A Midnight Clear is a brand new Christmas release from Bill Leslie. Recognized for his multiple talents as a musician and journalist, Bill Leslie is no stranger to winning awards as a top ranked new age artist and television newscaster for the WRAL – TV network in Raleigh North Carolina.
Bill Leslie’s A Midnight Clear is an instrumental album with 16 songs of traditional and original music. Finding inspiration from author Jan Karon, and her best-selling Mitford series, A Midnight Clear was the first entry in a 2011 album recommendation I wrote entitled The Best Christmas Albums for Holiday Music.
Simple Beauty earned Bill Leslie a top award for Best Instrumental Album – Acoustic at Zone Music Reporter in 2010. The video from the album below of song Smitten is the audio visual product of a family vacation in the Pacific Northwest. Along with his original compositions, Bill composes traditional and Celtic fusion music as soloist and concert appearances with his band Lorica.
The 10 original songs on Simple Beauty are modeled after 4 traditional Irish melodies in a wonderful blend of instrumental harmonies. On Simple Beauty, Bill Leslie performs acoustic guitar, piano, bass, whistles and keyboards.
Instrumental artists on this album are Bill Covington (Grand Piano), Brent Cotton (Acoustic Guitar), Jennifer Curtis (Violin), Nancy Green (cello), Will Leslie (percussion), and Linda Metz (flute).
While Bill Leslie is a prominent new age artist, a 5 time Emmy award winning journalist and recipient of multiple Journalist of the Year awards in North Carolina, Bill Leslie gives the impression he is prepared to go the normal distance to find perfect balance in his talents as a top artist and TV journalist, for which he is equally admired. Below is a review quote from Simple Beauty and the song video Smitten.
Visit billleslie.com to sample or purchase at his web store or visit his amazon.com page. Read my pages for Bill Leslie. Photo is courtesy billleslie.com.
Bill Leslie’s appropriately titled Simple Beauty is a work of harmony whose scenic wonder and peaceful surroundings emerge by the great instrumental theme, making this natural and wholesome new release a sensational find for everyone.