Shows
Twelve Songs of ChristmasHa-Sizzle, G*ddammit Jeremiah, SuperchunkSeason seven of 12 Songs comes to a conclusion with three very different conversations and artists. Ha-Sizzle is one of the finest examples of the New Orleans-specific brand of hip-hop known as bounce. I talked to him about his Christmas in New Orleans in front of a live audience.
The members of the British punk band Goddammit Jeremiah talk about their irreverent approach to Christmas and Christmas music and share a few of their holiday favorites that haven't made much of an impact here in the States.
At the end of an interview with MacMcCaughan of Supe...
2024-12-191h 11
Twelve Songs of ChristmasPorcupine Tree, É Arenas, and Ever More NestWe're approaching Christmas, so this week I have excerpts from longer interviews that I'll run at full length next season. Steven Wilson is the driving force behind the British art rock band Porcupine Tree, and last year on a challenge he used artificial intelligence to write a Christmas song, something he felt that he couldn't do on his own.
The whole conversation goes deep on the relationship between artists and AI, and the odd experience of encountering an AI version of himself online. Here I tried to capture part of that conversation and keep it relatively focused...
2024-12-121h 34
Twelve Songs of ChristmasBlind Boys of Alabama, Donna Summer, and SiaWe're officially in December, the Christmas season, and I have more interviews than I can get through in the weeks leading up to Christmas. From here on in, I'll run excerpts from the interviews I've done, and I'll run them in their entirety next season.
This episode starts with some clean-up business after last week's conversation with Midge Ure on "Do They Know it's Christmas." I referenced Ed Sheeran's complaint that he would have preferred to be left off the 40th anniversary mega-mix, and the charges against the song by Fuse ODG. In the episode, I reference B...
2024-12-051h 33
Twelve Songs of Christmas"Do They Know it's Christmas" at 40 with Midge UreMidge Ure from The Rich Kids, Ultravox and Visage co-wrote and produced "Do They Know it's Christmas" 40 years ago this week on November 25, 1984. He recently released a new live album, Live at the Royal Albert Hall 04.10.23, so we talked about that, touring, the Blitz club and his memories of the sessions for "Do They Know it's Christmas."
In this episode, I talk a little more than usual to contextualize the song and the interview. We talk about the new 40th anniversary mega-mix, which is due out Friday but the video is already out. I'll talk more about it...
2024-11-2757 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasDean & Britta & Sonic BoomHusband and wife duo Dean & Britta have a sound that suits contemporary Christmas music beautifully. They've done a few movie soundtracks including 13 Most Beautiful, an album of songs commissioned by the Andy Warhol Museum to perform songs beneath Warhol's silent films shot between 1964 - 1966.
Their sound is evocative but spare, with deeply reverbed guitars and melodic touches that bring '60s scenes to mind without being stuck there. On A Peace of Us, they and frequent collaborator Sonic Boom from Spaceman 3 work a similar magic. It's easy to envision it as part of the soundtrack to an eve...
2024-11-2156 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasCarpenters Legacy and Christmas Novelty Songs with April BruckerTwelve 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 t...
2024-11-141h 09
Twelve Songs of ChristmasJay Gonzalez and Christmas/Not Christmas SongsEarlier 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.
2024-11-0845 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasJim 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...
2024-11-011h 12
Twelve Songs of ChristmasThe Christmas Blues with Jontavious WillisThis 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...
2024-10-1741 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasA Cajun Christmas at the Holiday with Steve Riley and the Mamou PlayboysThis 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...
2024-10-1146 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasMindy SmithAmericana 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 o...
2024-10-0350 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasBehind the Christmas Songs with Annie ZaleskiMusic 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.
2024-09-2654 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasA Drive-By Truckers Christmas with Patterson HoodI'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 w...
2024-09-1248 min
Totally Rad Christmas!Band Aid II (w/ Alex Rawls)What’s up, dudes? They say the sequels are never as good as the first. I think The Empire Strikes Back proves them wrong…but Band Aid II doesn’t. I have music journalist Alex Rawls from The Twelve Songs of Christmas and My Spilt Milk with me to talk all about the second version of the charity song done in 1989! Spoilers: it’s not as good as the first, but it’s still fun!On Friday, December 1, 1989, Bob Geldof called Pete Waterman to ask if he would consider producing a new version of “Do They Know It’s Christm...
2024-09-091h 14
Twelve Songs of ChristmasBoney JamesSaxophone player Boney James has two Christmas albums, Boney's Funky Christmas and Christmas Present. Both make sense as the place where jazz and R&B meet, and that was transparently the case when he recorded his first album, Trust, in 1992.
We talk about those early years in addition to his Christmas music, and we discussed having an album of new music in the can that he wasn't at liberty to talk about or play. Since we recorded the interview, the album's title--Slow Burn--and its release date were released, along with two songs. It's due out October 18, and we...
2024-09-0533 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasCalypso Christmas with Charlie and the TropicalesOur surf Christmas episode inadvertently laid the groundwork for this week’s, which focuses largely on Calypso Christmas music. New Orleans’ Charlie and the Tropicales released Presents for Everyone, an album of Calypso Christmas songs, in 2023.
This week I’m talking to trombone player and bandleader Charlie Halloran about the album, Calypso Christmas music, Mighty Sparrow, tiki bars, and being a working working musician in New Orleans. We talk briefly about an indispensable Calypso Christmas album, A Calypso Christmas, which includes classic tracks by Lord Kitchener, Lord Nelson, The Mighty Spoiler and more. You can find it in the...
2024-08-2945 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasTom Petersson of Cheap Trick (an encore presentation)In 2021, I interviewed Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick, a band I've only grown to appreciate more over the years. They released their first three albums--Cheap Trick, In Color and Heaven Tonight--in 18 months, and Dream Police followed a whole year later. They toured constantly at the time, which makes that productivity all the more impressive.
In 2017, they released a Christmas album, Christmas Christmas, an album that's easy to like and easier to admire after Petersson talks about the inspirations for the songs.
I talked to Petersson because the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers had a new alb...
2024-08-2240 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasA UFO-Friendly, Spotify-Protesting Christmas with The Pocket GodsI don’t usually get to end a conversation on Christmas music with memories of radio legend Art Bell and his late night deep dive into the paranormal, After Dark with Art Bell. But that’s what happened when I talked to Mark Christopher Lee of the British lo-fi indie rock band The Pocket Gods. It took a lot of discipline not to end the show with After Dark’s theme, “Chase” by Giorgio Moroder. Instead, the episode ends with “Merry Christmas to the Drunks, Merry Christmas to the Lovers,” a new-to-me track by the Edinburgh indie band ballboy.
