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Bella decided Santa didn't need all those cookies. Missing my Texas girls this Christmas, but grateful that they're healthy and happy. And to all you followers of The Sublime, Merry Christmas! Here's yet another version of my favorite holiday song, this one by Kermit Ruffins.
Download 01 Christmas Time Is Here
It was a momentous year for Linda Ronstadt: her autobiography was published just as she divulged that she is battling Parkinson's disease, which has left her unable to sing; and she was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All good reasons to revisit her Christmas album from 2000. (And this track has a guest vocal from Rosemary Clooney.)
It used to be just an oddity that one of the best Christmas albums of all time came from a Jewish producer, but then it became somewhat macabre after Phil Spector was convicted of murder. But thankfully Darlene Love makes you forget all that with her annual performance of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on the David Letterman show. Here's this year's appearance.
Eydie Gormé died this year so it's fitting to revisit the 1966 Spanish-language Christmas album she recorded with the great Trio Los Panchos. "Melchor, Gaspar y Baltazar" are, of course, Los Reyes Magos — The Three Kings. (I recently discovered this was the original album cover; the CD version was put out with a more Christmas-y cover.)
Download 05 Melchor, Gaspar y Baltazar
I'd never heard of The Free Design until I came across this cool tune on a Christmas compilation. Formed in 1967, the group was five siblings from the Dedrick family of Delevan, New York. They never hit it big and disbanded in '72. But artists such as Stereolab and Beck became fans and the group reunited briefly in 2000.
Download 03 Close Your Mouth (It's Christmas)
Big Maybelle was born Mabel Louise Smith in 1924 in Tennessee. In 1955 the R&B shouter and pianist recorded "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On", produced by Quincy Jones, two years before Jerry Lee Lewis' version and she had her biggest hit in 1956 with "Candy." Here's her burning version of "Silent Night."
When I first heard "You're My Christmas Present," I thought it sounded a lot like the classic 1958 doo-wop hit "Since I Don't Have You." With good reason. They were both performed by The Skyliners, a vocal group from Pittsburgh. Lead singer Jimmy Beaumont co-wrote both songs, which is actually the same song, with different lyrics and minor melody changes. Nevertheless, it's a gem.
Download 12 You're My Christmas Present- The Skyliners
The Civil Wars (Joy Williams and John Paul White) was a duo that, unfortunately, broke up this year, leaving their fans longing for their lovely harmonies. But at least they left this rendition of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," which was based on a poem from 1863 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
Can you imagine what a show that was? This performance of "White Christmas" by Charlie Parker isn't from that concert — it was actually recorded a year earlier, on Christmas Day, at the Royal Roost in New York. But it does feature Max Roach on drums.
Sad news out of Texas today: country crooner Ray Price died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 87. Price was a protegé of Hank Williams and then became a mentor to talents such as WIllie Nelson, who once played bass in Price's band. Price also was the first to turn a Nelson song into a hit: "Night Life" in 1963. They would later record a couple of great duet albums: "San Antonio Rose" in 1980 and "Run That By Me One More Time" in 2003. Here's a track from Price's 1969 Christmas album. (And there's a great appreciation of him here.)
Download 05 O Little Town of Bethlehem