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Our Review

This beautiful instrumental CD is all about Bob, all the time. Award-winning artist Bob Rafkin presents Six String Christmas primarily to showcase his acoustic guitar talents, but he also has a hand in everything else. Who's that playing the bass, the percussion, the accordion, and the glockenspiel? Why, that's Bob Rafkin, of course. What creative soul put together the arrangements for these holiday standards? You know the answer. And what clever artist, you might ask, painted the nifty water color picture on the album cover? You guessed it.

Rafkin is a guitar virtuoso. When his fingers start flying, you begin to imagine that the artist must have more than the normal allotment of digits (and hands!). Rafkin makes the most complex arrangements flow smoothly and effortlessly. Having been active in the music industry for nearly 40 years (playing with legends like Phil Ochs), the artist's command of his craft is self-evident.

All 14 cuts feature wonderful Christmas standards, and the guitar treatment is exceptional. The mood is gentle, expressive and expansive, and the original arrangements are creative, understated, and uniformly superb.

Six String Christmas is chock full of "favorites." The CD's overall quality is so consistently seamless that one lovely number just flows into the next. For me, the highlights include God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, which has a great underlying percussive beat propelling the music, and the warm, folksy treatment of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.

If you love low-key acoustic guitar stylings on holiday classics, then Six String Christmas will get your sleigh bells ringing. The only disappointment will be when, less than 40 minutes later, the beautiful music ends.

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2003)

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From the liner notes:

"Here is a collection of favorite classical and traditional Christmas songs. These beautiful compositions celebrate the faith inspired, creative human potential." --Bob Rafkin

Bob Rafkin: Acoustic Guitar, Bass, Percussion, Accordion, Glockenspiel

From the Artist's Web Site:

"Bob Rafkin has come into his own as a premier singer, songwriter and guitar finger stylist. He is winning awards for his work and writing timeless music, instrumentally and lyrically, as evidenced on his six Lake Ridge Records recordings."

"Down the Road, released in 1994, was lauded by DIRTY LINEN, 'He's an exceptional guitarist, has a smooth, pleasing voice, and his years spent in the studio show in the simple, yet effective arrangements.' Since then, Rafkin has released five other CDs&. Both instrumental albums have been featured on The Weather Channel."

"Bob's career in music has had many twists and turns which have brought him full circle."

"Born in New York City, Bob grew up in Washington D.C., Cleveland and Philadelphia.  Rafkin's musical journey actually began when he headed for Greenwich Village in the mid-sixties where he joined forces with David Blue to form the campy folk-rock group, The American Patrol."

Bob Rafkin

Six String Christmas

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Track List