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TOM CRANN: Well, It's All Things Considered from Minnesota Public Radio news. I'm Tom Crann. And we've moved into the bigger sound of the Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Music Studio to welcome a Twin Cities institution. the holiday concerts by the five Steele siblings JD, Jevetta, Fred, Jearlyn, and Billy are a regular highlight of the Christmas music landscape here in these parts. They appear in two concerts Sunday at the Ordway Center in Saint Paul and it's great to have them here. Welcome Steeles.

ALL: Good morning. It's good to be here. Yes.

TOM CRANN: Good to have you here. And first of all, I understand JD and Jearlyn do a lot of the talking.

[LAUGHS]

SPEAKER 1: That's true.

SPEAKER 2: A lot of the time.

JD STEELE: It's Jearlyn that does a lot of talking.

JEARLYN STEELE: But the question is, should we?

SPEAKER 3: Unfortunately, right?

TOM CRANN: But I think I think, JD, you said this actually, that despite all your busy work separately and your schedules separately, you're at your best collectively. Is that true?

JD STEELE: We are always at our best, collectively.

TOM CRANN: Why is that?

JD STEELE: This is our favorite time of year is when we get together to do our holiday show at the Ordway. It's just very exciting. We have a lot of fun together.

TOM CRANN: And how much during the year do you actually all perform together?

JD STEELE: Not as much as we would like to because we are involved in a lot of individual projects. But we get a chance to do corporate shows and we get a chance to do some things abroad together. But we'd like to do a lot more together, but we do get involved in a lot of individual projects that we're all very proud and excited to do.

TOM CRANN: This time of year, of course-- the music at this time of year means so much to so many people and different things to different people. But I think of Christmas music as these shared songs that most of us know, most of us grew up. There's so little shared music. What are your feelings about the music of the season and what brings you back to it every year?

JEARLYN STEELE: The reason for the season is very prevalent in our lives. We really do call it Christmas and we celebrate it as Christmas. However, our show is secular and sacred in nature, and so we invite all to come and be a part of the show. You can bring your family members.

But Christmas itself, the meaning of the music, the way it brings people together, a lot of us look at it and say it's all about the material things. And so many people have tired of all of that. But in the end, when all of the family comes together, and the children are there, and the tree is lit, and the music is sung, and the prayers are prayed, that's when you really realize that's what it's all about, the gathering, the coming together of everyone. And that is what we celebrate, not just every day, but particularly during this holiday season.

JD STEELE: Celebration of family.

TOM CRANN: There's so many Christmas shows this time of year. So what is unique? What is different about the Steeles if someone's never been to one of your concerts?

JEARLYN STEELE: What clearly is different about us is that it's an experience. It's not just a show. You can go and see a show and hear all of the familiar music.

However, our show really does affect you and it can change you. So we really do say bring your family to share in the holidays with our family. It's an experience that you'll never forget.

TOM CRANN: Now, how can it change you.

JEARLYN STEELE: Because it comes from a place-- it's soul music. It comes from someplace very deep in us, very emotional. It's not just a surface voice that you hear of all of us, a cacophony together. It's not that. It is truly something from within.

I call it the anointing. I call it something very special, a spirit, a feeling and inspiration that comes together when all five of us are together. And it really does-- it changes us. And we can feel-- it's like goosebumps.

TOM CRANN: Well, let's get some of those goosebumps now. And what did you-- what did you bring for us to start?

JD STEELE: Our mother's favorite song, "O Holy Night."

["O HOLY NIGHT" PLAYING] O Holy night

The stars are brightly shining

It is the night of our dear Savior's birth

Long lay the world in sin and error pining till he appeared

And the soul felt its worth

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn

Fall on your knees

O hear the angels' voices

O night divine

O night when Christ was born

O night divine

O night, O night divine

TOM CRANN: Billy, JD, Jearlyn Jevetta, Fred, the Steeles. You said that's your mom's favorite? It's one of my mom's favorite--

JD STEELE: Yes.

FRED STEELE: Is it?

TOM CRANN: --of Christmas carols anyway.

JEARLYN STEELE: Yeah, absolutely. We too.

JD STEELE: We love that song.

TOM CRANN: And what memories do you have about "O Holy Night" growing up?

JD STEELE: Probably being in church during the Christmas holidays. That's one of my strongest memories are.

