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Stubbys House of Christmas

LEO SAYER - HAPPY CHRISTMAS (WAR IS OVER)

8/20/2011

70's pop star Leo Sayer has just finished recording a track for the annual Myer's Christmas collection. The Myer "Spirit Of Christmas" charity albums are an annual event in Australia, where Sayer has lived since 2005, but are generally only available in this country on the secondary market via eBay or the like (here's our look at last year's). Sayer, who first came to prominence in America as the writer of the Three Dog Night hit "The Show Must Go On", followed with a decade of hits of his own including the #1 disco single "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" and the Albert Hammond penned ballad "When I Need You". Now 63, Sayer is still singing and dancing up a storm down under where he's been on tour since March.

I'm unaware of any previous Christmas or holiday themed recordings from Sayer. However, we do have this 2009 performance from Australia's annual "Carols In The Domain" event and broadcast.

NOT JUST FIDDLING AROUND

8/19/2011

Few artists in any field are as highly regarded as Mark O'Connor. Winner of the Grand Masters Fiddle Championship at the age of 13, National Flatpick Guitar Champion at 14, and World Mandolin Champion at 19, O'Connor has conquered the worlds of folk, country, bluegrass, jazz, and classical music--winning a pair of Grammy awards along the way.

Now 50 years old, O'Connor has decided the time has come to put his considerable talents into creating a one-of-a-kind Christmas album--an album that should please his fans in all genres. Not that O'Connor hasn't dabbled. Mark's rendition of "Sleigh Ride", recorded for the Warner Brothers 1987 collection "A Christmas Tradition", has long been a staple of my holiday seasons. A few years later, he gave Warner another gem with his recording of "What Child Is This". And in 1993, Mark lent his fiddle to "The Night Before Christmas" featuring actress Meryl Streep. And he's turned up more than a few times on other folks' Christmas efforts.

"An Appalachian Christmas" not only features the brilliant artistry of Mark O'Connor, he brought friends! Joining O'Connor on this holiday outing are such luminaries as Renee Fleming, Alison Krauss, James Taylor, Steve Wariner, Jane Monheit, and Yo-Yo Ma on songs both old and new.

"An Appalachian Christmas" is scheduled to be released on September 20.

The Christmas Song
Away In A Manger
O Christmas Tree
Sleigh Ride
Ol' Blue
Carol Of The Bells
Slumber My Darlin'
Cherry Tree Carol
Winter Wonderland
We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Amazing Grace
One Winter's Night
Now It Belongs To You
What Child Is This
Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring
Appalachia Waltz

CASCADA CHRISTMAS?

8/18/2011

Rumors are growing louder that German dance trio Cascada is taking the plunge and recording a Christmas album for either later this year or next. The rumors primarily stem from Tweets from lead singer Natalie Horler in which she continually references Christmas. One such Tweet on Monday read:

"in the studio again with yann today...meeeerry christmas hahahahhahaa"

In another, the singer Tweeted a picture of a microphone decked out in Christmas lights. In a video posted to the Cascada Facebook site, Natalie says that she's been in the studio and "we've been singing Christmas songs."

In addition to Natalie, Cascada includes Yanou (a DJ and producer) and DJ Manian. Beginning in Europe, Cascada developed a worldwide following via Internet sites such as MySpace and YouTube. To date, the group has sold over 20 million albums and over 15 million downloads. Their biggest club hits include "Evacuate The Dancefloor", "Miracle", and "Everytime We Touch" (the latter reaching the American Top Ten). Cascada has been far more successful in Europe than stateside, but maintains a loyal fanbase here. Their latest album "Original Me" has sold well in Germany and the UK, but has yet to be given a US release date.

Back in 2007, Cascada released their only Christmas song to date--a dance version of Wham's "Last Christmas".

NEW READS

8/17/2011

Very pleased about a couple of new posts today.

First, on our Free List, is an exciting new singer from Seattle. Tess Henley is an amazing young vocalist with soul to spare and her 2010 holiday single "Christmas Won't Do Without You" should not be missed.

