Summary: Ozark Highlands Radio is a weekly radio program that features live music and interviews recorded at Ozark Folk Center State Park’s beautiful 1,000-seat auditorium in Mountain View, Arkansas. In addition to the music, our “Feature Host” segments take listeners through the Ozark hills with historians, authors, and personalities who explore the people, stories, and history of the Ozark region. This week, Christmas songs both traditional & rare, performed by an interesting array of folk musicians, recorded live at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. Hosts Dave Smith & Mark Jones present these festive archival holiday recordings. Mark Jones offers an archival recording of his father, Country Music Hall of Fame legend Grandpa Jones reciting a poem called “The Christmas Guest.” Aubry Atwater & Elwood Donnelly profile the story of folk music royalty Jean Ritchie’s first family Christmas tree. Musicians at the Ozark Folk Center State Park have been putting on Christmas music shows for over four decades. As with most music performed at the park, the Christmas music represented here is not your normal collection of holiday standards. You’ll hear a few songs that you know and love, as well as many others that you’ve likely never encountered before. The eclectic range of musicians performing on this edition of Ozark Highlands Radio include Grandpa Jones, Randall Hylton, The Dowden Sisters, The Lonesome Cowboys, Joni Bishop, Bob Olivera, The Heritage Quartet, and more. In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, musician, educator, and country music legacy Mark Jones offers an archival recording of his father, country music legend Grandpa Jones, reciting a poem called “The Christmas Guest,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives. Renowned folk musicians Aubrey Atwater & Elwood Donnelly profile influential folk music icons Jean Ritchie and the Ritchie Family, as well as explore the traditional Appalachian music and dance that the Ritchie Family helped to perpetuate into the modern American folk lexicon. This episode relates Jean Ritchie’s own childhood memories of an early Ritchie Family Christmas.
