Small Miracles

Christmas 2008 - Small Miracles Welcome to our gathering of Christmas songs - old & new, silly & sad, sacred & secular... sounds like Christmas to me! Each song on this CD resonates in it's own way for me, evoking laughter or tears and sometimes both. Not only did producer/arranger Dennis Cahill shepherd this entire project, his playing gives Santa Baby and Winter Wonderland such a great jazzy swing; imbues Gabriel's Message and Angels We Have Heard On High with a madrigal touch and provides a simple bell-like guitar on Silent Night that is so soothing it makes me see snow falling quietly. His playing is masterful. I can never thank him enough for his patience, vision and beautiful spirit. There is something unusual here too and I hope you will take the time to listen to John McCutcheon's Christmas in the Trenches. It is the story of the WWI spontaneous Christmas ceasefire along the battlefields of France in 1914, told in the voice of an 18 year old who lived through the war. It is a powerful tale and, along with Liz Knowles and John Williams, Jimmy Moore is his usual brilliant self on this song, as well as on The Wexford Carol (with Kieran O'Hare on the pipes) and O Holy Night. Jimmy is simply the most gracious and intuitive player I have ever known. When I chose B.

Chapman, M. Manchester and M. Rollings' There's Still My Joy, I had my two cousins Amy & Katie in mind, but as the year rolled by and we lost Trish and our dear Mom, that beautiful song personified finding a sense of grace, of moving forward in the utter darkness of despair. Laura Kutscher played and arranged both There's Still My Joy and This Christmastide. With her gifted playing and gentle heart, Laura made both songs more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. My dear friend Steven Houser took Laura Kutscher's arrangement of In the Bleak Midwinter and made it as shimmering as a diamond and you will also hear his cello grace This Christmastide and Silent Night. Michael Keefe arrived in the studio to play I'll Be Home for Christmas and didn't know he was also going to be asked to play Silver Bells. He had it nailed within minutes and what a joy for me to have two of my favorite songs so beautifully played by one of my favorite pianists. John Williams' playing makes me smile; he always adds just the right touch and it is evident in Christmas In the Trenches and O Holy Night; but never more so than Angels We Have Heard On High. John was charged with accompanying the O'Connell Sisters on their maiden recording session, no easy task, and he was remarkably patient and good-natured. To Jessica Ziegler on viola; Ken Haebich on bass; Stacey McMichael on stand-up bass and Barret Harvey on drums: Your contributions were beyond measure. Victor Sanders, the most talented and patient recording engineer ever, you make me sound the best I can all the time (and you know when enough is enough!); John Soss, research; Rick Kogan for all his support and Mhairi Phillips for her beautiful cover design. My beautiful sisters; Susan, Eileen and Maureen; (we could not talk our brothers James & Michael into recording) thank you for helping me show how I got started, whether Irish songs or Christmas carols, we gathered around the table, singing our party pieces and making up harmony (and words if need be). Small Miracles is dedicated to our mom Mary O'Connell; while our dad, James O'Connell taught us how to sing, mom showed us how to live.