And we have a new entry on our Essentials page! I never wanted that page to be about the obvious. I mean, you know, "White Christmas". Duh. (Not that I won't stoop to stating the obvious sooner or later). I think our new addition fits perfectly the idea I had for that page. So bop on over and read about why you absolutely must own "The American Song-Poem Christmas" aka "Daddy, Is Santa Really Six-Foot-Four?".

THE HIGH HOLIDAYS ARE COMING

8/16/2011

The Jewish High Holidays are the days which encompass Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur--from Jewish New Year to the Day of Atonement--the Days of Awe. These days are days of meditation, repentance and making amends. Yom Kippur is considered the holiest day on the Jewish calendar and many fast and abstain from all pleasure on that day. This year, Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on September 28. You Kippur begins at sundown on October 7.

The month preceding the High Holidays is a time of preparation and is called Elul.

Marking all of this, we feature something of a Jewish theme today here at Stubby's. Check the previews page for the latest effort from Meshugga Beach Party, "Hot Rod Hanukkah" and you'll find the lead item on the Free List today is another Hanukkah disc. But there's another album that I wanted to feature here that relates directly to the month of Elul.

It is customary in the tradition of many Jewish people to begin each morning of Elul with a special prayer or recitation before sunrise. These are generally prayers of penitence or lessons of repentance. In recent years, Craig Taubman (maker of a great reservoir of Chanukah music and music for other Jewish occasions) has offered daily "Jewels Of Elul". This will be the 7th year for the "Jewels of Elul" and you can sign up free to have these jewels delivered directly to your inbox beginning August 30.

Additionally, this year, Taubman's label--Craig N Company--will release the album "Jewels, Volume 1". So far, it appears this will be a digital-only release. Some, but not all, of the tracks are previously released.
AMAZON MP3
1. Avraham......Basya Schechter
2. L'Dor Vador......Josh Nelson
3. Hayom......Naomi Less
4. B'rosh Hashana......Craig Taubman with Alberto Mizrah
5. L'Dor Vador......Craig Taubman
6. Someday......Michelle Citrin
7. V'al Kulam......Craig Taubman
8. Shema Coaleinu......Saul Kaye
9. Eliyahu Hanavi......David Broza
10. Holy Ground......Craig Taubman
11. Home Tonight......Ari Herstand
12. Karev Tov......Mare Winningham
13. Im Ain Ani Li......Craig Taubman with Jared & Justin Stein
14. Rise Up......Craig Taubman & Rich Munchow

Taubman's collection is certainly not the first album of music celebrating Rosh Hashanah and the High Holidays. Like Chanukah music, however, it has only been recently that artists have dared to create original music for this holy period and more modern arrangements have been tried with traditional songs. Michelle Citrin, for example, whose "Someday" graces the Taubman collection, released what I view as a sweet pop number back in 2008, "I Gotta Love You Rosh Hashanah (Rosh Hashanah Girl)" (the melody is the same one pop culture followers may remember from Obama Girl's "I've Got A Crush On Obama"). And the Jewish Jazz movement that peaked about 2003 saw the creation of perhaps the finest Rosh Hashanah Jazz album to date--"The Days Of Awe" featuring David Chevan, Frank London and the Afro-Semetic Experience.

Finding more contemporary music appropriate for the month of Elul, for those of us not fluent in Hebrew, can be accomplished (or at least begun) by searching artists who regularly perform Jewish music and some of the song titles above. In doing so, you'd find that the late Debbie Friedman recorded several of these songs and that there are several contemporary versions of "B'rosh Hashanah" and "L'Dor Vador", including one of the latter by a cappella group Six13. In the process, you'd likely discover that there's a lot of wonderful music to be explored, here, regardless of any holiday involved. Saul Kaye, for example, is one of the best Blues artists I've heard and it matters not a bit that the focus of his recent work has been Jewish heritage. Melody Horowitz described Saul Kaye as "the Robert Johnson of Jewish Blues" and I find it hard to argue. I just wish he were more prolific.