My conver...
2024-08-1549 min
Twelve Songs of Christmas“La Notti Triunfanti” with Michela MusolinoMichela Mussolino introduced me to a new body of Christmas music this week. The New Jersey-born Memphis resident specializes in Sicilian folk music, and she recorded an album of predominantly Sicilian Christmas songs in 2022 on La Notti Triunfanti.
We talk about how someone arrives at that specialty, the deep history behind some of these songs, and how moving to Memphis affected some of the songs on the album.
In the episode, Michela talks about “Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle” being one of the best loved Italian Christmas songs, so I chose Andrea Bocelli’s version to give you...
2024-08-0847 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasSurf Christmas with Hunter KingI have so little surf Christmas music in my collection that I turned to WTUL DJ Hunter King, host of "Storm Surge of Reverb" to see if there was a substantial body of surf Christmas music. As I expected, the answer is yes.
We talk about old and new Christmas surf, Hunter's relationship to Christmas music, and vinyl because it almost goes without saying that as a surf music fan, he's a vinyl guy.
In the episode, I mention my insane Dick Dale interview--really a monologue--and it's so dizzying it's worth your time.
I...
2024-08-011h 10
Twelve Songs of ChristmasWhamageddon!The new season of Twelve Songs starts with an interview with Thomas Mertz, one of the founders of the social media game Whamageddon. To win the game, you must go from December 1 to Christmas without hearing Wham!'s "Last Christmas." Hear it and you're out. People play on social media on the honor system, but for Mertz, the fun is in the way the game has created a community.
Since he is in Denmark, he and his friends have a slightly different Christmas canon, and when they started playing almost 20 years ago, "Last Christmas" had the kind o...
2024-07-2553 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasSeason Seven Starts SoonLast Christmas, I promised that 12 Songs would return with Christmas in July 2024. Since July 25 falls on a Thursday, it seemed like an appropriate day to return with the first episode of the new season. Here are a few notes on the upcoming season including a song that hints at a direction we'll go in the first month.
2024-07-1103 min
Holistic Women's Health125. Treat Health Issues & Chronic Illness through Cellular Wellness with Dr. Bill RawlsSuggest new guests/topics for the podcast here
Dr. Bill Rawls is a licensed physician of over 30 years, and has dedicated his life to medicine. When a health crisis in his early forties abruptly changed his quality of life, he came face to face with the limitations of modern medicine and began to explore the vast possibilities of alternative treatments.
Episode highlights:
Issues with western medicine
How to overcome & prevent chronic illness
What cellular health is
What helps & damages our cells from sleep, EMFs & red light therapy
The foundations of cellular health: nut...
2024-01-3159 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasNew Orleans Hip-Hop for Christmas with Raj Smoove and 504icygrlSeason six of 12 Songs comes to a close with some of the highlights from the 2023 holiday season and a conversation with DJ/producer/business guy Raj Smoove and rapper/producer 504icygrl about the new Christmas in New Orleans EP. Raj and Icy talk about Christmas, community, business, and the historically awkward fit between hip-hop and Christmas music.
In the episode, I mention the Daily Beast story I wrote on Cher's Christmas and Christmas music in October, the streaming version of my Christmas playlist, Bill Adler's Xmas Jollies 2023 and Jim Goodwin of ChristmasUnderground.com's I'm an Igloo playlist.
...
2023-12-2240 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasMother Mother ”Cry Christmas”Today's show is a lot about the backstage of the music business as the Vancouver-based alternative rock band Mother Mother talks about finding a darker angle on Christmas music with "Cry Christmas" and their version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."
This week Ryan Guldemond of the band and I talk about how a rock band finds a way to do Christmas music in a way that's authentic, as well as why a band like Mother Mother would even do one in the first place.
In this episode, I also talk about new Christmas r...
2023-12-1435 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasChristmas Down Under with Imogen ClarkThis holiday season, Imogen Clark released "Not Christmas Here," talking about how all the wintery signs that Christmas is coming don't mean as much to her because she's from Australia. In the Southern Hemisphere, it's hot in December and white wine is their egg nog.
The song is a bit of looking ahead for Clark because she’s moving to the States next year. It’s also her fourth Christmas song, so we spoke recently about them, Christmas in Australia, and Australian Christmas favorites.
In the episode, I mention "A Twelve Songs of Christmas Christmas," a five...
2023-12-0743 min
Twelve Songs of Christmas”Holly Happy Days” with The Indigo GirlsThis episode has been a few years in the making, but I was finally able to find a quiet moment in the busy lives of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of The Indigo Girls.
In 2010, they released Holly Happy Days, a holiday album that's very much an Indigo Girls album with their musical, personal, social and spiritual values shaping the songs in the way that they do on everything else the duo has released.
We had a good conversation not only about the album but how it fits into the long arc of their career--25 yea...
2023-11-3046 min
Twelve Songs of Christmas”A Dave Brubeck Christmas” with Matt LemmlerUnfortunately, jazz pianist Dave Brubeck is no longer around to talk about his 1996 solo piano album A Dave Brubeck Christmas. Craft Recordings reissued the album this Christmas season, but Brubeck died in 2012 so I asked New Orleans piano player Matt Lemmler to help me get a handle on the album.
The resulting conversation is a deep dive into Brubeck, Louis Armstrong, and jazz piano. We talk about his most famous song, "Take Five," and detour to talk about A Charlie Brown Christmas because it really is that seminal a recording. Lemmler also helps us understand stride piano, a...
2023-11-2254 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasMerry Christmas from Japan with ”Holly Jolly Xmasu”I listened to one episode of Scott Leopold's "Holly Jolly Xmasu" podcast and I was sold. As a Stereolab and High Llamas fan, I felt like there had to be a High Llamas Christmas song, and Scott found one on Christmas Songs, which also included a great Bossa nova version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," a very unusual jazz piano take on "Sleigh Ride," and the ambient pop of Takako Minekawa on "Listen, the Snow is Falling."
Fortunately, much of that album--but not all of it--was available to purchase in the States. Much of the music he...
2023-11-1646 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasChristmas with the Blue Man GroupBlue Man Group started in 1987 as a performance art concept by guys who also harbored rock 'n' roll dreams. It has grown into an institution that has ongoing shows in Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York and Berlin. As of October, Blue Man Group now also has a Christmas EP, Overjoy to the World.
Today Blue Man composer Jeff Turlik and performer Bhurin Sead talk about all things Blue Man Group including how songs are written and recorded for a band known for playing percussion instruments made of PVC, and how holiday music fits into their shows.
