Chancel Choir of the First United Methodist Church.
Featuring the 40-voice choir, a bluegrass band and a virtuoso fiddler, the joyous performance of music from our southern highland heritage will ring throughout the church sanctuary at 500 N. Main St. beginning at 6 p.m. The concert is free and the public is invited.
Interspersed among the musical selections will be “Mountain Memories,” accounts of Christmas experiences related to various choir members by grandparents, aunts, uncles and other ancestors with roots in “the hills.”
Home-grown music was a rich tradition among the early settlers of the Appalachian Mountains of the Southeast. That same music was brought to the south Missouri and north Arkansas Ozarks as many of those people migrated farther west.
The program will open with “I Hear the Prophet Callin,’” featuring Cape Girardeau fiddler Steve Schaffner and baritone soloist John Stanard.
After alto Sue Crawford solos on “Dear Little Stranger,” the men of the choir will sing “Who’s That Baby,” with Jayvon Holloway-Allen the featured tenor soloist.
Following choir selections titled “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” and “Star of Wonder,” a mixed ensemble will sing “Love Can Build a Bridge.” Singers will be Rose Anne Huck, Suzy Cowan, Shiela Boyles, Cindy Bell, Holloway-Allen and Steve Schneider.
Kim Crites will be the alto soloist on “There’s Still My Joy,” followed by Alice Barbour, Brenda Allen and Bill Traxel singing a trio section of the choir piece “Angel Band.”
The program will conclude with “Children, Go Tell It On the Mountain.”
Led by Chancel Choir director Pamela Howard Becker, the program will feature a bluegrass band comprised of fiddler Schaffner, choir members Dan Jackson on bass and Keith Berry on guitar, church member Steve Walsh on mandolin and Don Goff on dobro. The band will accompany several of the choir selections.
Church pianist Cindy White will accompany the evening program.
“We decided to do something different for this year’s Christmas concert,” Mrs. Becker said. “We know that many people in our area can relate to the traditional folk music of our ancestors, and we thought the bluegrass band would be a popular, added touch.
“I know that our congregation and guests will have an enjoyable evening, and I promise you that toe-tapping definitely will be allowed that night in our Methodist sanctuary.”