I was just alerted (by poster Noma Lights at The Fa) to the fact that Carole King is working on a Christmas record. This really shouldn't have come as a surprise to me, though, as King was rumored to be working on such a project as far back as November. The album is apparently being produced by Niko Bolas, the guiding hand behind such efforts as Neil Young's "This Note's For You", Warren Zevon's "Sentimental Hygiene", and Melissa Etheridge's eponymous debut. Carole King, of course, is most famous for the album "Tapestry", which held a chart position for an amazing 305 consecutive weeks in the seventies. Prior to that, her song writing credits included a host of hits and standards, such as "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?", "One Fine Day", "The Loco-Motion", "Pleasant Valley Sunday", and "Up On The Roof".
Carole's long career and previous associations suggest we may get a guest artist or two (James Taylor, perhaps?), but that's just me spitballing. The November rumors did indicate that the album would include at least one Hanukkah song. Several years back, King released the single "Love For Christmas", which can currently be found on the 2-CD set "Love Makes The World".
Carole's long career and previous associations suggest we may get a guest artist or two (James Taylor, perhaps?), but that's just me spitballing. The November rumors did indicate that the album would include at least one Hanukkah song. Several years back, King released the single "Love For Christmas", which can currently be found on the 2-CD set "Love Makes The World".
Grammy Award winning Country singer David Ball is also planning a holiday album. Ball, whose 1994 debut "Thinkin' Problem" was certified platinum, won the Grammy for his recording of "Old Folks At Home (Swanee River)", included on "Beautiful Dreamer", a various artists tribute album to the songs of Stephen Foster. The Christmas album will feature a good deal of original material and a few holiday favorites and is expected to be released in November.
Josh Caterer, the lead singer for Chicago's legendary Smoking Popes, says he is working on a solo Christmas album which he expects to release later this year. The Popes, whose heyday was back in the nineties, have just released the new CD, "This Is Only A Test". The Popes music is generally described as punk-influenced pop. The Smoking Popes issued a promotional holiday single in 1997, "Egg Nog", which featured their version of "O Holy Night". Josh Caterer also lead the Christian rock band Duvall on their 2004 CD "O Holy Night", an excellent and too frequently overlooked Christmas album. No word on whether Caterer's solo effort will include "O Holy Night", but you have to think it just might.
The rock group Milkshake, whose music is targeted mostly to kids, show up on the release schedule with a holiday album slated for late fall. Milkshake was formed by Lisa Mathews and Mikel Gehl of the group Love Riot after they both became parents. They wanted to make music that their kids would enjoy but couldn't help but bring their rock music roots to the project. With 4 albums released to date and at least one Grammy nomination, Milkshake has been a tremendous hit with kids and parents alike. It'll be interesting to see what they can come up with on a holiday themed outing.
Finally, today, here's another chance to be a big time patron of the arts and you can get in on the action for as little as a dollar. Folk pop singers Keri Taylor and James Beauregard are hoping to put out a Christmas album and they're raising money through Kickstarter. The songs Keri & Beau have started with are originals based on passages from the book of Luke. And you'll find a demo version of "Merry Christmas" here, and another demo for the song "Mary" here. The visitors to Stubby's Christmas were very helpful to Sam Billen last year with his Kickstarter Christmas album (you can still get Sam and Josh Atkinson's "A Word Of Encouragement" free at Bandcamp and we'll check in with him later to see what he's planning for 2011) and there's no reason we can't kick in a few bucks for Keri & Beau, right? They've got a little over a month to go and a lot of money to raise. And there are, as usual, plenty of incentives for the backers.
RSS Feed
