This Denver Christmas caroling quartet has been singing together for nearly 4 decades

Transcript

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

All right. We're going to spend the next few minutes hearing about an enduring Christmas tradition - caroling. Colorado Public Radio sent us this audio postcard of a Denver group that's been singing holiday songs together for nearly four decades.

COLORADO CAROLING COMPANY: (Singing) Deck the halls with boughs of holly.

NORM SILVER: Hi. I'm Norm Silver with the Colorado Caroling Company. We're here at the Four Mile Historic Park, and they hired my caroling company to come out and do some caroling as people entered into the festival.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Hi. I could scan your ticket.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: All right.

SILVER: Hi, folks. How you doing? Welcome.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Merry Christmas.

SILVER: It's a quartet, so there's basically - each vocal part is represented. The arrangements that we do really sound great with four parts.

COLORADO CAROLING COMPANY: (Singing) Here - here we come a-caroling among the leaves so green.

SILVER: It's nice to be able to be an amateur group and go out and even go in through the neighborhoods. I mean, you know, you don't see people doing that much anymore. When I was a kid, we used to get together with a bunch of my friends and go caroling house to house and just wander around the neighborhood. Some people loved it.

COLORADO CAROLING COMPANY: (Singing) A happy New Year. And God send you a happy New Year.

SILVER: Is everybody having a good time here at the Dickens Festival? If you have a request, just write it on the back of a Danish, and pass it up to the stage. Thank you very much.

COLORADO CAROLING COMPANY: (Singing) Hark, the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn king.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: I think they're really good.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Yeah, I'm enjoying them.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: Way better than I can sing any Christmas carols. That's for sure.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: It really relates to people. We've had people break down in tears, you know, when they hear a song. It's neat to be able to be ambassadors of the holidays.

COLORADO CAROLING COMPANY: (Singing) Dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh, o'er the fields we go, laughing all the way. Bells on bobtail...

SILVER: Wait a minute. When we sing, laughing all the way, what do you guys do?

(LAUGHTER)

SILVER: Oh, you guys are wonderful. Let's try it again. You ready?

COLORADO CAROLING COMPANY: (Singing) Dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh, o'er the fields we go, laughing all the way.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Ha, ha, ha.

COLORADO CAROLING COMPANY: (Singing) Bells on bobtail ring, making spirits bright. What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight. Oh, jingle bells.

CHANG: That was Norm Silver, founder of the Colorado Caroling Company. We also heard from Ashley and David McGregor, and Colorado Public Radio's Bente Birkeland and Matt Bloom produced this story.

COLORADO CAROLING COMPANY: (Singing) Jingle all the way. Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh. A day or two ago, I thought I'd take a ride. And soon, Miss Fanny Bright was seated by my side. The horse was lean and lank. Misfortune seemed his lot. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.