2023-11-101h 12
Twelve Songs of ChristmasA Soul Christmas with Eli ”Paperboy” ReedI love when episodes overlap. Today, soul singer Eli "Paperboy" Reed talks about--among other things--his love of Huey "Piano" Smith's Christmas album, which we recently featured.
Reed has a new album, Hits and Misses: The Singles on YepRoc Records, and today we're talking about that and his Christmas music, including a snappy version of "Last Christmas" by Wham!
Along the way, we talk about a couple of tracks that weren't available on mp3, "What Do the Lonely Do at Christmas" by The Emotions and Reed's "Party Hard for Christmas." The link will help you get yo...
2023-10-2646 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasA D.C.Go-Go Christmas with Chuck BrownChuck Brown has been dubbed "The Godfather of Go-Go," the distinctive Washington D.C.-based funk sound that has its own aesthetics and culture. This week, New Orleans' musicologist and go-go aficionado Melissa Weber shines some light on go-go and Brown because in 1999, he released The Spirit of Christmas.
Weber is an archivist at Tulane University, and in New Orleans she DJs at WWOZ and throws parties under the name she's best known by, DJ Soul Sister.
We talk about Brown, his Christmas music, and the 1991 compilation, Let's Go-Go Christmas.
2023-10-1937 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasA New Orleans R&B Christmas with Huey ”Piano” SmithNew Orleans venerates its R&B royalty from the early days of rock 'n' roll, and many of them stayed active until they died, including Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Eddie Bo, Snooks Eaglin and Earl King. Huey "Piano" Smith was not one of them; he lived the last third of his life until his death earlier this year out of the limelight.
Since Smith also recorded one of my favorite Christmas albums, 1962's Twas the Night Before Christmas, I invited journalist John Wirt on the show to talk about Smith--his heyday, his heartbreaks, his later years, and h...
2023-09-2952 min
Twelve Songs of Christmas”Christmas Cocktails” with Brad Ross-MacLeodCapitol Records tried to cash in on the '90s lounge revival with its "Ultra-Lounge" series--albums that pulled tracks from the label's vaults that fell under some of the umbrellas that came to associated with lounge including crooners, mambos, space-age sounds, and tiki bar music. In 1996, it released Christmas Cocktails, with series compiler Brad Benedict pulling together holidays songs from those genres.
It was so successful that Capitol released Christmas Cocktails Vol. 2 in 1997, then Christmas Cocktails Vol. 3 much later in 2012 with a different, more pedestrian creative team. By that point, Benedict and the Ultra-Lounge creative team had...
2023-09-211h 05
Twelve Songs of ChristmasSara NoelleThe name "Sara Noelle" sounds like something made up for Christmas music, but she had been a recording artist since 2010, 10 years before she released her first Christmas track, "Christmas at Sea."
Since 2020, the ambient folk artist has made a tradition of releasing new Christmas music each year, and it's not a reach to think her songs would make sense on David Lynch's Twin Peaks Holiday Special. Noelle's songs aren't haunted, but the electronic atmospherics paired with her treated voice make her songs sound like they come from somewhere else, even while they sound very human.
W...
2023-08-3152 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasThe Christmas Music ManfestoIn 2018 when I launched Twelve Songs, I published "The 12 Songs Manifesto," a statement of my core beliefs about Christmas music.
Now that we're in our sixth season and have a lot of listeners who weren't around back then, I thought it was worth revisiting and documenting in podcast form. I flesh out my thoughts, add a few and revise a few that no longer seem as crucial to me. And, I have music by Luther Vandross, Rockin' Sidney, Paul McCartney, Alexander O'Neal, The Bird and the Bee, SUNBEARS! and more to put some musical meat on those b...
2023-08-1722 min
Twelve Songs of Christmas”Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”Chris Marchand's blog post "On the Importance of Sad Christmas Songs" makes the argument its title promises, using "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" as Exhibit A. Podcaster and writer Chris Marchand last appeared on Twelve Songs to break down Sufjan Stevens' Christmas albums, and this week he returns to talk about "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."
The song written for Judy Garland to sing in the movie Meet Me in St. Louis was too bleak in her mind for the situation, so it was revised to be merely guarded and tentative. We have her version, a...
2023-08-0339 min
Twelve Songs of Christmas”Santa Claus is Coming to Town” Pt. 2Last week, I started the story of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," taking the song from being written by Haven Gillespie and J. Fred Coots, to the first version by banjo player/bandleader Harry Reser, to the version that popularized the song by Eddie Cantor.
This week, the song grows up with the help of Phil Spector, The Crystals, and Bruce Springsteen.
2023-07-2713 min
Twelve Songs of Christmas”Santa Claus is Coming to Town” Pt. 1"Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is an orphan, a Christmas song without a singer attached. "White Christmas" has Bing Crosby, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" has Andy Williams, and "Happy Holidays" has Peggy Lee. But who sang the early version of the Christmas classic that casts a shadow over all the versions that follow? Nobody.
This week and next week, I'll tell the story of the song, from its writing to its place in the Christmas canon today. I'll tell the story of the song growing up, starting this week with its early d...
2023-07-2113 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasOutKast’s ”Player’s Ball”"Player's Ball" is a contemporary Christmas classic, but it's not very Christmas-y by design. Today, Big Boi of OutKast talks about why the song is the way it is, and how it ended up being the first solo release from the group.
After that, we have an encore segment from 2018. At the time, I talked to writer David Dennis Jr. about the song. Today, David's resumé has expanded somewhat. He recently launched the podcast Rap Stories, which features interviews with rappers about albums important to him. Last year he released the book The Movement Made Us, in whi...
2023-07-1339 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasThe ”Santa Baby” StoryIn 2021, I talked with music journalist Alison Fensterstock and singers Dayna Kurtz and Alexandra Scott about versions of Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby." That was a good conversation, but I still had questions and found some of my answers in other less famous Christmas songs recorded by Kitt. Those songs and some others in her repertoire filled in some blanks that we'll explore today.
This episode is based on an essay I wrote for The Daily Beast than ran on Christmas Day 2022.
2023-07-0716 min
Ideas MatterA Theory of Justice by John RawlsIn this video Louis gives a run through of John Rawls' seminal text "A Theory of Justice" published in 1971.
A Theory of Justice is a must-read for anyone interested in Anglo-American political theory. It spawned the liberal-communitarian debate which dominated the academy for twenty years and produced some of the most well-known names in political philosophy: Michael Sandel, Alasdair Macintyre, Charles Taylor and Michael Walzer.
You've probably heard of the "veil of ignorance" and the "original position" - but just what are these conceptual devices and how do they serve Rawls' argument? Does Rawls succeed in...
