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Published on Leave a comment on Tune In To The Holidays

I have this weird thing I do when it comes to the holidays: I just can't listen to holiday music until December 1. But after the first, anything goes! Nothing gets me more pumped than finding a Christmas music diamond in the rough. So I've put together a list of musical jewels I've discovered in the past. And I hope you'll share some of your favorites with me so I can add to my collection.

Indigo Christmas

My all-time favorite Christmas CD is Indigo Christmas. I bought it years ago, can't remember where, maybe Barnes and Noble?? Have just about worn it out. Every track is a fresh, jazzy arrangement guaranteed to coolify any holiday party. So glad it is still available from Amazon. Backup copies have been made just in case!

 

Bethlehem After Dark

My second-favorite holiday CD is Bethlehem After Dark by featuring Butch Thompson on piano and Laura Sewell on cello, a match made in music heaven. I believe I first heard it on NPR some years ago. Classy without being stuffy - a goal all of us should aspire to!

 

Straight No Chaser

While sampling Straight No Chaser's (of 12 Days of Christmas 15-million-and-counting-hits-on-YouTube fame) Christmas album, I fell in love with their rendition of Let It Snow. Definitely the hippest version of this literal and figurative Christmas evergreen I have heard. The link  below is to a YouTube video of their live performance at a radio station. If you can do without the video, try the album on Spotify instead. Lots of other cool tracks on that album, but this one is my fave.

Straight No Chaser - Let It Snow

In Dulci Jubilo - A Classical Guitar Christmas

Eva Beneke
I heard an interview with Eva Beneke on NPR. She is a world class guitarist. This CD is performed on a vintage Hermann Hauser guitar. Now, I don't know much about guitars. Apparently Hausers are the guitar version of the Stradivarius. The guitar she plays on this CD was on loan from its recent new owner. I checked online and if you want a new one, you are looking at $30,000 and up. A vintage one like this one (1952), one can only wonder what it sold for. I did find a site with a similar guitar for sale. The photos are gorgeous. And if it looks this good, you know it must sound phenomenal.

Anyway - as I was researching this Hauser thing, I clicked on Spotify's holiday playlist. Three songs in, I had to turn it off. So pedestrian, so overdone. I bet you can guess what the first three songs were.* So I turned it off, downloaded Ms. Beneke's beautiful CD, and have been enjoying it ever since.

And of course as soon as I snarktweet on Mariah Carey's Christmas song, I see this on Jezebel. Adorable pop-up munchkins: check. Fallon's mad kazoo skills: check. Mariah rockin' it sans Autotune: check. My Christmas is complete.

Jimmy Fallon, Mariah Carey, Roots -  All I Want For Christmas is You

August Burns Red

August Burns Red - Sleddin' Hill

This album first came to my attention when it bobbed to the top of my Spotify holiday music search. The band was completely unknown to me. I was so excited to forward it to my son, the metal band drumming wonder, to show him I was up on the latest metal band news. Of course he had already heard of them. Oh well!

This may not be your holiday music cup of tea, but I guarantee it will be different from anything else in your collection. Thanks to both of my children for keeping me informed about the music scene. Without them, I would never have listened to some of my favorite bands (Audioslave, Incubus, Rage Against The Machine). So kids, keep sending me stuff, and I will keep listening.

Stile Antico

Stile Antico (stee-lay an-TEE-co) roughly translates to 'old style', but that is much too rough a description for the heavenly sounds this British a capella choral group produces. Today's pick is a long concert, but so beautiful and guaranteed a fresh addition to your tired holiday playlist.

Stile Antico concert at St. Paul's Church, Cambridge MA aired on NPR 12/5/12

Whitney Houston
I love music. I really love Christmas music. And if I happen upon a new (to me) Christmas song that hasn't been done to death and can be enjoyed over and over again, well that just makes my day. Hope this one makes yours.

Whitney Houston with The Georgia Mass Choir - Joy To The World

I'm looking forward to adding to my holiday music collection. I'm hearing good things about Kelly Clarkson's Wrapped In Red. Tell me about your favorites in the comments.

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Published on Leave a comment on Kitty Wells, Womens’ Rights Pioneer – Who Knew?

Not being a country music fan, about all I know about Kitty Wells before listening to her obit on NPR is that she was a singer in that genre. What piqued my interest was that she was one of the first female singers to hit big.  Her first hit, 1952's "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels", was an answer song to country music superstar Hank Thompson's version of "Wild Side of Life". Apparently one of the song's writers had been dumped, and wrote "Wild Side" to vent about what a tramp his ex was. "Angels" rebutted, basically saying if she was a tramp, it was probably due to some no-good man treating her bad. (Pardon my grammar - I am trying to be authentic with the topic here.)

First things first: are you telling me NO women were popular singers until the 1950s???? That just seems strange to me. But if it says so on Wiki, it must be true. Apparently record labels were hesitant to record solo women, thinking they would only sell if they were in duets or backup singers. Kitty Wells changed all that. Although it was initially banned by NBC radio, the Grand Ole Opry and others for its adult theme, people couldn't get enough of "Angels". With it, Wells became the first woman to have a number one song on Billboard magazine's country chart.

Note Thompson's song with the similar theme was not banned.

Secondly: to be honest I think I was more intrigued by the concept of the "answer" song. Apparently it was a popular trend in country music of that era. It has popped up in other genres from time to time. I wonder if there are more answer songs out there than we realize?

I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye
answer: Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who

I Want To Hold Your Hand - The Beatles
answer: Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen

Ain't Too Proud To Beg - Temptations
answer: Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye

Let's Stay Together - Al Green
answer: Beat It - Michael Jackson

Welcome To The Jungle - Guns n Roses
answer: I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor

Like A Virgin - Madonna
answer: Losing My Religion - REM

How Will I Know - Whitney Houston

I'm a sucker for a good singer-songwriter

answer: You Oughtta Know - Alanis Morissette

Yes, I am just having a little fun with titles. The true answer songs are 100% devoted to answering the original, beginning to bridge to chorus to end. Some answer songs are lame, simply turning a few of the original song's lyrics around to reflect an opposite viewpoint. Others are fully formed and could stand on their own. My favorite example of this is Lynyrd Skynyrd's angry, indignant "Sweet Home Alabama" in answer to Neil Young's "Southern Man". Extra points awarded when the performer is also the songwriter. Somehow this gives more authenticity to the 'answer'. It's not unusual for singers to perform songs written by others. In fact, it is the norm. But after all the hype about Ms. Wells' groundbreaking offering with "Angels", it was a letdown to learn she had not written the lyrics and was just called in to sing that day as part of her recording contract. Who even knows if she actually identified with the lyrics, and was striking a musical blow for women's rights? Unfortunately it is more likely she just came in to the studio, sang the song, collected her paycheck, and went home.

Whatever the circumstances, thanks, Ms. Wells et. al., for giving female performers a jump-start in 1952 and also to the writer of 'Wild Side', without which we would have had no need for an 'answer' song. Who knows how long it would have taken otherwise?

The original version of this post first appeared in July 2012.