Twelve Songs of Christmas

Alex Rawls
  • 4.2 (14)
  • PERFORMING ARTS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
Twelve Songs of Christmas

”The Twelve Songs of Christmas” tries to sort out the place of Christmas music in our culture by talking to the people who make it.

  1. 6 DAYS AGO

    Carpenters Legacy and Christmas Novelty Songs with April Brucker

    Twelve Songs goes to Las Vegas this week, first to talk with Sally Olson and Ned Mills of the tribute act Carpenters Legacy about The Carpenters and their Christmas music. This year, they took their affection for both subjects to the natural conclusion and recorded "Christmas Time with You," a Christmas song made in the mold of the Carpenters.  After that, I talk to comedian and ventriloquist April Brucker, who released a song sung by her and her puppet May Wilson, "Merry Christmas I'm So Glad I Didn't Marry You." We talk about ventriloquism, novelty songs, and the age-old tradition of using Christmas music to draw attention to your thing, whatever that thing is. In the episode, I mentioned ChristmasUnderground.com and my interview with its creator, Jim Goodwin. I also talked about the Holly Jolly X'masu podcast focused on Japanese Christmas music, and mentioned my interview with its host, Scott Leopold. Also in the hype department, I talked about appearing on Gerry Davila's Totally Rad Christmas podcast to talk about "Do They Know it's Christmas " by Band Aid Mk I and Band Aid Mk II.  The episode closes with a great version of "Christmas Time is Here" by Kelli Jones and Daniel Coolik from the EP A Very Melancholy Christmas.

    1h 10m

  2. NOV 8

    Jay Gonzalez and Christmas/Not Christmas Songs

    Earlier this season, I interviewed The Drive-By Truckers' Patterson Hood about his ambivalent relationship with Christmas music. This week I talk to the Truckers' long-time guitarist Jay Gonzalez, who takes a different path to a similar place. We talk about his relationship to the band as a full-time member since 2008 who isn't Hood, Mike Cooley, or long-time drummer Brad Morgan, and his love of Christmas songs that might or might not be Christmas songs. Along the way, I play music from his Roll Up a Song by Gonzalez Smith and Jay Gonzalez Inflatable Orchestra Vol. 1.

    46 min

  3. NOV 1

    Jim Brickman and Trans-Siberian Orchestra (an encore presentation)

    I've been out of the country, so this week is an encore presentation with two very different artists--pop instrumental piano player Jim Brickman and Jeff Plate, the long-time drummer for the arena rock band Trans-Siberian Orchestra. When I conducted these interviews in 2020, I was really interested in how COVID-19 would affect two acts that have made holiday season tours a meaningful part of their business. I could imagine Brickman's music translating to a live-streamed show, but TSO delivers sensory overload with four forms of fire (if I remember correctly) and a lighting rig that itself moved like a Transformer regardless of what the lights attached to it did. I also interviewed long-time TSO musical director Al Pitrelli in 2018 during the first season of 12 Songs.

    1h 12m

  4. OCT 17

    The Christmas Blues with Jontavious Willis

    This week I'm talking with blues artist Jontavious Willis, who recently released his album West Georgia Blues.  I wanted to talk to Jontavious not because of his Christmas music--he doesn't have any yet--but because he's doing something that I've been trying to pay attention to as people make contemporary music in traditional forms. We go a little longer with Jontavious talking about the blues in general to help get at that thought a bit.  But we also got to a number of his favorite blues Christmas songs, and I like that he's not doctrinaire in his choices, folding in Rev. J.M. Gates, The Emotions and James Brown among others. Early on he mentions Minnie Ripperton, and it takes a bit before I get to her, but I played "Christmas Love" by the Rotary Connection, which featured Minnie Ripperton on lead vocals. In the episode, I also mentioned that I did a guest spot recently on the Totally Rad Christmas podcast, which focuses on Christmas in the '80s. We talked about "Do They Know it's Christmas" by Band Aid and Band Aid II from 1989 with a version of the song produced by the British pop hit making team of Stock Aiken Waterman. It's a fun conversation and worth the time.  Finally, Jontavious mentioned Lowell Folsom's "Lonesome Christmas," then rolled on to other songs so I never got to include a song by him. If you haven't heard it, here it is.