I think some of the finest music being made today is in the genre of Judaica. And, in that regard, I would be remiss if I did not pay my respects to J*Dub records, which is sadly ceasing operations after nearly a decade. It is thanks to J*Dub that I discovered such artists as The Sway Machinery, Girls In Trouble, and The Macaroons. I am forever in their debt. For a sampling of some of the artists from the J*Dub stable, I heartily recommend "Jewltide", which was a Chanukah/Christmastime sampler (although it technically contains only one seasonal track).

"Jewels, Volume 1" is scheduled to be released August 29.

BILLY GRAMMER (1925 - 2011)

8/14/2011

The best epitaph for Billy Grammer can be found in the liner notes of one of his albums: "[H]e is a better man than he is a musician, and that's saying something." (Fred Foster, President, Monument Records). Billy died in the early hours of August 10, eighteen days shy of his 86th birthday.

Billy Grammer was born on an Illinois farm in 1925, the oldest of 13 children. Music was often the glue that held poor farming families together and so it was with Billy's. His father played the fiddle. Billy picked up the guitar and learned to play his first song at the age of 4. It soon became clear that Grammer had a musician's ear and a natural rhythm. Throughout his youth, Billy was called upon often to play square dances and other occasions. After graduation, he served in WWII in the army and, later, worked at the Washington Naval gun factory. When the war ended, Billy and pretty much everyone else at the factory were laid off.

Grammer eventually managed to score a position with Connie B. Gay, a country disc jockey and promoter in Virginia. This was Billy's entre into the music business. In addition to singing and playing on the radio, he also got to work with such Opry favorites as Grandpa Jones, T. Texas Tyler, and Clyde Moody. Grammer cut a few sides for the Plaza record label in 1949, but the records didn't sell all that well. A few years later, he was signed to be part of the band for Jimmy Dean's television show.

When the show ended, Billy put together his own band. At about the same time, a young songwriter and ABC Records promotion man named Fred Foster was sinking his life savings into a new record label. The very first record on the new Monument imprint was Billy Grammer's "Gotta Travel On" in 1958. The record scored a hat trick, reaching number 4 on the Pop charts, number 5 Country, and even climbing to number 14 on the R&B charts.

Grammer never matched the success of that first hit single. Still, he did produce a few memorable singles such as "Bonaparte's Retreat", "I Wanna Go Home" and "Jesus Is A Soul Man". Billy's albums display a far greater range of talent, from inspired Gospel singing to some of the most skillful guitar playing this side of Chet Atkins. In his time, Billy Grammer was something of a rarity--a singer who was also a great guitar player. He even designed and marketed his own line of flat-top guitars. The Grammer Guitar was considered the finest flat-top guitar of its time and was played by artists ranging from Johnny Cash to Rolling Stone Mick Taylor. Billy's most recently released recording was "Turkey Texas Blues", an original song he wrote for the Bob Wills' 100th Anniversary tribute album released in 2005.

Outside of a couple of post-fame releases from 1985 and 2000 and a Greatest Hits collection, Billy Grammer's recorded legacy remains unavailable digitally or on CD. That includes Billy's contribution to the holiday season, 1977's "Christmas Guitars".

JANI LANE (1964 - 2011)

Jani Lane, the former lead singer of 90s Hair Metal band Warrant and author of their biggest hit single "Cherry Pie", was found dead in a California hotel room on August 11. Cause of death was not immediately known and preliminary autopsy reports were inconclusive. However, Lane's older sister believes Jani lost his ten year battle with alcoholism and TMZ reported that prescription drugs and a half-empty bottle of vodka were found in the singer's room. Lane was 47 years old.

Warrant was formed in Los Angeles in 1984 and Lane joined the group in 1986. Their style was typical of the L.A. Hair Metal bands of the day, but they were good enough to get signed by Columbia records in 1988. Their debut album "Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich" was hugely successful and included the power ballad "Heaven" which rose all the way to #2 on Billboard's Hot 100. The band's next effort, "Cherry Pie", sold huge numbers with the help of a suggestive MTV video. However, the MTV video proved to be a double-edged sword as many began to view Warrant as something of a novelty act. Lane soon left the band, though he rejoined it shortly (only to leave again later), and that set off a cascade of membership changes. Toss the beginning of the Grunge movement into the mix and Warrant was soon commercially irrelevant. More recently, Lane was working on a solo career and a side project called Saints of The Underground that included the 2008 release "Love The Sin Hate The Sinner". He was also battling his personal demons as demonstrated by a string of DUI arrests in recent years.

