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<\/p>\nFor most listeners, music is a year-round experience. Yet there\u2019s an entire category of music that\u2019s enjoyed during the holiday season, and created expressly for the period around Christmas. And while that sort of music wasn\u2019t part of Chip Davis\u2019 plans when he launched his musical career, it\u2019s certainly where he ended up.<\/p>\n
By adulthood, the formally trained Ohio native had settled in Omaha, Nebraska, where he wrote advertising jingles and had a hand in composing the 1974 CB radio-themed novelty hit \u201cConvoy.\u201d But nothing in his work to that point hinted at the direction he\u2019d soon pursue. Right around the time he scored success with that country-flavored hit by a fictional character called C.W. McCall, Davis turned his attention to something very different. He developed a synthesis of classical textures and pop music, dubbing his group\/project Mannheim Steamroller.<\/p>\n
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Originally conceived as a sort of proto-New Age musical endeavor, the project got off to a slow start but gathered commercial success with a series of albums under the Fresh Aire<\/i> banner. A decade after Mannheim Steamroller\u2019s recorded debut, Davis recorded and released Mannheim Steamroller Christmas<\/i> on his own American Gramaphone label. A runaway success, that album landed both with critics and the listening public. Mannheim Steamroller Christmas<\/i> took on a life of its own: to date Davis has released 30 Christmas-themed albums, including compilations and titles under his own name. And his success has been consistent; more than a dozen of those albums soared into the Top Ten on the New Age and\/or Holiday album charts; eight went Platinum or multi-Platinum.<\/p>\n
The next logical step for Davis was to take the project on the road. This he did, eventually employing two complete musical casts, crisscrossing the country during the yuletide season, bringing joy to concertgoers far and wide.<\/p>\n
Tom Sharpe was one of the kids who fell in love with the debut album back in 1984. \u201cI was in my early teens, and I was on a music career path already,\u201d he recalls. \u201cAnd when I heard that album for the first time, I had to listen to it twice; I was blown away by it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a drummer, multi-instrumentalist and composer, Sharpe would go on to a prestigious career of his own, leading the Sharpe World Music Ensemble and working with a list of artists that has included Styx founding member Dennis DeYoung. But through it all, Sharpe often found himself coming back to that album he first discovered as a teen.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to 2024. Sharpe is currently the drummer for the touring ensemble of Chip Davis\u2019 long-running project. \u201cThis is my 17th<\/sup> year with Mannheim Steamroller,\u201d Sharpe says. The current tour celebrates the 40th<\/sup> anniversary of Mannheim Steamroller Christmas<\/i>, and Sharpe says that the music continues to speak to him as a listener. \u201cEach year when I come back to the music, it\u2019s almost like listening to it for the first time,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Sharpe appreciates Davis\u2019 composition not only from a listener\u2019s perspective, but as a fellow musician as well. \u201cThere\u2019s always something challenging about this music,\u201d he says. \u201cAfter 17 years of performing it, I still feel like it\u2019s Year One as far as my excitement about it and what it\u2019s going to bring to audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n With such a deep catalog of holiday-themed music, Mannheim Steamroller has the latitude of presenting a completely different set of songs for each of its seasonal tours. \u201cI think Chip does a great job of balance,\u201d Sharpe says, noting that Davis \u2013 who does not perform with the ensemble \u2013 takes a very active role in programming the concerts. \u201cThere are people who are coming to hear \u2018Carol of the Bells\u2019 and \u2018Deck the Halls.\u2019 And we\u2019re going to play those.\u201d He notes that there are a number of pieces that figure into every single show, year after year. \u201cBut when I see the new tour\u2019s set list, there are always new pieces,\u201d Sharpe says. \u201cOr older pieces, and I\u2019ll say, \u2018Wow, we haven\u2019t done that one for ten years! And I\u2019m glad it\u2019s back.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Chip Davis got his start as a drummer, and he brings a percussionist\u2019s sensibility to the Mannheim Steamroller material. And Sharpe shares that perspective. \u201cWhen they first toured, Chip would be the drummer,\u201d he explains. \u201cSo I have a very big responsibility to care for his music. I\u2019m never going to be Chip, but I want people to walk out after the show and say, \u2018That guy was great!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The groups gear up every year around September, honing the arrangements before setting out on a schedule that brings Mannheim Steamroller\u2019s Christmas show to 85 cities in seven weeks. Sharpe appreciates that he\u2019s sharing what he describes as \u201clegacy music\u201d with concert audiences. \u201cPeople who came [in years past] were bringing their children, and now those children are bringing their<\/i> children,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s more than simply playing some Christmas music, saying, \u2018I hope you had fun\u2019 and sending people on their way; we\u2019re doing something special here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For most listeners, music is a year-round experience. Yet there\u2019s an entire category of music that\u2019s enjoyed during the holiday season, and created expressly for the period around Christmas. 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