Christmas Lights, Martha's Trouble (Aisling)

This holiday EP came out in Canada in 2002 and is being marketed in the U.S. for the first time in 2004. Martha's Trouble is a folky duo, Jen and Rob Slocum, who split their time between Ontario and Alabama (talk about your red state/blue state dichotomy) performing what is essentially folk music, lots of fingerpicked guitar and occasional touches of violin, although they also have full band accompaniment on this short CD. "Christmas Song" is their own midtempo original and the only such among the six tunes, the rest of which are standards including "Silent Night," a syncopated "Little Drummer Boy," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." More folk than pop, and a bit mellow for this site, but Jen Slocum is an excellent singer, and you Roches fans will probably go for this. UPDATE: They took a second bite at the Christmas apple later, see separate entry.