The First Christmas Morning

It doesn't get much more traditional than this. Former middle-of-the-road folksinger Dan Fogelberg sang, arranged, and produced First Christmas Morning, a collection of Christmas songs inspired by medieval, Baroque, and Renaissance melodies. He tosses in a handful of traditional songs -- "I Saw Three Ships," "What Child Is This?" -- and accompanies them with strings, harp, and the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, among other period-appropriate sounds. Though it is unlikely that any of Fogelberg's original compositions -- the joyous "At Christmas Time" and the somber "The First Christmas Morning" -- will make it into the popular canon of seasonal choices, his arrangements of the classics "O Tannenbaum" and "We Three Kings," though a little over the top, are quite good.