Christmas music brings the joy, when it's not being meditative or uplifting.
The all-time best-selling holiday tune is the jingly "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby. Then there's the classical inspiration of "Ave Maria," the comfort of chestnuts like Nat "King" Cole's "The Christmas Song," the spirit-warming carols "Silent Night" and "O Come All Ye Faithful," and the pretty pop of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You."
But Christmas also has a somber side: John Denver's downbeat "Please Daddy Don't Get Drunk This Christmas," Merle Haggard's bittersweet "If We Make It Through December."
Even the soundtrack of A Charlie Brown Christmas mixes melancholy and joy. Joni Mitchell's yearning "River" is growing in popularity as a seasonal favorite. Some standards such as "I'll Be Home for Christmas" are tinged with regret and sadness over separation from loved ones. And then there's the vintage blues collection Death Might Be Your Santa Claus.
It is this real-life world of joy and sadness that Americana group Over the Rhine inhabits, creating music the players describe as "reality Christmas."
"I think for everyone the holiday season is a little different, depending on your own story," says Karin Bergquist, the group's lead singer and, along with husband Linford Detweiler, songwriter. "It can be a tricky season that begins early, with lots of glitter and pretty things, but this heaviness can set in. If we approach it realistically, laugh and cry a little, it makes it easier to take. If you don't give it the perspective it requires, it can overwhelm you.
"I'm all for happy, jingly songs, but there's a balance that is necessary."
That balance reflects Over the Rhine's new, and third, Christmas album, Blood Oranges in the Snow (Great Speckled Dog). Along with original tunes mostly by Detweiler, there's an especially moving version of Haggard's "If We Make It Through December."
For Bergquist, that sense of balance is rooted in her childhood in Phoenix.
"My step-grandfather was my first musical influence; he would set me down and we watched Hee Haw together. My grandmother had a big collection of music ... old gospel like Mahalia Jackson, novelties like The Chipmunks, classic country. She'd play an old organ, and we'd have Christmas tunes throughout the house. The adults went all out for the kids; put up a tree and made fake Santa Claus snowy footprints across the rug.
"It was really good when I was small."
That changed when Bergquist's step-grandfather died when she was 6; he was her grandmother's second spouse lost to an untimely death. Also, her mother was divorced.
"I remember how hard it was for them to put on a brave face for this little kid, so there's the history, the emotional scar that is part of the season for me. I've learned how to dance with acceptance, rejection, loss, success, failure ... all those balancing acts we have to do as we go through life without a manual.
"I think our music reflects that pretty strongly."
Bergquist says she didn't have any new songs ready for the Christmas album.
"I wasn't sure they would have fit in anyway ... what I heard of his [Detweiler's] new songs, I loved. The title song is a true story. I love the layer in the last verse about his father reading a story about a panther in the trees, the foreboding of that verse and how heavy it is.
"There is another song, 'My Father's Body,' that is so rich and beautiful; he processes the death of his father.
"He gave me a demo of 'Another Christmas' and wanted me to sing lead on it. I told him he was crazy, that I loved the way his voice fits into it. So he's taking more chances; he's more vulnerable. I think this keeps it interesting for the listeners to hear the writer's voice."
Bergquist, who produced the new album, did co-write its closing track, "New Year's Song."
The rich tapestry the duo weave is literate and poetic, haunting, romantic and melancholy. So what about the thread of faith in the group's music?
"I've never been one to push my beliefs on anyone," she says. "I like the questions and I'm OK with wrestling with them as long as the mind and the conversation stay open. I'm a seeker at heart. I do believe there is something more complete in the universe than me.
"Do I want to define that for a lot of people? No. Do I want to share my journey? Yes. Church played a big role in my upbringing and my husband's. Like anything, there's good and bad in that. I tend to try to stay away from telling people I have answers. If you want to walk with me, we'll ask some questions and have a meaningful conversation along the way; maybe we can find something bigger and better than ourselves and take a step forward."
Bergquist has been taking steps forward as a writer, focusing on poetry and narrative.
"It may never be published, but I want to write my family story. My great-grandmother kept a journal, but we never found it. I begged my mother to write, but after she started she had a stroke. So I'm writing, trying to fill in the blanks."
How will Bergquist and Detweiler celebrate Christmas?
"I love to put up a tree, then plant it at the farm. [The couple live on a farm near Cincinnati.] I love spending time at home. It's a luxury because of touring. A few days at home with my dogs, my tree, my music, my partner and our designated families. Lots of cooking, lots of love in the room.
''We also get together with our chosen family ... friends, musicians, godchildren.
"As Dorothy said, 'There's no place like home.'"
Laura Lynn Brown contributed to this report.
Style on 11/23/2014