FRED STEELE: During the Christmas holidays? You mean five days a week.

[LAUGHS]

SPEAKER 2: Absolutely. Absolutely. We were truly raised in the church.

SPEAKER 4: That's right.

SPEAKER 2: And during the holiday seasons, what's really wonderful for us is that it looks very familiar. It's not very different from the way we were raised. My mother is still very much the matriarch of this family. And she sits around with all of her grandchildren at her feet and reads scriptures and talks to them and tells them to be grateful and appreciative of what God has given us, our family, our love, our health, our strength. And that's well before we do any presents.

I mean, she really reads straight from the Bible. And we pray together on Christmas and we sing a few songs to celebrate our love and our lives. And then the Christmas presents are thrown across the room because there are so many grandchildren. And it's a huge feast and there's extended family that's present on Christmas Eve. It is quite a festivity, very much like when we were children.

TOM CRANN: And with Christmas and especially growing up, you must have-- music is always a part of it, right?

SPEAKER 2: Yes.

JD STEELE: Music has always been part of our family. We inherited it from my father's side of the family. Our uncles and aunts were wonderful singers. So we come from a history of musicians that we're very proud of.

JEARLYN STEELE: And when we were 5, 7, 9, 11, I think--

BILLY STEELE: I know that's a long time ago for me. Y'all are old.

JEARLYN STEELE: Well, there were four of us that started.

TOM CRANN: And you're the youngest?

BILLY STEELE: I'm the youngest.

JEARLYN STEELE: But there were four of us that started. And I remember at five years old opening for the greatest gospel singer in the world, which was Mahalia Jackson. And there we were all dressed up singing for this amazing talent. So we really had quite a history together.

TOM CRANN: Where was that and when? Tell me more about that.

JD STEELE: We grew up in Gary, Indiana, along with the Jacksons, the Steeles and the Jacksons. And people used to get us confused because people would-- we were the gospel singing family. So we had to correct people oftentimes in that. But our father wanted us to go to school, go to college, get educated so he wouldn't allow us to get into music professionally at that young of an age. But we really appreciate what he did for us and where we are today.

TOM CRANN: And tell me more about that time that you opened for Mahalia Jackson.

JEARLYN STEELE: Oh, my gosh! I had no idea who she was. I don't know if Fred--

FRED STEELE: No, none of us really knew who she was then. We were so young. And my dad would always take us to these programs, and he would talk to these promoters into putting his children on to open up the show. And people were standing on chairs and tables trying to see who is that--

JEARLYN STEELE: Yeah.

FRED STEELE: --up there with these big old giant voices? And we were like this.

JEARLYN STEELE: And we never, ever thought that we were great singers because so many from Gary, Indiana, could sing. You're talking about a blessed city when it came to talent? Oh, my gosh, there was so much.

And so when someone came up to me, when I moved to Minneapolis, and someone said, wow, you can really sing, I would go, oh, wait till you hear my sister, and Donna, and Gia and so and so. And I'd go down this list of singers that I grew up with. So, we really learned to share and appreciate each other's talent instead of how people sometimes, you'll see them get jealous or--

FRED STEELE: Rivalry.

JEARLYN STEELE: Yeah. And there's no rivalry there. And even when we go back to our hometown to this day, I don't feel that at all.

TOM CRANN: Did you bring another song for us.

JEARLYN STEELE: Yes, we did.

JD STEELE: Yes, we did.

JEARLYN STEELE: JD hates this song because he hates snow. So that's why we picked it to remind him that you live in Minnesota, honey.

TOM CRANN: I want to hear how much you hate it. Let's hear how much you hate it.

JD STEELE: All right, we're here. Here we go.

["WHITE CHRISTMAS" PLAYING] I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

Just like the ones I used to know

Where the treetops glisten and children listen

To hear sleigh bells in the snow

TOM CRANN: The Steeles perform their annual holiday concert at 4:00 and again at 8:00 PM this Sunday at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in Saint Paul.

THE STEELES: (SINGING) With every Christmas card I write

TOM CRANN: And that's All Things Considered for this Friday evening. I'm Tom Crann. Have a great weekend.

THE STEELES: (SINGING) And bright

And may all your Christmases be white

JD STEELE: Merry Christmas out there, y'all.