1. Christmas in the County by Miss Emily 2. County Full of Christmas by Justin Rutledge 3. In the Snow by Kashka 4. Roses on Christmas by David James Allen 5. Simple Christmas by Lori Farrington 6. Crush Some Egg Nogs by Annelise Noronha 7. Something Bout the Holidays by Grace Bongard 8. Home for Christmas by Norris & Jones 9. Love Is All There Is by Siobhan Bodrug and Brent Bodrug 10. Christmas Bells by Lenni Stewart |
I bought the album based upon my history with the Zunior themed comps and was expecting, you know, Great Lake Swimmers and The Burning Hell (I love The Burning Hell) or at least that kind of music. But "Christmas In The County 2018" is largely Alt Country and Alt Folk. It's very good Alt Country and Alt Folk. But the expectations killed me. I listened to it 3 or 4 times and couldn't get past that to be fair to these people. Intellectually, I could tell you that David James Allen's "Roses On Christmas" is some damn fine Alt Country. One of these days, I'm going to be looking for something like that and I'll know just where to go. But, emotionally, I couldn't connect because that's not what I was expecting and not what I was looking for right now.
In the second half, we get a little Electro Pop and Alt Pop. But, in the end, I only connected to two songs, because those two songs could have been on a Zunior theme comp. The Norris & Jones track above, "Home For Christmas", is essentially Alt Folk or Alt Country, but it's the type of song that would sound great in any surroundings.
And then there was the one song with at least a bit of edge...Annelise Noronha's "Crush Some Egg Nogs". Now THAT song, I could definitely see on the old Zunior comps. Technically, Annelise is considered a Pop/Rock artist, but the song has edge (and sleigh bells). It's about a woman who discovers, at Christmas time, her boyfriend was cheating on her. So when she says she's gonna "Crush Some Egg Nogs", she intends to get drunk and cheat on him right back. Now that's the kind of holiday spirit I was looking for!
I do cast a wide net, here, so if you're someone who is searching for fresh Alt Country and Alt Folk, there's some great stuff on "Christmas In The County 2018", which is a charity effort. I just apologize that my differing expectations prevent me from giving these folks a fair shake. But, now that you know it exists (and you've heard that lovely tune from Norris & Jones), please check it out for yourself. You know, the old Zunior comps were never available on Amazon and weren't available on a track by track basis. "Christmas In The County 2018" IS on Amazon and you can buy a la carte. So you got that going for you...which is nice.
But for those of you who were looking for a little edge, here's "Crush Some Egg Nogs" from Annalise Noronha.