Christmas kin EP from Cup O' Joe

Thanks to John Lawless and Bluegrass Today for the news that Cup O' Joe have released a five-track EP, Christmas kin, together with a video of one of the tracks, the traditional Cornish carol 'The holly bears a berry'. The video can be seen on Bluegrass Today, on YouTube, and on Cup O' Joe's Facebook. John Lawless writes: 'It’s simply lovely, as is the rest of the project.' All the tracks can be heard and bought on the Cup O' Joe Bandcamp page; the complete EP is £8.99 as a CD and £6.00 in digital form.

According to Bluegrass Today, 'The holly bears a berry' is 'believed to have emerged around the turn of the twentieth century'. The words 'is believed to have emerged', in this context, mean 'was collected by a folklorist'. More on the song, together with a list of other recordings of it since 1965, can be found here.

© Richard Hawkins