This holiday season, local instrumental duo Allen & Bright has released a new Christmas album, Christmas Vol. 3, as well as The Complete Allen & Bright Christmas collection. From a mix of contemporary Christmas songs and traditional hymns to a Chet Atkins-inspired “Jingle Bells” tune that ends with a bossa nova flair, the collection covers a wide range of styles in acoustic covers that embrace the holiday spirit.
Lance Allen and Avery Bright began their collaboration as a musical duo back in 2017, while working on Allen’s String Poet project. The two originally met in a recording session in Nashville and shared a passion for acoustic music. Bright, who had seen success as a performing musician touring with Dolly Parton, U2 and One Republic, found a complementary connection with Allen, an artist recording and releasing music of his own. Together, the duo began to create music under the Allen & Bright moniker.
“I’ve been an artist a little longer than Avery; in 2017 I hired him for my String Poet album,” said guitarist Lance Allen. “Avery and I hit it off and I hired him several other times for other projects, and I was having some success with my releases on Spotify.”
The twosome get together every week or so to work on their collaborations, a rich sound comprised of fingerstyle guitar and bowed strings.
The Complete Allen & Bright Christmas consists of 37 tracks, an assortment of Christmas songs and covers from the duo’s newest holiday album, Christmas Vol. 3, and other renditions of classics from throughout their discography, featuring the two injecting their unique playing styles into traditional hymns and Christmas carols, turning them into melodious instrumental tracks.
“A lot of it starts with fingerstyle guitar arrangement . . . the melody with some basic jazz chords over the melody, and we use that as a template,” said Allen regarding the process. “In the studio we create the parts, and sometimes we add a little bit of an original thing, not necessarily the song, but something original from us, and it sort of morphs into the song.”
Recording music can be an arduous effort, but Allen says collaborating comes easy after seven years of sharing a similar taste in styles.
“Me and Avery have a lot of experience in the music world, and when we get together we can talk the same language, and if he suggests something I’m usually able to play it in the same way I can sing a melody that the violin should sound like. Or, usually, when he’s recording his parts I’m sitting in the studio and I have the guitar and sometimes I can guide him along if I feel like something would sound a little more interesting than what he’s coming out with. It’s a true partnership kind of thing.”
Allen’s fingerstyle arrangements are a staple of his instrumental guitar work, stemming from inspiration from other artists who helped pave the way for the style.
“My influence of Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel’s guitar playing really blended well with our music,” Allen said. “I was introduced to Chet Atkins’ music and a guitar player named Phil Keaggy as a teenager.”
The guitarist said that the Western Kentucky thumbpicking style, made popular by Merle Travis and Chet Atkins, greatly influences his playing to this day.
“Thumbpicking is where the thumb steadily alternates on the bass strings while the fingers play other parts of chords and the melody. It can sometimes sound as if two guitars are being played, when really it’s just the one,” Allen said. “Tommy Emmanuel is a contemporary artist who has really popularized this kind of guitar style.”
Through 37 tracks, Allen & Bright have created a unique acoustic spin on each cover, every Christmas classic performed with a pleasing blend of strings.
Allen’s favorite track on the album, he said, is “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” “It was challenging for me as a guitarist to come up with a beautiful fingerstyle arrangement of such a traditional song. Although they added violins, the duo ended up taking them out of this particular piece, deciding to release the guitar-only version of the tune.
The duo’s upcoming projects for 2025 include a new Lance Allen original called “Tennessee Maid,” inspired by “The Tennessee Waltz.”
Allen adds, “We also plan to do some more cover songs in the first part of the new year such as instrumental renditions of Creedence Clearwater Revival and other classics.”
Find The Complete Allen & Bright Christmas collection, containing all the duo’s Christmas songs in one spot, and their other work on Spotify and Pandora.