    42 min

  5. OCT 11

    A Cajun Christmas at the Holiday with Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys

    This season has featured surf Christmas music, calypso Christmas music, Sicilian Christmas music and smooth jazz Christmas music, so it can't be too much of a surprise that we finally get to Cajun Christmas music. I think Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys are an important band as they picked up the work of maintaining endangered musical traditions that was started by a generation before him, and he influenced the generation that followed by finding contemporary ways to express those traditions. In today's interview, we talk about Feufollet's Chris Stafford, who I wrote about shortly after he died at My Spilt Milk. When I played "Silent Night" by Harry Fontenot, I didn't identify it. It's from the album Merry Cajun Christmas. I also mentioned that you can find Riley's Party at the Holiday, All Night Long and other contemporary Cajun music at ValcourRecords.com. If you're interested in taking Cajun accordion lessons from Steve, you can reach him through his Facebook page or the Contact info at MamouPlayboys.com.

    46 min

  6. OCT 3

    Mindy Smith

    Americana artist Mindy Smith has been referred to on 12 Songs before. At some point in the COVID years I talked about my love of "Santa Will Find You" from her 2007 album My Holiday, and last year when I talked to The Indigo Girls, we talked about the song "It Really Is (a Wonderful Life,)" which they recorded. It turns out it was written by Chely Wright, but the only version I knew was Smith's from My Holiday.  For me, this was an interview I had long looked forward to, and it was made possible by the release of Quiet Town, her first album in 12 years. The album will be out tomorrow, though the song we play, "Something to Write in Stone," is out now along with two other songs. On October 4, it will all be for sale.  In the episode, I mention the heartbreaking (to me) Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club on Bandcamp, which I just heard will have two new singles available this year.  Mindy Smith will be on tour much of the rest of 2024, and you can find out where she'll be at MindySmithMusic.com.

    51 min

  7. SEP 26

    Behind the Christmas Songs with Annie Zaleski

    Music journalist Annie Zaleski returns to 12 Songs this week. She last appeared in 2022 to talk about Wham!'s "Last Christmas." In 2023, she wrote This is Christmas Song by Song: The Stories Behind 100 Holiday Hits, so she's back to talk about a few of the songs she wrote about. In the episode, we talk about the Kate Bush Christmas special and the Kacey Musgraves Christmas special, both of which are awesome in their ways.

    54 min

  8. SEP 12

    A Drive-By Truckers Christmas with Patterson Hood

    I've long believed that if you can't get a good interview out of the Drive-By Truckers' Patterson Hood, you should hang up your keyboard and mic. The Truckers are a richly layered project with the loud guitars and pounding drums used to drive a lot of meatheaded lyrics instead supporting subtle storytelling that deals class and race as well as rock 'n' roll. For much of their career, they've used their albums to come to grips with the American South as it exists today, but the songs sound like songs, not a sociology textbook.  I caught up with Hood between legs of the "Southern Rock Opera Revised 2024" Tour. Southern Rock Opera put the band on the map in 2001 when it used the story of Lynyrd Skynyrd as the pry bar to get into some of the issues mattered to them. It charted the course for the band since then, so it has a lot of legacy. I expected the Christmas end of this conversation to be Hood talking about the Christmas songs he likes and his relationship to Christmas music, but while prepping for the interview, I discovered there are two Drive-By Truckers Christmas songs in the world. Those, obviously, get the 12 Songs breakdown as well. To see if the Southern Rock Opera tour is coming your way, visit DriveByTruckers.com. I wrote about the New Orleans stop on the tour on my Substack page, The Cream.

    48 min
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4.2
out of 5
14 Ratings

About

”The Twelve Songs of Christmas” tries to sort out the place of Christmas music in our culture by talking to the people who make it.

Information

  • Creator
    Alex Rawls
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2024
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2021 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Twelve Songs of Christmas

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