The Captain & Tennille are back
with a holiday song about 'Tahoe Snow'

   It’s been 10 years since Toni Tennille and husband Daryl Dragon released a recording as the Captain & Tennille. Their CD, 20 Years of Romance, in 1995 celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary.
   The Captain & Tennille debuted in 1975 when they released the best-selling song of the year, Love Will Keep Us Together, and a long string of hits and a TV show followed.
    Daryl has since retired from actively performing in front of audiences, but Toni continues with an occasional “Great American Songbook” performance, accompanied by a symphony orchestra, and has released six “Big Band” style CDs since 1985.
     But now, to the delight of their fans, the Captain & Tennille are back with the release of a special three-song Christmas CD - including a song called Tahoe Snow that Toni wrote while cross country skiing in 1984.
     “I wrote Tahoe Snow just before Christmas of 1984. Daryl and I had just moved from southern California to a beautiful log home we built at Glenbrook on the east shore of Lake Tahoe. There is an very old nine-hole golf course there that is perfect for cross country skiing in winter.
     “I went out there on my skis on a December afternoon that looked like the inside of one of those snow globes...soft, fat flakes falling quietly on a perfectly still, windless day.
    “The title of the song came to me as I skied with my dog Spooner trotting along beside me.
     “I could not imagine anything more beautiful. As soon as I got home, I sat down and wrote the song.  We have never done a Christmas album, so we had never recorded it....just a quick “demo” type recording for a Tahoe charity a few years back. This year Tahoe Snow will be released nationwide, along with two other original Christmas songs. A complete DVD boxed set of our C&T Variety Shows and Specials from the 70s is also going to be released.”
    Toni took up cross country skiing shortly after moving to the Tahoe area.  “Daryl and I started running in the late 70s, mainly for the fitness aspect. I felt that cross country skiing was a way to stay fit and enjoy the beauty of Lake Tahoe in the winter. Daryl tried it, but was just never comfortable on skis, so I usually enjoyed it with friends. We’d take a backpack with lunch and hot chocolate and head out on trails on a sunny winter day and be out there for hours.”
    Toni says that she tried downhill skiing, but chose XC for reasons everyone can identify with. “I used to downhill ski also. I was comfortable on intermediate slopes, but never advanced to the black diamond trails. I was always kind of nervous on the lifts, anticipating having to ski off at the top. Also, the heavy boots, skis, and all that equipment you had to lug from the parking lot didn’t appeal to me. I found the equipment for XC skiing much easier to deal with. Also, with XC skiing, you had to EARN your hills, so you got lots of aerobic benefits. I finally gave up downhill skiing when snowboarders began to overrun the slopes. I don’t want to sound like a cranky old broad, but they scared the hell out of me (and I wasn’t even OLD then). I understand things are much better now.”
     Downhill angst aside, Toni and Daryl participated in the 1987 John Denver Celebrity Ski Classic at Heavenly.  “Daryl and I attended John’s Celebrity Ski event in 1987. I remember the date only because I still have a  photo of us in full John Denver ski gear hanging on the wall near the kitchen. Daryl, who has never downhill skied in his life, was not thrilled to be there, and I  was terrified, because the ‘easy’ celebrity course was so icy and steep. Still, we’re smiling broadly in the photo, so we must have been happy about something!”
     Toni says she spent a lot of time cross country skiing at Hope Valley, but had other favorite places to slide over the snow, as well.  “We skied a lot of trails out of Hope Valley. I also skied in Yosemite Valley and out to Glacier Point...spectacular!!!! A bunch of us spent the night at Glacier Point in a kind of large ski hut, along with quite a few people we didn't know who also showed up.
    “I remember being very cold in the hut, because the heating wasn’t working, and being awake all night because of all the snoring echoing off the walls all night long. But the great reward was waking up to the unbelievable, breathtaking view from Glacier Point down to Yosemite Valley, and across the chasm to Half Dome. I also loved skiing at Spooner Lake XC ski area. We’d start at Spooner and ski to Marlette Lake and back.”
     Toni finally gave up cross country skiing when her ski friends moved away.  “When most of my XC buddies moved away, I just quit doing it. Daryl and I still snowshoe around our home in Washoe Valley, but we now spend most of the winter at our home in La Quinta, CA near Palm Springs....no snow there!”
      But despite giving up the sport, Toni is proud to be finally releasing the Tahoe Snow song she wrote so many years ago.  “We were able to get three songs ready for this Christmas and they will be rolled into a complete C&T Christmas CD for Christmas 2006.
      “The three songs are Tahoe Snow, Saving Up Christmas, and a nutty, silly, fun version of Here Comes Santa Claus, credited to The Captain and the Muskrats.  Saving Up Christmas by Sue Innis and Hummie Mann, is a beautiful ballad that tells of a young wife and mother’s thoughts of her husband who is in the military overseas (Iraq or Afghanistan, anyone?). He was supposed to be home in time for Christmas,  but she finds herself still alone on Christmas Eve. She says she will ‘save up Christmas’ until he finally comes home.”
    Toni says the three-song Christmas CD will be available in the “big stores” beginning the middle of October.
    Will fans ever see the Captain & Tennille in concert again?
    “Daryl has retired from performing, except for very special occasions,” says Toni.  “But I still sing the Great American Songbook with symphony orchestras from time to time. All the years we toured were very difficult for me...I’m a homebody...always have been. You may see us pop up on TV this fall as we promote the release of the Christmas CD and DVDs of our shows. The wonderful thing to me is that I am writing songs again, and Daryl and I are recording again. It gives me such a great feeling to know I can still do it! We can thank Brant Berry and Respond 2 for that, as they are the ones responsible for the release of our CDs and DVDs.”
     Fans can check out www.captainandtennille.net for more information and availability of the CD and TV show DVD releases.
     “It gives us great joy to hear from our fans through our website,”  says Toni.  “I especially love hearing from people who tell us stories of what our music has meant to them. I’m thrilled to say that Respond 2 is also releasing six of our albums that have never been released on CD...Love Will Keep Us Together, Come In From The Rain, Song Of Joy, Dream, Make Your Move, and Keeping Our Love Warm. I haven’t listened to those albums in years, because we don’t have a player for LPs. They will be offered as a boxed  set, or as single CDs. Daryl and I are hoping our fans from the 70s will enjoy hearing them again.”