2023-02-2830 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasTerre Roche of The RochesThe Roches' 1990 We Three Kings is the Christmas album you'd expect from the folk trio as sing a set of holiday classics gorgeously, often a cappella, and occasionally with their tongues ever so delicately in their cheeks.
Terre Roche remembers their Christmas shows, the Caroling Carolers, and getting shooed off the sidewalk in front of Trump Tower in a conversation about singing with her sisters.
The occasion for the conversation is Christmas and the release of Kin Ya See That Sun by Terre and Maggie Roche. It's a book that reflects on their first foray into...
2022-12-2153 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasIndie Christmas Music with Amerigo Gazaway, Charlie Darling, and ”Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas”This week's episode features indie Christmas music--indie hip-hop with DJ and producer Amerigo Gazaway, British indie rock with Les Bicyclettes de Belsize's Charlie Darling, and British music journalist Kevin McGrath, who compiled 108 indie Christmas tracks for Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas Volume 1 and Volume 2. All of their music is available now on Bandcamp. Right now, Amerigo is also selling a limited edition vinyl pressing of his A Christmas Album paired with a vinyl pressing of the accompanying remix album with vocals.
During my conversation with Amerigo, we talk about his collaboration with rapper Mega Ran, who appea...
2022-12-161h 22
Twelve Songs of ChristmasThe Smithereens and ChristmasUnderground.comWith Christmas approaching, it's time when I have more good conversations than I have weeks until December 25. Today, I have two conversations that I really enjoyed, one with Dennis Diken of rock band The Smithereens, and one with Jim Goodwin, who runs the indie rock Christmas website ChristmasUnderground.com. The Smithereens' 2007 Christmas album Christmas with The Smithereens was released on vinyl this holiday season, and Goodwin has been busy posting new and new-to-you indie Christmas tracks that he found on Bandcamp.
During the episode, I mentioned this year's Christmas music mix, which you can get by writing a...
2022-12-091h 14
Twelve Songs of ChristmasJoss StoneBritish pop/soul singer Joss Stone released Merry Christmas, Love earlier this year, and it's a bit of a departure for her as she set out to make a "posh" album, something on the surface very different from the music she's known for.
It's still very much a personal project, down to the influence of her daughter and the son she was pregnant with while recording the album. We talked about the ways that personal choices show up in a project as big and orchestrated as Merry Christmas, Love.
In this episode, Alex also talks abou...
2022-12-0129 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasSteven Drozd of The Flaming Lips - An Encore PresentationIn 2020, I had a good conversation with Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips about the surprising amount of Christmas music they have, starting with Atlas Eets Christmas, which they recorded and credited to "Imagene Peise." We talked about that album's origins, which make sense when you hear them, as well as the Christmas on Mars project and a host of other holiday one-offs the band has recorded.
I ran this conversation that fall, but since I'm on family vacation this Thanksgiving week, I'm re-running this episode.
This year's "Twelve Songs of Christmas" Christmas mix is avai...
2022-11-221h 02
Twelve Songs of ChristmasChildren’s Music at Christmas with Laurie BerknerLaurie Berkner had one of those days when we got together to talk. A plumber came to work on her bathroom while we did our interview, and his work is the occasional backdrop for our conversation.
Still, the children's music artist talked at length about the making of her second Christmas album, Another Laurie Berkner Christmas, and the way making music for children affects her art. She's part of a generation that grew up with rock 'n' roll and makes music true enough to its spirit that parents who themselves love music use her music as a fi...
2022-11-1741 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasLow and ”Just Like Christmas”- an Encore PresentationIn 2020, I interviewed Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker of the indie rock band Low, whose 1999 album Christmas is one of the great indie Christmas albums, and a bold one because rock bands didn't record Christmas music at the time--at least not like that. Maybe they'd contribute a track to a label promo compilation, but they wouldn't tie their financial and artistic futures to such an unlikely project.
Low's music at the time was dubbed "slowcore," and while it wasn't necessarily slow, they did stake out a very individual musical space that was driven by introspection and meditation mo...
2022-11-0845 min
Twelve Songs of Christmas”A Charlie Brown Christmas” with Derrick BangVince Guaraldi scholar Derrick Bang wrote the liner notes for the 2022 Super Deluxe edition of the soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas, and this week he talks about the 1965 cartoon, Guaraldi, and the soundtrack album sessions included in the digital and CD packages.
The digital version is out now and up on streaming platforms, and it includes the original 1965 mix, a new mix, and all of the sessions that have been found so far. The CD version also includes a Blu-Ray disc with the animated special, and it's due out December 2. The two-record vinyl version includes the al...
2022-10-2049 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasBruce CockburnLast year, Canadian folk artist Bruce Cockburn belated launched a tour celebrating 50 years in music. When we ran an excerpt from this interview last Christmas season, we started off talking about the tour. Since he's not on tour now, I cut some of that material but did start with a conversation on how someone with 50-plus years in the business relates to the music he wrote decades ago.
We focused our attention on Christmas, his 1993 album of Christmas music. We talk about its humble origins and the versions that inspired some of his takes. To let you i...
2022-10-0647 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasPeter Zaremba of The FleshtonesIn 2008, the garage rock legends The Fleshtones released a Christmas album, Stocking Stuffer, and in true Fleshtones fashion, they made Christmas sound like them. Since 1976, they have delivered a brand of garage rock influenced by punk, R&B and soul with more than a hint of glam in their style and sound.
In this interview from 2021, singer Peter Zaremba talks about the album, its origins, and what was most important to them while working on it. He also talks about where the audiences for '60s-inspired rock 'n' roll are and how those communities come together. He re...
2022-09-2348 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasJosé JamesOne of my favorite Christmas albums of 2021 was Merry Christmas from José James, which featured the jazz vocalist in a classic quartet that included pianist Aaron Parks.
We talked in 2021 and ran part of the conversation last holiday season, but we covered a lot of ground, some of it COVID-related but a lot of it focused on James and the way he bridges musical genres. We chew on jazz, hip-hop, and some of the subtle challenges involved in making Christmas music. The music's good, but I also love the way he turns conventional narratives and hierarchies on the...
2022-09-1541 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasJulian Koster and His Singing SawsThe world met Julian Koster as part of the Elephant 6 Collective in the 1990s, when he played a variety of instruments with Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control, Elf Power, and his own projects, The Music Tapes and The Orbiting Human Circus. In 2008, he released The Singing Saw at Christmastime, and part of the conceit is that the saws actually do the singing. He's not playing the saws; he's encouraging them to sing.
That element of whimsy is part of the fun of Koster's projects and our conversation, though he brought engineer Nesey Gallons on the call...
