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PODCAST

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.

arts performing arts

All Episodes

01:15:15

Sufjan Stevens' "Music for Christmas" with Chris...

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2021/02/10

Last December, listener and Anglican pastor Chris Marchand wrote to tell me about Let Nothing You Dismay--an EP of Christmas music that could serve as a the soundtrack to A Blade Runner Christmas--and a book he wrote, Celebrating The 12 Days of Christmas: A Guide for Churches and Families. While we swapped email, we started talking about Sufjan Stevens' five-CD Music for Christmas. Pitchfork.com reviewed it and contended that the album's plain-spoken embrace of Christianity felt punk in an indie

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36:13

A Latin Ska Christmas with Mento Buru

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2021/02/03

Mento Buru from East Bakersfield, California has played around California's Central Valley since the early 1990s. Bandleader Matt Munoz explains how they, like many bands, have made a living and endured as a regional act. Last Christmas, Mento Buru released the East Bakersfield Christmas EP, which features Christmas classics adapted to suit the band's Latin ska sound. Munoz talks about how and why they made it, along with the two Spanish-language Christmas songs--"Donde Esta Santa Claus" by Augie

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52:02

"Joyeux Noël, Bon Chrismeusse" from Lafayette with...

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2021/01/27

Chas Justus' musical taste ends around 1965, he says, and he has made his living playing in roots music bands in Southern Louisiana--the swing band The Red Stick Ramblers, and more recently in The swamp pop band The Revelers. Last fall, he brought together a number of his musical friends to record Joyeux Noël, Bon Chrismeusse, an EP of classic Christmas songs sung in Cajun French. He talks about how the project came about, and how COVID-19 helped make it possible. Along the way, he turns me on to a

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38:29

Peggy Lee with Holly Foster-Wells

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2021/01/20

Before Christmas, I talked to Holly Foster-Wells, the president of Peggy Lee Associates, about her grandmother, singer Peggy Lee. In the episode that also included conversations with Joey Burns of Calexico and Grant-Lee Phillips, we talked about Lee's Christmas parties and her songwriting, which seemed to be aimed at children more than fans might expect. Today, we resume the conversation to talk more about her songwriting, her role in her career, and the challenges she dealt with as a woman that

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54:42

Amy Grant's "A Christmas Album" and Patrick Droney

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2021/01/13

This week's episode features two very different conversations. First, I talk to Patrick Droney, a Nashville-based guitarist trying to establish himself as an artist who makes soulful contemporary rock music. In October, he released an EP, State of the Heart, and he'll flesh it out with an album-length version this spring. Between those releases, he put out a cover of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" as one of Spotify's Holiday Singles. We talk about covering Mariah and the role the

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01:01:25

"Do They Know It's Christmas" with Michaelangelo...

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2021/01/06

A new year of “12 Songs of Christmas” begins with a discussion of 1984. Music critic and journalist Michaelangelo Matos’ new book, Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year, looks at an amazing year in pop music that culminated with two Christmas classics--"Last Christmas" by Wham! and "Do They Know it's Christmas" by Band Aid. We talk about those songs and fit them into the story that Matos tells of 1984. I interviewed Matos in 2015 when he published his previous book, a history of

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01:26:00

George Winston, The Bird and The Bee, The...

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2020/12/23

I'm ending 2020 with a bang on a number of fronts. First, I have four interviews for the nights before Christmas--"folk pianist" George Winston; singer Inara George of The Bird and The Bee; Jamie Hilsden, who performed this holiday season as The Myrrhderers; and Matt Munoz of the East Bakersfield ska band Mento Buru. The second big news is that there will more in the upcoming months from all of these artists and others I have interviewed this season including Steven Drozd, Grant-Lee Phillips, Joey

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01:01:41

Calexico, Grant-Lee Phillips, and Peggy Lee

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2020/12/16

Christmas is approaching and we have a lot of conversations to get to. This week, I spend time with Joey Burns of Calexico, Grant Lee Phillips, and Holly Foster Wells, singer Peggy Lee's granddaughter and the president of Peggy Lee Associates, which oversees her musical legacy. Calexico released Seasonal Shift in November, and it's true to the band's long-time project as it lives in a place where cultures find ways to coexist. As such, Calexico projects often feel like they have political subtexts,

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01:12:33

Big Freedia and Kelly Finnigan

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2020/12/11

[NOTE: My apologies for the technical issues in this issue. I'm not sure how they happened, but they have been fixed. Thank you for your patience.] Bounce doesn’t seem like a natural pairing with Christmas, but there are a number of artists and producers who have made bounce Christmas music. None have taken to it more prominently or prolifically than New Orleans’ Big Freedia, who will release her second EP of Christmas music, Smoking’ Santa Christmas on Friday. It follows 2016’s A Very Big Freedia

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01:11:28

Judith Owen and Harry Shearer, and Office Romance

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2020/12/03

A packed episode with new Christmas music from Phoebe Bridgers, Nick Lowe with Los Straitjackets, and guitarist Patrick Droney, who covers Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" as part of this season's Spotify Singles. This week I have two interviews. First, I talk to singer Judith Owen and comic actor and satirist Harry Shearer, who have hosted "Christmas Without Tears"--a holiday Christmas party on stage--yearly since 2005. They talk about the event, Christmas music, and their plans to