Jani Lane did provide the vocals for Warrant's lone contribution to the festive season, a rendering of the Kinks' "Father Christmas" which was included on the 2003 collection "We Wish You A Hairy Christmas".

MARSHALL GRANT (1928 - 2011)

photo by Nancy Jacobs

The last half of Johnny Cash's original backing band The Tennessee Two passed on August 7. The cause of death was reported to be an aneurism. Marshall Grant was 83 years old.

Marshall Grant was Cash's original bass player, providing the distinctive "boom chicka boom" backing to hits like "Ring Of Fire" and "I Walk The Line". In spite of arguments over Cash's drug use and money issues that led to Grant being fired in 1980, the two men were close and Grant was helping to put on the Johnny Cash Festival (raising money to restore and preserve the Cash family home) at the time of his death. After leaving Cash's band, Grant went on to manage the Statler Brothers until they retired in 2002. Luther Perkins, the other half of The Tennessee Two, died in 1968.

Grant's memoir, I Was There When It Happened: My Life With Johnny Cash, was published 1n 2006.

MILDRED DEL RUBIO (1921 - 2011)

Milly Del Rubio, the last surviving member of The Del Rubio Triplets, died of respiratory failure following a bout with pneumonia on July 21. She was 89.

They were born the Ward triplets in the Panama Canal Zone and raised in Washington DC. "Even though we didn't have any talent," Milly told People magazine in 1988, "we knew we wanted to be in show business." So they bought guitars, dyed their hair blond and renamed themselves the Del Rubio Triplets. To hear them tell it, they spent the next several years working clubs overseas. They briefly stopped performing after their mother died, but eventually the bug got them once again and they began performing in hospitals and such in the seventies. By 1979, they were working lounges and clubs again and, in 1985, they were "discovered" by songwriter Allee Willis who began presenting them at her parties.

The Del Rubio Triplets found their success late in life. But, for about ten years, they were very much in demand, appearing on countless television shows and selling their share of albums. Their "act" was a little bizarre--three women in their sixties wearing short skirts and singing everything from Nat King Cole to the Rolling Stones--but they were so utterly charming that most everyone found them irresistible.

After Eadie died in 1996, the Del Rubios ceased performing. As Willis noted, "They always said to me that they were one person with three heads and that was completely true. They were completely dysfunctional without the other." When Elena died in 2001, Milly was left alone and she never completely recovered from the loss of her sisters.

Although their biggest "hit" was a cover of Devo's "Whip It", the Del Rubio Triplets may best be remembered for their appearance on Pee Wee Herman's Christmas special in 1988. A full album of Christmas songs, "Jingle Belles", followed in 1991.

CHRISTMAS CAILLAT

8/12/2011

The latest big name artist to hit the holiday release schedule is none other than that sweet songbird Colbie Caillat, whose "Christmas Album" is penciled in for a November 8 release on the Universal Music schedule.

Colbie's third and most recent album, "All Of You", was released last month, debuting at #6 on Billboard's album charts. Her sophomore effort, "Breakthrough", went all the way to #1.

Colbie's naturally warm and laidback style should be a perfect fit for the holidays, as she more than demonstrated with her 2007 holiday single "Mistletoe" and on her 2009 recording of the standard "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", made for the Special Olympics charity effort "A Very Special Christmas 7". At the time of the latter recording, Colbie also recorded the Beach Boys "Merry Christmas Baby" because "something may just come up" but, to the best of my knowledge, that track was never released. Colbie told Billboard at the time that she and "Mistletoe" co-writer Stacy Blue were planning to write some new original Christmas songs as well.

Last year, Colbie teased us with a brief holiday song promoting ABC Family's annual 25 Days of Christmas programming. Personally, I hope "Christmas Album" will feature a full-length fleshed out version of the song (you know, without the "ABC Family" plug at the end), because I thoroughly enjoyed it.

