The songs on "Communist Daughter Sing Sad Christmas" are all covers. In addition to "Blue Spruce Needles", there's Joni Mitchell's "River", "Fairytale Of New York", and a song the Stanley Brothers recorded about a real life North Carolina tragedy, "The Lawson Family Murders". Solomon told City Pages recently that people have always asked the group to record a Christmas song, but he didn't want some smarmy, happy piece of cotton candy fluff that is so completely at odds with the music the band usually does. But, after finishing the recording of their next album early, they had some studio time left and decided to lay down a few sad Christmas tunes--tunes that fit what Communist Daughter usually do. And, Solomon says, he plans to record a few more every couple of years.
Solomon's had a storied and rough life, suffering through addiction and jail. He walked away from music entirely, once, ending the band Friends Like These. But, after rehab, he and wife/bandmate Molly Moore decided there was still music left in them. And so Communist Daughter was born. He says that Christmas is all joy and wonder when you're young, but, as you get older, Christmas is more complicated because it comes with all the consequences of your life decisions and you have to face those alone.
Christmas Underground already featured "Blue Spruce Needles", so you can head there to preview that one. That leaves me with the only other track available for preview--"Fairytale Of New York"--and I can't say I feel too broken up about that. Look for the EP on Amazon and other digital outlets on the 18th or 19th and enjoy the sadness.