2022-09-0854 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasSusan Cowsill of The CowsillsThe Cowsills answer a number of pop culture trivia questions, starting with "What real life family pop band inspired the 1970 television show, The Partridge Family?" They had hits with "The Rain, The Park, and Other Things"--best known for the refrain, "I love the flower girl"--and "Hair," but the experience took a toll on family members, particularly Susan Cowsill's older brothers. She was a kid along for the ride and still under 10 when it hit, but as she talks about during our conversation, her teenaged brothers with rock 'n' roll dreams had a hard time dealing with what...
2022-09-0155 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasFilmmaker Mitchell Kezin and ”Jingle Bell Rocks!”Documentary filmmaker Mitchell Kezin released the movie Jingle Bell Rocks! in 2013. In it, he focused on the human side of Christmas music, whether with the musicians who make the music--much the same way we do on 12 Songs--or by talking to collectors about the music they're passionate about. Last year, I talked to Kezin about the movie and his Christmas music collection, and ran part of the conversation during the holiday season.
This week, I'm running a longer, more complete version of that conversation, where we talk about collecting, the song that got him started on Christmas music, and...
2022-08-2659 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasRay Benson of Asleep at the WheelTwelve Songs returns after a life-induced hiatus with a good interview with Ray Benson from the Austin-based Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel. We talked in the spring when the band was coming to New Orleans to play Jazz Fest, and you can see my story focusing on the band celebrating 50 years in the game with its Half a Hundred Years album and tour. That tour is always going on or soon to restart, so check your local listings because if they aren't coming to town, they'll get there sooner or later.
We talk about COVID, w...
2022-08-1144 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasA ”Molto Groovy Christmas” with Carlo PoddigheIn 2014, Molto Groovy Christmas remade holiday favorites inspired by Italian and French movie soundtracks from the 1960s. Tracks also reference Esquivel, Jimmy Smith’s soul-jazz, and other out-there sounds, and the project as a whole is defined by unlikely, psychedelic textural juxtapositions over gently funky grooves. The album came with a mystery, though. The cover reads, “Roman Coppola and Alessandro Cassella presents,” but it’s not until you open the package that you discover who actually made the music. That task fell to Italian musician and producer Carlo Poddighe, who arranged the songs and played all the parts.
This week, Carlo Poddi...
2022-04-0738 minTwelve Songs of Christmas”Last Christmas” with Annie ZalenskiTwelve Songs returns to regular programming this week with writer Annie Zaleski joining me to talk about Wham!’s “Last Christmas” and our favorite versions of it.
On Christmas Day last year, Zaleski told the song’s story at Salon.com, which is just one of the places where she has covered pop music and Christmas music over the years. She also wrote a book on Duran Duran’s Rio for the 33 1/3 series.
The song has become a fascination of mine for a lot of reasons, one of which is that I’ve only really come around to it in the last few years...
2022-03-3159 min
Mental Capacity Matters with Alex Ruck KeeneContraception, support and intellectual disability – in conversation with Jodie RawlsIn this conversation, I talk to Jodie Rawls about her research as part of the Mental Health & Justice project into support in the context of intellectual disability in relation to contraception, including fascinating – and challenging – insights from her interviews. I also talk to her about the toolkit for supporting decision-making around contraception produced by the Supported Loving network to which she contributed.For the original video, see here.
2022-03-3022 min
Big Asp Cornhole PodcastEpisode 115: Part 2 Alex Rawls interviewQuestion? Comment? Send us a Message!Technology would not cooperate as the universe apparently wanted these parts separate. But lucky for you all this interview is excellent! Fresh off his 2nd straight ESPN broadcast appearance, Alex Rawls joins the show! We discuss practice routines, how he became partners with Trey Burchfield and answered a variety of listener questions!!BIG ASP Cornhole Patreon page: 3 Tiers to choose from!! Come join our growing community and get insider info, become an active participant in show content, be eligible for bag giveaways and more!!!https://www.patreon.c...
2022-03-2351 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasHighlights of the First 100 Episodes, Pt. 5When I started to look back at the highlights of our first 100 episodes, I envisioned it taking an episode or two, but once I started, I couldn’t keep the number down that low. Here we are with the fifth and final installment, and I can easily envision another episode or two of interviews conducted before 2021.
This week’s episode includes a few interviews that were special for me, including Steven Drozd of Flaming Lips, 11 Acorn Lane, guitar hero Steve Lukather, jazz vocalist Jacqui Naylor, ZE Records’ Michael Zilkha, Latin ska band Mento Buru, and singer Danny Boy and...
2022-03-1759 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasLooking Back at the First 100, Pt. 4We're in the home stretch of the look back at highlights from the first 100 episodes of Twelve Songs, with this episode getting into interviews during the pandemic when COVID affected everybody's plans. Guitarist and producer Chas Justus from Lafayette, Louisiana talks about how COVID made his collection of Cajun French versions of Chrlstmas classics--Joyeux Noel, Bon Chrismeusse--possible.
I really appreciated getting romantic pianist and composer Jim Brickman on the show because someone who has 10 albums of Christmas music has a more nuanced take on it than those who have only dipped their toes in the water. We tal...
2022-03-1049 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasLooking Back at the First 100, Pt. 3My look back at the highlights of The Twelve Songs of Christmas this week come from from a transitional period. I had good and very different conversations with musicians with very different careers, including the pop purists Hanson, the bluegrass crossover artist Rhonda Vincent, and indie rapper Mega Ran.
This week's show includes excerpts from those conversations, along Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker of Low, and Martin Lynds and Jen Gunderman of The Ornaments, a band of Nashville session players who at the time of the interview had played the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack for 14 years running.
...
2022-02-2438 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasLooking Back at the First 100, Pt. 2Last week, I started a look back at some of the highlights from the first 100 episodes of Twelve Songs of Christmas. This week, Scott McCaughey of The Minus 5 talks about his relationship to his Christmas songs when a stroke prevented him from playing them at their CD release show. Americana rocker JD McPherson talks about the inspiration for the songs on his modern Christmas classic, Socks, and Magic 101.9 program director Steve Suter takes us behind the scenes on the all-Christmas radio format. New Orleans singer Debbie Davis talks about what it's like to have a Christmas show that becomes a...
2022-02-1746 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasLooking Back at the First 100, Pt. 1The previous episode with singer Meryl Zimmerman was number 100, and now that I've made it that far, I think it's time to stop and help some of you catch up. I've had a lot of episodes I'm really happy with that have moments I'm glad I helped to get into the world. Some realizations probably came together for the first time when we talked.
