Sunday, 26 October 2025

Lady A - On This Winter's Night: Volume 2


60 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!

Buy On This Winter's Night: Vol 2 here (Lady A Store)
Stream On This Winter's Night: Vol 2 here (Spotify)

15 years after they debuted their inaugural Christmas opus, A Merry Little Christmas - which later became On A Winter's Night when it got a full album release  (and 5 years after they celebrated it with a deluxe edition), pop-country music trio Lady A are back with a volume two to add to your festive collection. Four of the songs featured on 2020's A Winter's Night (Deluxe Edition) (which you can read my review of here) - which I like to think of as a bridge between the volume one and volume two collections. With its deliciously warm cover art, the album delivers just what you want and need from the group - sumptuous seasonal songs that mix the feel good up tempo reindeer romps with reflective, nostalgic reminiscing about the more emotional side of the holidays. Lucky US folks get another tour this November/December, but surely we can encourage the band to gift London with some holiday magic next year??

The album opens with the seductively romantic Wouldn't Be Christmas, a perky sleigh ride of a song about finding the way to the ones you love at the most wonderful time of the year. It is instantly infectious, a holly jolly refrain you'll soon be singing all the live long day. If that makes you long for a Winter Wonderland, you're in luck. The next song is their dual vocal harmonised version of the classic track, slowed down ever so slightly so you get to savour every word whilst appreciating their shoulder shimmying groove. Lovely acoustic guitar in the middle 8 as satisfying as cream melting into hot chocolate. Last Christmas is up next, of course the indelible Wham song - interpreted here as a heartfelt ballad that accentuates the sorrow and loss of the lyrics. The layered male-female vocals from Charles and Hillary add context - like two star crossed lovers who could just sort it all out this Christmas Eve if they just opened their hearts...

Once those lingering vocal notes of "last Christmas" have faded, the guests arrive - first up Ricky Skaggs on Why We Sing Noel; this lovely carol is performed with a comforting reverence that would sound exquisite at any Christmas Eve sermon. Intricately woven voices against a more traditional country music accompaniment make this shine like the brightest star in the firmament. The trio also got an RSVP from Chris Tomlin who joins in the carol concert on a beautiful version of Silent Night. Chris is no stranger to Christmas music himself (most recently 2019's EP Christmas Songs of Worship), adding an alternative melody line to the group's own harmonised voices. Add into this a scripture reading that inspired this endlessly timeless carol and you have the real meaning of Christmas, all wrapped up in one radiant production. 

O Holy Night is one of my all time favourite carols and I'm weirdly protective of it. Tevin Campbell did one of my all time favourite versions back on A Very Special Christmas 2 (1992) - and I'm pleased to report that Lady A do the hymn all the justice it demands. Guitar-piano accompaniment provide the gentle backdrop, increasing in intensity when strings are added in - a necessary crescendo that is wonderfully aided just by the emphasis in their voices. The somber, religious side of Christmas in their music is always so well done - yet they switch to party time when required so effortlessly. What Christmas Means To Me might as well be an anthem for their 15 years of providing us with holiday classics. A slightly off-kilter beat puts their own personality into the song, making it feel like they were always meant to sing it. Bring on a deluxe version next year and Vol 3 in about 5 years??

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