I. Christmas Eve at the Corssroads:
Christmas Eve Reel
Christmas In America
Old Christmas Eve (arr. J. Sorrell)

II. Celtic Memories - Christmas Eve in Old Ireland:
The Truth Sent from Above (arr. J. Sorrell)
Sheep under the snow/Apples in Winter/Little Christmas Reel (arr. R. Schiffer & S.P. Gilmore)
Blow, Northern Wind - Medieval English Lyric (arr. B. Kay)
Don Oiche úd I mBeithil (That Night in Bethlehem)
That Night in Bethlehem (Don Oiche úd i mBeithil) (arr. J. Sorrell)
Nowell Sing We, Both All and Some (Medieval English) (arr. J. Sorrell)

III. Caroling Across the Waters:
Innesheer/Ships in Full Sail + I Saw Three Ships/New Christmas Reel (arr. K. Stewart)
Yorkshire Carol/Somerset Wassail/Kentucky Wassail (arr. J. Sorrell)

IV. Christmas Morning in Appalachia:
Bright Morning Stars (Southern folk hymn)
Christ Child’s Lullaby (Talladh Chriosta) (arr. J. Sorrell & A. Powell)
Frost & Snow/28th of January/Dominion Reel (arr. R. Schiffer & T. Bergmann)
Jesus Born in Beth’ny (arr. J. Sorrell)
Star in the East/The Shepherd’s Star – Shape-Note Hymn from 'The Southern Harmony', 1835

V. Wanderers Under the Sky:
Joseph & Mary/I Wonder as I Wander (arr. J. Sorrell)
The Gravel Walk/Over the Isles to America

VI. Christmas Barn Dance:
Hop High Ladies/June Apple Reel
Cold Frosty Morning/Old Christmas/Breakin’ Up Christmas (arr. R. Schiffer, J. Sorrell, T. Bergmann)
The Parting Glass

Following the release of the award-winning Sugarloaf Mountain: An Appalachian Gathering (AV2329), which was a Top 5 Billboard Classical Crossover hit, Jeannette Sorrell and Apollo’s Fire present Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain. In this celebration of the American immigrant experience, fiddlers, medieval harp, hammered dulcimer, bagpipes and singers join with children’s voices to evoke the Celtic roots of an Appalachian Christmas. From Christmas Eve in medieval Scotland to folk carols and shape-note hymns at a toe-tapping Christmas gathering in Virginia, Apollo’s Fire follows the journeys of the Irish and Scottish settlers who bravely crossed the Atlantic, settled in the mountains and welcomed Christmas with love, singing, dancing and prayer.

Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain conjures a holiday celebration of the Scottish and Irish immigrants who settled in the Appalachian Mountains, with Jeannette Sorrell directing Apollo’s Fire and a host of singers young and old in folk carols and shape-note hymns, Christmas is welcomed with love, singing, dancing and prayer.

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Recorded December 5 – 9, 2017 and July 28, 2018, First Baptist Church, Cleveland Heights, Ohio