The conversations shed light on creativity, musicality, business, and spirituality--aspects the pop music enterprise that are too often overlooked or treated with too much care. I'm interested in all of these things, and...
2022-02-1058 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasMeryl ZimmermanThis is the 100th episode of The Twelve Songs of Christmas, and I’m spending it with New Orleans' jazz vocalist Meryl Zimmerman. In late November 2022, she released her second album, A Very Meryl Christmas, so we talked about it as a business proposition and chewed on the uncommon song choices she made for it. Some standards are there, but so are some less common choices. As you’ll see, the more familiar ideas are dressed up in uncommon arrangements that take them into interesting places. Her bossa nova version of “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” was compel...
2022-01-2750 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasNochebuena with Patricia VonneOne sidebar in the last few years of 12 Songs has been the role of COVID in the creation of Christmas music. Some artists recorded Christmas albums to remind themselves that they were musicians during the pandemic shutdown of 2020. Some were able to get musicians who would otherwise be unavailable because COVID forced them off the road, and others had specific circumstances related to COVID that led to their Christmas albums.
San Antonio-based roots rocker Patricia Vonne falls into the latter category. In this week’s episode, she tells the story of what prompted her to record My Favorite Holi...
2022-01-2040 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasA Latin Music Christmas with Arthur HanlonHow does a white guy from Detroit end up playing Latin music? Pianist Arthur Hanlon, one of the stars of the HBOMax concert film Piano Y Mujer, talks about that and his relationship to Motown in this week's conversation. We talk about the EP he released before Christmas, A Holiday Christmas Piano, and the roles Facebook and COVID played in making it happen. Along the way, we also talk about earlier Christmas releases and how Christmas music fits into Hanlon's big picture.
This week, we also look at one of the bigger songs of the 2021 holiday season, "M...
2022-01-1341 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasMitchell Kezin of ”Jingle Bell Rocks,” Jim McCormick, and Bailey JamesThis is the last episode of the Christmas season, but The Twelve Songs of Christmas is a year-around affair, so the conversations will continue in January after I take a much-needed week off.
This week's episode includes an interview with filmmaker Mitchell Kezin, whose documentary Jingle Bell Rocks! takes a deep dive into the world of Christmas music, talking to people who collect it and create it. It's streaming on Hulu and Amazon Prime, and we'll talk more about the movie next year, but this week we discuss its origins including the songs and ideas that set him...
2021-12-242h 16
Twelve Songs of ChristmasAmanda Shires, Rodney Atkins and Rose Falcon, and Julian KosterThis week, we have a few guests again as Christmas nears. Americana artist Amanda Shires is on hand to talk about For Christmas, and the way it reflects some of the less common impulses behind Christmas music. The husband and wife team of Rod and Rose—country singer Rodney Atkins and Rose Falcon—talk about why they recorded “Winter Wonderland,” and how their conflicting writing styles got them to a new song for this holiday season. Finally, indie multi-instrumentalist Julian Koster drops by to talk about his role in the 2008 album, The Singing Saw at Christmastime.
We’ll have more with all three...
2021-12-211h 04
Twelve Songs of ChristmasBonus Episode: Twelve Songs x Ranking the BeatlesLast year, Twelve Songs did its first crossover episode with Jonathan and Julia Pretus of the Ranking the Beatles podcast. During the COVID shutdown in 2020, Jonathan took the time on his hands as an excuse to rank all of The Beatles’ songs, from his least favorite to his favorite. That list morphed from a Facebook conversation into a podcast with his wife Julia as the voice of reason.
Since The Beatles didn’t release any true Christmas songs during their time together, last year we ranked the annual fan club-only releases, testing Julia’s patience in the process.
T...
2021-12-1455 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasKristin Chenoweth, Ronnie Milsap, and Paul GilbertLast week, Kristin Chenoweth was part of the episode focused on A Sentimental Christmas, an album of remakes of songs by Nat "King" Cole. Today, we continue that conversation to cover her new Christmas album, Happiness Is ... Christmas and 2008's A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas.
This episode also includes my interview with country legend Ronnie Milsap, whose Christmas with Ronnie Milsap was reissued this year, and guitar hero Paul Gilbert, who got in the Christmas music game this year with his new album, TWAS. Unfortunately, we had a wifi disconnect and, as you'll hear, had to pick u...
2021-12-091h 18
Twelve Songs of ChristmasJay Landers, Kristin Chenoweth, and Calum Scott on ”A Sentimental Christmas with Nat King Cole & Friends”For this Christmas season, producer Jay Landers put together "A Sentimental Christmas with Nat "King" Cole," an album that refreshes some of Cole's holiday classics with new arrangements and a handful of new duets with new singing partners Johnny Mathis, John Legend, Gloria Estefan and more.
Today on the show, Landers talks about the hows of whys of putting together this kind of project, and why Cole continues to sing these duets well after his death. Kristin Chenoweth and Calum Scott are two of Cole's singing partners this time around, and they talk about the experience, Cole, a...
2021-12-021h 18
Twelve Songs of ChristmasJosé James, Bruce Cockburn, and The Twangtown ParamoursThis episode drops on Thanksgiving, and if you're listening on Thursday, Happy Thanksgiving.
Friday is Black Friday, the official, incontrovertible start to the Christmas season, and just in time for it, Twelve Songs has created an alternative to the all-Christmas radio station, Twelve Songs of Christmas Radio on Spotify. It's a 20-plus hour playlist of songs that are or should be Christmas favorites, and all you have to do is click Shuffle to get the radio effect, minus the commercials and station breaks.
If that sounds a little daunting, you can also email me at a...
2021-11-251h 05
Twelve Songs of ChristmasBonus Episode: Who Dat Jedi CrossoverTwelve Songs of Christmas is based in New Orleans, so in the spirit of the season and podcaster camaraderie, I recently recorded a crossover episode with friends who figured out how to shoehorn their two great passions into one podcast. Who Dat Jedis usually talks about the New Orleans Saints and Star Wars, and this week they asked me to join them to add a conversation on Christmas music to that mix.
I enjoyed this conversation because Aaron, Fredo and Dave's questions are the ones casual listeners to Christmas music have, and it was fun to connect th...
2021-11-231h 54
Twelve Songs of ChristmasThe Fleshtones, Susan Cowsill, and Numero Records‘ ”Christmas Dreamers”Last year, some time after Thanksgiving I had to change format and use excerpts from a few interviews to get to everybody I've talked to about Christmas music before the holiday comes. This year, I have to start now since I already have enough interviews to get to February if I ran one per show.
This week, I'm talking to some of my favorite people. The Fleshtones are the long-time garage rock gold standard, and singer Peter Zaremba is always a great person to talk to about that corner of the rock 'n' roll world. Since it s...