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION!

8/11/2011

As originally reported at The Yule Log, Guild Music in the UK has dropped what is likely to be this year's finest collection or reissue from Christmas music's golden age. "Christmas Celebration" contains a splendidly sweet dessert buffet of truly beautiful holiday music from artists like Percy Faith, Billy Vaughn, and George Melachrino, including half of Faith's long out-of-print "Music Of Christmas, Volume 2" (aka "Hallelujah") from 1958. 30 tracks in all (22 of them out-of-print) and an affordable price tag to boot. If you absolutely can't wait, "Christmas Celebration" is available today as an Import from Guild Music, but it should turn up at our domestic online retail sites in time for Christmas. With many labels dropping out of the seasonal reissue market altogether, this is a special holiday treat for Christmas music collectors everywhere. Our thanks, again, to The Yule Log and especially to Guild Music.

1. Jingle Bells......BILLY VAUGHN
2. We Three Kings Of Orient Are......PERCY FAITH
3. Hark The Herald Angels Sing......BILLY VAUGHN
4. Good King Wenceslas......GEORGE MELACHRINO PURCHASE FROM GUILD MUSIC
5. Snowfall......WALLY STOTT
6. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer......ARTHUR FIEDLER/BOSTON POPS
7. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus......GEORGE MELACHRINO
8. White Christmas......BILLY VAUGHN
9. The First Noel......PERCY FAITH
10. Joy To The World......BILLY VAUGHN
11. Nazareth......MANTOVANI
12. Adeste Fideles......BILLY VAUGHN
13. Deck The Hall With Boughs Of Holly......BILLY VAUGHN
14. Sleigh Ride......ARTHUR FIEDLER/BOSTON POPS
15. Fairy On The Christmas Tree......GEORGE MELACHRINO
16. Winter Wonderland......ARTHUR FIEDLER/BOSTON POPS
17. Christmas Sleigh Bells......WALLY STOTT
18. Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town......ARTHUR FIEDLER/BOSTON POPS
19. Christmas Alphabet......GEORGE MELACHRINO
20. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen......GEORGE MELACHRINO
21. Carol Of The Bells......PERCY FAITH
22. Silent Night, Holy Night......PERCY FAITH
23. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear......BILLY VAUGHN
24. I Saw Three Ships......PERCY FAITH
25. O Little Town Of Bethlehem......BILLY VAUGHN
26. Angels From The Realms Of Glory......PERCY FAITH
27. Christians, Awake!......PERCY FAITH
28. O Tannenbaum (O Christmas Tree)......PERCY FAITH
29. The Skaters’ Waltz......MANTOVANI
30. Hallelujah Chorus......PERCY FAITH

Somehow Christmas isn’t the same without Festive Music, whether traditional carols or the appealing popular melodies dreamed up by composers who know how to tear at our nostalgic heartstrings. Both categories can be found in abundance in this collection, which offers tasteful orchestral settings of some of the best known carols from various countries alongside the catchy novelties that make Christmas such a happy time of the year. In the hands of the top arrangers and orchestras assembled on this CD, there is every chance that the discerning listener will discover some new sounds that add a welcome vibrancy to old, familiar friends. The six conductors performing the music for our enjoyment were among the most famous in the world towards the end of the 1950s, when these stereo recordings were made. Billy Vaughn, Percy Faith, George Melachrino, Mantovani, Angela Morley and Arthur Fiedler with his famous Boston 'Pops' combine to make this one of the finest orchestral Christmas collections ever.

MUMFORD & SONS - COME, THOU FONT OF EVERY BLESSING

8/11/2011

Now that She & Him will be bringing the jingle (and, heck, next year, Meat Loaf), I was thinking about who else on my wish list might surprise us this year. I'm thinking...maybe these guys. Here's Mumford & Sons, borrowing a Sufjan Stevens arrangement, with a 2008 performance of "Come, Thou Font Of Every Blessing".

MICHAEL BUBLE'S "CHRISTMAS" COVER

8/10/2011

Everybody say "Ooh! Aahh!"