Women who dress as men and entertain by imitating them are called drag kings.
Drag queens vary by type, culture, and dedication, from professionals who star in films and spend a lot of their time in their drag personas, to people who do drag only occasionally. They typically occur at LGBT pride parades, drag pageants, cabarets, carnivals, and nightclubs. Drag shows frequently include lip-syncing, live singing, and dancing. People do drag for reasons ranging from self-expression to mainstream performance. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and have been a part of gay culture. While the album veers toward Renaissance and pre-Victorian music (on one piece, Crary is joined by guests on lute and a recorder-like wind instrument), it’s not without its 20th century touches, including the trenchant Bluegrass runs of “What Child Is This,” and a folksy original blues-trio number, “Christmas Blues a’ Comin’.” A second dip into the blues, “Santa, Baby,” is superfluous and not very Christmasy.A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. It gets at Christmas’-and Christianity’s-traditional function as a source of shelter for body and soul in an world of inhospitable elements. Crary’s combination of speed, muscle, clarity and control powers “Carol of the Bells,” “God Rest Ye Merrie, Gentlemen” and amazing versions of “The Little Drummer Boy” and “What Child Is This.” On “Drummer Boy,” Crary chops out chugging chords with the dramatic rhythmic flair of a Neil Young, setting the listener up for a boggling, quicksilver moment in which the dark march breaks into a giddy celebratory dance.Ĭrary’s Kansas youth serves him well on “Masters in This Hall,” an old English song that evokes both wintry chill and solemn communal celebration. In “Silver Bells,” using both brightly shining and muffled, dampened-string tonalities lends variety, and a pinging, airy descending figure that Crary interpolates makes you want to look out the window for falling snowflakes.īut his hallmark as a guitarist is not prettiness it’s power. But much of “Holiday Guitar” possesses a dark intensity or stately nobility that will help set the mood for celebrators who want a Christmas that’s about more than good cheer and material goods.Ĭrary excels with lyricism on ballads, and he has the good sense not to gild such lilies as “Silver Bells” and “Silent Night” with a lot of flashy overlay.
That was long ago and may not have a direct influence on Crary’s approach to his Christmas album’s mostly standard repertoire. Before he became an internationally admired bluegrass musician who doubles as a communications professor at Cal State Fullerton, the Kansas native studied for the ministry. If you like traditional folk guitar instrumentals, and you like traditional Christmas songs, not adding this gleaming ornament to your collection would be tantamount to self-deprivation-and Christmas is hardly the season for that.Ĭrary comes highly credentialed for this, his seventh solo album.
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