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01:09:37

Jim Brickman and the Return of Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2020/11/25

This week's episode represents two opposite ends of the musical spectrum--the quieter, romantic sounds of pianist Jim Brickman and the prog-rock power of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Both are associated with Christmas music and have recorded more than their fair share of it, and both were scheduled to be on tour this year during the holiday season. I talk to Brickman about the series of live-streamed shows he will undertake via Zoom starting on November 29 that will in part benefit the venues he was

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58:20

Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2020/11/18

The Flaming Lips have recorded a lot of Christmas music, and Steven Drozd and I talk about why that makes sense for the psychedelic rock band as we talk about their Christmas output. He goes back to the version of “Little Drummer Boy” that they worked out in the van on the way to an in-store in Minneapolis and comes forward to 2019’s cover of David Bowie and Bing Crosby’s “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” and his own “Christmas Snowflakes on the Autobahn,” which he describes as “Kraftwerk meets

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46:06

"Just Like Christmas" with Low

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2020/11/11

The American rock band Low recorded one of the newer contenders for a spot in the Christmas music canon when it cut "Just Like Christmas" for its 1999 EP, Christmas. As Low's Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker reveal, the EP emerged spontaneously, driven in part by wondering whether they could intentionally write a body of Christmas songs. The EP became an important part of the life of the band in a number of ways as it helped to get them attention and money at a time when they needed both. It has

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35:38

The Goo Goo Dolls and Tori Kelly

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2020/11/04

When 2020 started, The Goo Goo Dolls had no plans to record a Christmas album, but it’s November and we have It’s Christmas All Over. Today The Goo Goo Dolls’ John Rzeznik tells the story of the album and talks about his relationship to Christmas music growing up. How do fans of rock ’n’ roll who have been historically suspicious of sentimentality sing such sentimental songs? And how do guys who learned to play by making their own songs handle some of the Christmas classics? It’s Christmas All Over

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35:53

"Mele Kalikimaka" with Ana Cristina Cash

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2020/10/28

Singer Ana Cristina Cash released her album Shine in early 2020 and had prepared to tour and promote it before Coronavirus forced her to change those plans. Instead, the Americana singer and wife of John Carter Cash recorded a cover of “Male Kalikimaka” as a way of going to her and her daughter’s happy place. It was Cash’s second Christmas release in two years; In 2018, she released My Christmas Collection. We talked about both projects, touching on how being a mother and the daughter of

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21:04

Janie Fricke

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2020/10/21

Country singer Janie Fricke's music still sounds like country music, which is rare these days. In late September (when according to Rod Stewart, you really should be back in school), Fricke released A Country Cowgirl Christmas, the first Christmas album in her 43-year recording career. She is now her own label, and she talks about the whole project is based out of her Texas ranch, from figuring out what songs to do at the dinner table to filling CD orders in her home office. Along the way, she

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01:24:49

The Beatles' Christmas Recordings with Jonathan and...

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2020/10/14

The first crossover episode for "12 Songs"! Sooner or later, it happens to every podcast. In this case, I'm talking to husband and wife team Jonathan and Julia Pretus, who host the "Ranking the Beatles" podcast, which ranks Beatles songs, working from the bottom up. Jonathan appeared on "12 Songs" last year to defend Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime," and this week he and Julia help break down The Beatles' annual fan club-only Christmas messages, which range from the relatively

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44:40

Rhonda Vincent, and Carrie Underwood's "The Gift"

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2020/10/07

Before our conversation, bluegrass musician Rhonda Vincent never thought about the lack of Christmas music in her house growing up. She played in her family band, The Sally Mountain Show, but they didn't play Christmas music onstage or at home. Vincent chews on that with Alex Rawls while talking about the ideas behind her two Christmas albums, Beautiful Star (2006) and Christmas Time (2015), and her upcoming residency in Branson, Missouri, "Christmas in Branson." She talks about the challenges posed

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38:57

Mega Ran

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2020/09/30

Rapper Mega Ran recorded A Very Random Christmas in 2011, then updated in in subsequent years to make it what he calls "a living album." In our conversation, he talks about how A Charlie Brown Christmas inspired the album, and how the project emerged from a desire to fill the Christmas hip-hop void. As a part of the conversation, we talked about the sketchy history of Christmas hip-hop including OutKast's "Player's Ball" and Jeremih and Chance the Rapper's Merry Christmas, Lil' Mama, and the songs

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01:02:35

Christmas Music on the Billboard Charts with Chris...

Twelve Songs of Christmas ·

2020/09/23

When singer Eddie Cantor performed "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" near the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1936, people knew it was a hit because of the amount of sheet music sold. Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" returned to the charts so regularly in the years following its initial release in 1942 that he followed it up in 1945 with a similar sentiment in "I'll Be Home for Christmas." Christmas music and the charts have a long history together. Legend has it that Phil Spector, who

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