The Asheville-based Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters have released Christmas On A Greyhound Bus, an EP for the 2019 holidays that features the insightful and witty songwriting and storytelling the Americana group is known for. On this release from Organic Records, Platt includes 5 selections — originals and covers alike — that are pleasantly outside the norm for a holiday release, packaged in a quintessentially New Traditional Country Music style

Original songs from Platt include the old-school country title track and a nostalgic “One for the Ages.” Both are filled with the interwoven imagery that has brought Platt national praise, married to arrangements that amplify the lyrics’ emotional effects.

“‘One for the Ages’ is a song I wrote one Christmas while I was staying at my parents’ house. We were sitting around by the tree and I heard sirens going by, and it just made me think about how pain and struggle don’t take a pause for the holidays,” says Platt. “It was a good reminder to me to be grateful for what I had that year.”

On a lighter note, Platt and her band dish up a playful “Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy,” borrowed from country legend Buck Owens.

The EP is bookended with a powerful choice of cover songs. Opening with a cover of Willie Nelson’s forlorn “Pretty Paper,” about a forgotten soul on Christmas, it concludes with the optimism of Nick Lowe’s classic, “(What’s So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding” — the pair underlining, between the very sad and the very hopeful, Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters’ dramatic musical range.

Backed by her touring band that includes Matt Smith on guitar and pedal steel, Rick Cooper on bass, acoustic guitar, and vocals, and Evan Martin on drums, piano, organ, and vocals, Platt and The Honeycutters bring a Roots Country sound to the season.