One of the ways in which the Rhode Island psych-folk duo Iditarod (Jeffrey Alexander, Carin Wagner and friends) celebrated their favourite season was to make special year-end recordings as gifts for their friends. Their very first release was a cassette-only production in late 1997. They had a release show in Baltimore with Poem Rocket and Bardo Pond and later mailed the tapes (less than 30 copies total) to friends and family. The following year, Hub City records wanted to release it on CD, so we added extra tracks and it became their first CD proper "The River Nektar".

In late 2000, they decided to make another year-end record, on CD-R. This one was specifically Winter-related and was the first of what would become annual Yuletide releases. Not so much 'holiday' oriented as they are seasonal - a celebration of the turning of the year, darkness, cold, snow, death and re-birth. Camera Obscura fell in love with these recordings, and is now releasing them officially with a boatload of bonus material. Jeffrey continues the story…

"The Iditarod disbanded in April 2003. It seems appropriate that this double Yuletide collection will be the Iditarod's final, posthumous release, as these are recordings that we love about a time of year that we love. It's great that we're now able to share these with more people.

"Disc I. 'Winter Suite' was recorded in February 2003 at AS220 in Providence by Jed Marshall - it was one of our few 'studio' sessions and featured the same quartet line-up as our 2003 UK tour with Sharron Kraus: Miriam, Will, Carin and myself. The track's centrepiece, Winter, a long-time Iditarod live staple, was originally issued on the first Yuletide CDR, but this is a previously unreleased version. The rest of the Suite has never been issued in any form.

"The following eight tracks were originally self-released on CDR as 'Yuletide' (Winter 2001-2002, edition of 75). One song from the original release 'Winter's Spell' has been omitted, as an updated version of it was included on the 2002-2003 instalment of 'Yuletide' (Elsie and Jack Records). All of the other songs are presented here in their original order, now properly mastered. 'Darkness, Darkness' and 'Night's Candles Are Burnt Out' are two pieces that we wrote for our 2002 tour of New England and Canada's Maritime Provinces with Sharron Kraus. 'Y Cwps' is a live improvisation from our one and only performance in Wales, where we were hosted by Dafydd and Ruth of Oggum Records and Alphane Moon. These three tracks are all previously unreleased.

"Disc II begins with the live version of 'The Trees Are All Bare' that we performed at the fifth Terrastock festival. Our original version was released on the Elsie and Jack Yuletide CD. 'Scandinavian Instrumental', 'The Rowan' and 'Mountains Of The Moon' (yes, the Grateful Dead song) were all recorded live at our VPRO radio session in Holland during our second European tour. All unreleased previously. The following six tracks were originally self-released on CDR as 'Yuletide' (Winter 2000-2001, edition of 75). Again, there is one omission from the original release 'Winter' as the newer studio version is included here on Disc I. 'In The Bleak Midwinter' is a familiar seasonal hymn that I arranged with some new music. The lyrics come from a poem by Christina Rosetti , updated by Laura Deal Raeder. 'Unspherical' was a track that we recorded during the 'Ghost, the Elf, the Cat and the Angel' sessions but never mixed. This early live version is the only vestige of the song. 'Boat', one of Carin's first songs, remains one of her best. It was recorded during our first Scandinavian tour by Benny (Origami Galaktika) - he joined in with his fujara. 'There Was A Pig Went Out To Dig' is another old children's carol associated with traditional English folk plays (often called mummer's plays) that celebrate the death of the year. It's a funny rhyme, personifying animals with the cycle of planting and harvest.

"'Wide Oak-And-Iron' is another recording with Benny from the same session as Boat. This is previously unreleased. The last track is another traditional verse from the British Isles that I set to new music. Although 'Thierna Na Oge' was not originally intended as a Winter recording (it was previously issued on the 'Poor Minstrels of Song, Vol I' compilation CD, 2001), we chose to include it for several reasons. It was one of our favorite Iditarod recordings and the lyrics are suitably fitting - suggesting hope and re-birth in a time of death. It also seemed very appropriate that this piece should be the last song on the final Iditarod release."