2021-11-181h 22
WhoDatJedi PodcastAlex Rawls: What do Christmas songs have in common with Star Wars?Welcome to the 96th episode of the WhoDatJedi podcast! This week, your hosts -- Aaron Svoboda (@Aaron_Svoboda), Alfredo Narvaez (@NOLA_Fredo) and David Gladow (@davegladow) -- are joined by New Orleans music writer Alex Rawls (@Alex_Rawls), who produces his own podcast, the "Twelve Songs of Christmas," which takes a closer look at unique or interesting takes on traditional Christmas music. This concept of telling the same story over and over again might be familiar to Star Wars fans. So, we talked about some of the complexities of that. What makes a piece of media special? What makes...
2021-11-181h 54
Twelve Songs of ChristmasMannheim SteamrollerIt's mid-November, and with COVID numbers trending in the right direction, Mannheim Steamroller will return to the road soon. One of the Monsters of Christmas Rock, the group will start on Tuesday, November 16 in Loveland, Colorado, and it will have two companies on the road until December 30, when they'll finish up in Dallas and San Diego. The tour schedule is online, and tickets are on sale now.
The tour will take place as it has since 2008 without founder/composer/arranger Chip Davis, who talks about why in today's episode, along with his journey from a series of...
2021-11-111h 21
Twelve Songs of ChristmasQuad City DJsThis episode is bittersweet for me. The things I love on Quad City DJs' All-Star Christmas make me very happy, and this week one half of the Quad City DJs, CC Lemonhead, tells the story of the Jacksonville, Florida DJs' journey from "Whoot! There it Is" to "Tootsie Roll" to "C'mon and Ride It (The Train)" to "What You Want for Christmas." It's the kind of story I love, with people working up homemade solutions to musical challenges, and what happens along the way.
Unfortunately, one of the things that happened is that CC and his partner Jay...
2021-11-041h 11
Twelve Songs of Christmas”Christmas Jollies” with Bill AdlerThe impulse to share my findings while collecting Christmas music led me to this podcast, and it led Bill Adler to Christmas Jollies, an annual Christmas mix that he has made and distributed to family, friends, and folks in the music industry since the mid-1980s.
Adler started his career in the music industry as the director of publicity at Def Jam Records and Rush Management from 1984-1990, so while his tastes are much broader than simply hip-hop, hip-hop Christmas music by Kurtis Blow and Run-DMC play a meaningful part in his own Christmas music story.
W...
2021-10-2138 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasPreservation Hall Jazz BandThe Preservation Hall Jazz Band has worked to be more than just the jazz band your parents knew. Creative Director and tuba player Ben Jaffe has worked to ensure that the New Orleans musical institution has a place in the contemporary music conversation. That has led to some choices that purists have questioned, but it also means the band still has a presence in the culture, unlike many of its peers.
This week, I talk to Jaffe about the hall’s holiday traditions and its own Christmas recordings, including a collaboration with singer Irma Thomas for the 2013 Ho...
2021-10-141h 39
Twelve Songs of ChristmasA Family-Friendly Christmas with Dan and Claudia ZanesWe met Dan Zanes as the singer of The Del Fuegos in the first generation of America's indie underground in the mid-1980s. As he explains in our conversation, he discovered after the band broke up that people were more interested in a cassette he made of family-oriented folk he made with his daughter, her friends and their parents in mind than they were in his solo album. That set his course, and he has been working in the family-friendly field for more than 20 years now.
We talk about family-friendly music, folk music, and how his Christmas a...
2021-10-071h 20
Twelve Songs of ChristmasSanta Baby"Santa Baby" has gone through some changes. When Eartha Kitt recorded it in 1953, it was controversial because women--and particularly black women--didn't talk about desire so bluntly. It was a cool artifact from one of Christmas' back rooms until Madonna covered it in 1987, and that seemingly put the song on the radar of a generation or two of women performers including Arianna Grande and Kylie Minogue.
This week, I'm joined by three strong women to discuss what makes Kitt's track special, and what changes when others perform it. Journalist and critic Alison Fensterstock contributed an interview with Rickie...
2021-09-231h 11
Twelve Songs of ChristmasA Blues Christmas with Alligator RecordsBruce Iglauer didn’t plan to celebrate Alligator Records’ 50th anniversary the way he has. Iglauer started the blues label in Chicago in 1972 and intended to load up a bus with musicians from the label’s past, present and future and play around the country. Unfortunately, the Delta variant made that unsafe, so instead he has had to celebrate with an anniversary compilation, 50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music, and talking about the label and the stars who defined it on shows like this one.
Iglauer’s here because Alligator has released two albums of new Christmas music, 1992’s The Alliga...
2021-08-261h 00
Twelve Songs of ChristmasGrant-Lee PhillipsSinger Grant-Lee Phillips is the first 12 Songs guest to have worked as a mall Santa. The solo artist who rose to fame in the alternative rock band Grant Lee Buffalo had Christmas songs talks about that experience this week, as well as what he learned about songwriting from Christmas songs.
In 2020, Phillips released the Winterglow EP, and he talks about the role the Gilmore Girls television show played in the title track, as well as how he selected the infrequently covered songs he also recorded for it.
In the episode, Alex also talks about the Te...
2021-08-1940 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasBig Freedia and BoyfriendThink of this as a remix. Last year, I interviewed New Orleans bounce artist Big Freedia for an episode about his Christmas music including the EP he released last season, Smokin' Santa Christmas.
In early January, I interviewed New Orleans' founder of "rap cabaret" Boyfriend about Amy Grant's A Christmas Album. We also talked about her work with Big Freedia--a part of the conversation I saved because the Amy Grant conversation was a full episode on its own. (Boyfriend has also appeared on the show to talk about her love of The Carpenters.)
So this...
2021-08-1246 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasA Punk Rock Christmas with The MyrrhderersThis week, Jamie Hilsden and I have a meeting of the minds about how punk's meaning and associations have changed over time, and his punk Christmas EPs--The Myrrhderers Slay Christmas and The Myrrhderers Slay Some More--give us the place to start that conversation.
Hilsden brings a very interesting perspective to the conversation as a Canadian Christian who grew up in Israel just a few miles from Bethlehem and started working up the demos for these songs while on tour with a band in Poland.
We chew on the challenges involved in converting Christmas songs to to p...
2021-07-0146 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasCheap TrickRock and Roll Hall of Famers Cheap Trick weren't sure a Christmas album was a good idea when asked by their label to do one, but 2016's Christmas Christmas worked out, and it's better when bassist Tom Petersson makes clear the thoughts behind some of their versions. They revisited the rock 'n' roll Christmas canon and made those songs rock more. No small feat in some of the cases.
