Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Pop Music

Been a while now since I've shared a Christmas album full of actual pop music with you, so here's the closest thing I still have in my pile of Christmas goodies. Not sure if you want to count George Beverly Shea and The Korean Children's Choir as popular music, but at least it's not another church choir. There are some bigger names here that I'm sure you'll enjoy, like Tennessee Ernie Ford, Lawrence Welk and Pat Boone, but even those might not fall under the head of pop. What attracted me to this album was the possibility that some of these tracks were exclusive to this disc. I'm not sure all of these artists released full albums on Word Records, who put this collection together for Guideposts in 1977, and there are no note on the back of the LP about how tracks were licensed elsewhere. I didn't dig much deeper than that, but maybe one of my loyal visitors will be able to clue me in on what's what here. Please have a go at The Guideposts Treasury Of Christmas Hymns (Word GPR 002, Stereo, 1977). Some of these artists have been shared here at the blog from full albums of their own. You might be rewarded richly if you do a few searches.

1. Tennessee Ernie Ford-O Little Town Of Bethlehem
2. Lawrence Welk-O Come All Ye Faithful & Away In A Manger
3. The King Family-It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
4. Pat Boone-Hark The Herald Angels Sing
5. George Beverly Shea-O Holy Night
6. Evie-Mary's Little Boy Child
7. Richard & Patti Roberts-Go Tell It On The Mountains
8. Ralph Carmichael-Little Drummer Boy
9. Korean Children's Choir-Silent Night
10. Jim Roberts & Norma Zimmer-Silver Bells

MEGA

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23 comments:

  1. JonathanThursday, February 12, 2026 1:00:00 AM

    Hi Ernie,
    I'm not sure if it's my internet or what... but at times, I'm having a hard time opening up your blog, and also downloads from MEGA are not working. I will check it another day. Are others having a problem?

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    1. ErnieThursday, February 12, 2026 7:38:00 AM

      I'm not aware of anything going on, but it's odd that no one seems to have noticed this post any earlier. But it's well past the usual Christmas season by anyone's definition. Hopefully the issues you're seeing will be cleared up by the next time you check in.

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    2. JonathanFriday, February 13, 2026 12:17:00 AM

      I finally ended up unplugging the modem and plugging back in. It all appears to be fixed, for now, but I probably should call my service provider...
      Your website and MEGA are working fine again :)

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    3. JonathanFriday, February 13, 2026 12:21:00 AM

      I checked. In 2018, I downloaded this Guideposts album from you, "Christmas Stories From Guideposts" A different one :)
      But I do recognize the cover, but it might be similar to a "Salvation Army of Stars" album.

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    4. JonathanFriday, February 13, 2026 1:07:00 AM

      From what I could tell, the two original tracks (or ones that I haven't found anywhere else, on this record, are: Tennessee Ernie Ford's "O Little Town Of Bethlehem"; and the Lawrence Welk "O Come All Ye Faithful & Away in A Manger"

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    5. ErnieFriday, February 13, 2026 8:18:00 AM

      I've been giving some thought for a while now about compiling some Lawrence Welk Christmas music, stuff that didn't show up on his albums, so I'm glad I found this track. Not sure if there's enough other stuff to fill an album, but I'm looking into it. He was very prolific over the years and his early Christmas albums are Wunnerful!

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    6. JonathanFriday, February 13, 2026 9:09:00 PM

      That would be great, Ernie :)

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    7. ErnieSaturday, February 14, 2026 10:04:00 PM

      I keep finding more. :)

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  2. AnonymousThursday, February 12, 2026 12:07:00 PM

    Hi Ernie and Jonathan, the library where I access the Internet just updated the operating system and MEGA looks different. There's a tiny download icon near the top of the page now.

    Thank you, Ernie, for the wonderful finds! I had never heard this Lawrence Welk Orch & Chorus medley found on the Guideposts LP. It's not the same as any of my Lawrence Welk LPs. Thank you!

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    1. ErnieThursday, February 12, 2026 1:28:00 PM

      Thanks for the feedback! I downloaded something from MEGA today and noticed the page looked different. You have to know where that little download arrow is, I don't think they want you to easily find it, but it's there. :)

      Is the Lawrence Welk unique? Interesting. I knew this record was bound to have something good on it. There are a couple more that form a series with this one, I need to rip the others I guess.

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  3. musicman1979Thursday, February 12, 2026 7:55:00 PM

    The version of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" on this album sounds to my ears as if it came from Pat Boone's first Christmas album for Dot Records, White Christmas, in 1958-59. Really like the Evie selection: Will most definitely be including it in my Christmas music mix next season from my personal vinyl copy of Come On, Ring Those Bells. I am pretty certain that the Richard & Patti Roberts selection comes from their Christmas album, simply titled Christmas with Richard and Patti, which I might still have in my collection.

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    1. ErnieFriday, February 13, 2026 8:19:00 AM

      I think I shared two Christmas records from Evie here a couple years ago. Nice stuff.

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    2. musicman1979Saturday, February 14, 2026 3:08:00 PM

      Yes, you did. Early 2024.

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    3. ErnieSaturday, February 14, 2026 10:05:00 PM

      I can't remember sometimes what I have and haven't shared. And then there are the things I recorded but never shared...

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  4. musicman1979Thursday, February 12, 2026 8:00:00 PM

    The Lawrence Welk medley could have appeared on the "Merry Christmas From Our House to Your House" album from Ranwood, which could have also included some selections from a Readers Digest Welk Christmas collection that came out in 1969 or '70. Really am enjoying the Ralph Carmichael "Little Drummer Boy"; it kind of has a little bit of a Ray Conniff flavor to it; actually a little better than Ray's own version on his classic We Wish You a Merry Christmas album. Great arrangement!

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    1. musicman1979Thursday, February 12, 2026 8:05:00 PM

      The Jim Roberts/Norma Zimmer duet does appear on that Readers Digest boxed set and also appeared on a Welk Christmas reunion special in 1984. This cut did make it onto a legitimate Welk Christmas CD from Ranwood in 2003.

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    2. ErnieFriday, February 13, 2026 8:20:00 AM

      I feel like I recently digitized all of those collections, I need to go through them and make some comparisons. It's a lot of Welk, but not his best stuff.

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  5. musicman1979Thursday, February 12, 2026 8:03:00 PM

    Really good Ernie Ford selection. It has got the musical flavor of his second Capitol Christmas album, Sing We Now of Christmas.

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    1. ErnieFriday, February 13, 2026 8:21:00 AM

      So you think the Tennessee Ernie is unique to this release?

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    2. BryanFriday, February 13, 2026 1:52:00 PM

      Well Ernie, this is a nice and eclectic mixture of material. It sounds all professionally done in one way or another.
      But Religion is a strange bedfellow, so I will leave it at that.
      It was worth listening to though, so I am glad you shared it.

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    3. ErnieSaturday, February 14, 2026 10:06:00 PM

      I need to rip the others in the series. There is one that is very similar to this one, similar roster of artists.

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    4. AnonymousWednesday, February 18, 2026 1:36:00 PM

      Looking forward to hearing more of this series. Ernie, your dedication is amazing! and very much appreciated (BIG grin)

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    5. ErnieWednesday, February 18, 2026 1:39:00 PM

      I ripped the others in the series recently, but I'm not convinced there is anything interesting on them. We'll see how it shakes out. Thanks for the comment!

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All comments are greatly appreciated, but replies aren't guaranteed...