Gourd Music is proud to releaseColonial Christmas, by Barry Phillips.On this exciting new work Barry has arranged three distinct types of music:American choral pieces by William Billings and other early American composers, dance tunes from John Playford sThe English Dancing Master, and folk tunes of the period and earlier. Selections include The Merry Wassail, Christ Child Lullaby, Drive the Cold Winter Away, Nos Galan (Deck the Hall), Judea, and twelve additional selections.Barry is joined by a wealth of musicians: Swedish nyckelharpa master Olov Johansson, Scottish fiddler Sarah-Jane Summers, Celtic harpist Jesse Autumn, Welsh violinist Robert Evans, oboe and English horn player Shelley Phillips, harpsichordist Linda  Burman-Hall, mountain dulcimer player Neal Hellman Hammered dulcimer player Robin Petrie, fiddler Deby Benton Grosjean, flautist Lars Johannesson and others.Colonial Christmasis a reflection from today, a look back at a variety of music that might well have been played at a Christmas party in colonial America.