One December, not long after Over the Rhine began recording and touring, we were invited to
perform some seasonal songs on a public radio station. We worked up a few carols and
traditional tunes. It actually felt really good and conjured up an unusual mix of feelings from
childhood: innocence, loss, wonder, joy, sadness. I think we were surprised.
People must have tuned into the radio broadcast, because we began receiving inquiries as to
whether we had recorded any of our Christmas songs. In December of 1996 – can it really be
30 years ago? – we recorded and released our first song cycle of some of the Christmas carols
that still haunted us. We included a few original tunes and called our wintry mix The Darkest
Night Of The Year. Folks began snatching up copies and seemed to agree that they hadn’t
heard anything quite like it.
A decade later, in 2006, we released our first full collection of original Christmas/holiday songs
called Snow Angels. What is it about Christmas music and the undeniable gravitational pull it
exerts on some songwriters? So many Christmas songs have already been written. I think we
remain genuinely curious about the ones that haven’t yet been written.