We got time to talk because Cheap Trick has a new album, In Another World, which took on unintended meanings since it was finished in 2019 before COVID-19 hit. Pet...
2021-06-2538 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasDreaming of a Jewish Christmas with Larry WeinsteinIn 2017, filmmaker Larry Weinstein shot Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas (available to stream on iTunes) for the Canadian Broadcast Company. The documentary starts in a fictional Chinese restaurant in 1967, and a number of music video-like performances set in that restaurant give structure to an exploration of the Jewish relationship to Christmas. The documentary is built on the fact that many of the Christmas classics were written by Jews--the same writers who wrote many of the great American songs.
Our conversation deals with the way that Christmas crosses cultural lines, and one additional line we talk about is We...
2021-06-0953 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasThe Polyphonic SpreeThe Dallas-based Polyphonic Spree formed in 2000, and the 22-person band seemed inconceivable. Former Tripping Daisy member Tim DeLaughter pulled together a band that gave him strings, horns, a harp, and host of voices to sing along. At the time, the band's look including choir robes and Dallas' proximity to Waco prompted the British press to speculate on the band's cult-like tendencies. DeLaughter talks about that including the origins of the robes in this week's episode.
In 2012, The Polyphonic Spree released Holidaydream: Sounds of the Holidays Vol. One, and it successfully merged the band's maximalist sensibility, its tendency to...
2021-06-0358 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasGeorge WinstonIn December, I talked to "folk pianist" George Winston about his then-new Christmas single, "Silent Night," which he released to benefit Feeding America. His version was inspired by electronic artist Joseph Byrd and New Orleans piano player Professor Longhair, and at the time I ran part of our interview.
This week, I'm running the interview in its entirety, as he talks at length about his affection for New Orleans' piano players then and now, and another pianist who influenced him--Vince Guaraldi. Through the conversation, we see Winston as a fan and as a technician, someone who methodically h...
2021-05-2746 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasChristmas on Death RowThe 1996 album Christmas on Death Row has always stood out because it seemed so improbable. Death Row Records made its name on indo-fueled g-funk telling gangsta stories from the 'hoods of Los Angeles, and nothing in that sound or subject matter conjures up warm fuzzies. Digital wise guys writing listicles in the 2000s during the holiday season inevitably slagged it as a bad idea or a cynical one.
According to John Payne and Danny Boy, the story is far more complex, and they suggest that the album is better understood as a sign of what might have b...
2021-05-2053 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasLindsey StirlingIn 2018, violinist Lindsey Stirling released her Christmas album, Warmer in the Winter, and although she doesn't usually sing on her songs, today she explain why she decided to sing the title track.
Today's conversations is largely about versions of songs--the hows and whys of picking one version over another. It's an issue in her case because she has released two versions of "What Child is This?" including one from 2020 with Darius Rucker, and this year she has released an electric and an acoustic version of a new song, "Lose You Now." Christmas music is all about versions, an...
2021-05-1359 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasChristmas mp3 blogs with FaLaLaLaLa.com's King of JingalingStarting in the mid-2000s, mp3 blogs were a way to share a musical passion and find the community that shares it. I wrote about two such mp3 bloggers who share their love of Louisiana music for 64 Parishes, and this week on the show I talk to Brad Ross-MacLeod, also known online as the King of Jingaling at FaLaLaLaLa.com.
He has shared his love of Christmas music since 2004, for much of that time digitizing old Christmas albums that were never released on CD or in digital form. For the most part, he focused on albums that co...
2021-05-051h 03
Twelve Songs of ChristmasThe Bird and The BeeSinger Inara George and producer Greg Kurstin are The Bird and the Bee, whose stylish, semi-electronic pop draws influences including a few that came to be lumped--inaccurately, I'd argue--under the "lounge" umbrella. The results are far snappier than that implies, but Kurstin has access to a battalion of retro keyboard sounds at his disposal that, paired with George's cool voice, make every song sound hip and well-dressed.
Last fall, they released Put Up the Lights, their first Christmas album but not their first recording of Christmas music. Roofers banged around above her while George talked about the t...
2021-04-2953 min
Twelve Songs of ChristmasA Chiptune Christmas with Doctor OctorocThere's a whole body of chiptune music--music created by manipulating the programmable sound generator in videogame consoles. People once observed that if something exists, there's a porn version of it on the Internet, and if music exists, there's likely also a chiptune version of it as well. Levi Buffum, who records under the name Doctor Octoroc, made a chiptune Christmas album in 2008 when he released 8-Bit Jesus.
This week, Alex talks to Doctor Octoroc about the hows and whys of chiptune music and about the challenges associated with it, which are not only plentiful but for him, pa...
2021-04-211h 16
Twelve Songs of ChristmasZE Records' "A Christmas Record" with Michael ZilkhaIn 1981, Christmas albums for rock 'n' roll audiences didn't exist, and with the exception of a few snotty punk singles, there was nothing for young people who loved the music that emerged after punk and new wave. ZE Records' A Christmas Record occupied that space alone, though as label founder Michael Zilkha explains, the album was more of a marketing project than a specifically commercial venture. Still, it brought the world The Waitresses' classic "Christmas Wrapping," and included music by such iconic figures from the period as Labelle's Nona Hendrix, Was (Not Was), and Suicide.
In this we...
2021-04-141h 02
Twelve Songs of ChristmasCalexicoIn December, I had more good interviews than I had time for, so I ran episodes that featured excerpts from conversations with a number of artists. One such musician was Joey Burns of Calexico. Calexico released Seasonal Shift in time for last Christmas, and last December I ran the part of our conversation about their version of "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" and the political significance that Calexico's music has taken on.
This week, I'm returning to that conversation, which again ranges wildly from talking about their musical guests, their method, and their musical default settings (which ar...
2021-03-3137 min
Ranking The Beatles#219 - Love You To w/ Alex Rawls (writer/critic, MySpiltMilk.com, 12 Songs of Christmas, Rolling Stone, Spin)Sorry if we offended anyone by approaching something from Revolver so quickly, but alas, here we are. George's first full-on excursion into Eastern music may be one of the more significant and important songs in the Beatles catalog. That doesn't mean it's my favorite of his songs though. I've got it ranked at #219, but music writer/critic Alex Rawls totally disagrees with me. We talk about Alex's history with Beatles music, Christmas music...all kinds of music!
Check out Alex's site www.myspiltmilk.com where he covers the cream of New Orleans music and beyond.
A...
2020-07-281h 04