Ball of Wax 58 Songs: Tekla Waterfield – “Come Together Christmas Cheer”

Seattle-area mainstay Tekla Waterfield delivers a polished, fully-realized holiday folk song with “Come Together Christmas Cheer.” With nothing more than acoustic guitar and a few vocal tracks, Waterfield constructs something that would readily hold its own alongside any mainstream country/Americana Christmas collection (like this Tammy Wynette record I wisely picked up at a thrift store years ago). While the lyrics contain the straight-ahead greeting card sentiment one might expect, the vocal performances and simple arrangement are just beautiful. As much as I love lo fi, experimental music that takes big chances and is totally okay leaving most listeners behind, I find myself increasingly impressed by artists who can create something that wouldn’t sound out of place in almost any setting. There’s really no audience too big or broad for this quality of music, a restrained, complete nugget from an artist at the height of her powers.