Our Songs for this Saturday!!
Simon Kearney ft. Gabrielle Shonk – Jusqu’a Noel
Samara Joy – Warm in December
Grandaddy – It Was a Silent Night At least Until Jeff Lynne Arrived
Jon Pardi – Beer for Santa
Chateaubriand – Notre Dernier Sapin
Bright Eyes and John Prine – Christmas in Prison
Emmy Law – John Denver
Panter Bélico – Un Vaquero En Navidad (A Cowboy At Christmas)
Valley – Christmas Lights
Our Notes for you
Simon Kearney ft. Gabrielle Shonk – Jusqu’a Noel
Simon Kearney is a Quebecois singer-songwriter. He released his first album, “La vie en mauve” in 2015, when he was only 17 years old. Here he is joined by Gabrielle Shonk. Shonk is a Juno nominated performer who we have featured before on Old Fellas. The daughter of an American father and a Québécois mother, Shonk was born in the States but raised in Quebec City. Although fluently bilingual, she writes songs almost entirely in English, which she attributes to having been influenced primarily by Anglophone rather than francophone music. Jusqu’a Noel is a wonderful ballad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApNEDkm8P2c
Some background: https://christmasagogo.blogspot.com/2023/12/simon-kearney-ft-gabrielle-shonk-until.html
Grandaddy – “It Was a Silent Night At Least Until Jeff Lynne Arrived”
Grandaddy is an American band from Modesto, California. The group was formed in 1992, and managed to release four studio albums before splitting in 2006. The band seemed to achieve more recognition in the UK than North America. The band reformed in 2012, made a number of live appearances and released its fifth studio album, Last Place, in March 2017. This is very silly song but nonetheless fun. Bandleader Jason Lytle explains ,”Santa Claus gave me some pretty cool gifts as a kid. But I have to say Jeff Lynne has given me about a million or so more. Here is my little light hearted holiday combo-homage to the two of them.”
This isn’t the first silly mash-up by Grandaddy. In 2000 they released this goofy gem.
Chateaubriand – “Notre Dernier Sapin”
This the second offering from “la belle province” To quote Montreal based Chateaubriand from their band camp page, “Nous sommes un groupe de musique qui aime beaucoup la musique.” Fair enough.
Our last fir tree as far as I can make out, seems to be a song about regret and If the singer takes down his tree, his dreams will end.
This lovely number comes from a Christmas ep Laisse le Sapin Allume. Check the whole thing out here.
Emmy Law – “John Denver”
Emmy Law is an indie pop singer-songwriter based in Nashville. Check out her website. https://emmylawmusic.com/bio/
Law explains the genesis of this wonderful song, “ I started writing it when I was doing some object writing over the summer…found myself writing about my childhood Christmases. One of my high school best friends lost her mom this year and I’m very close to my mom…I was thinking about them when writing it.” The video mimics both the movie Love Actually and Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues”
Valley – “Christmas Lights”
No stranger to this blog , Juno nominated Valley have released a Christmas song. It’s a cover of a Coldplay offering. https://www.universalmusic.ca/press-releases/valley-share-sentimental-reimagining-of-a-coldplay-original-christmas-lights/
The video features childhood footage of the band from winters and Christmases’ past.
Samara Joy
This is a beautiful song, definitely an artist I need to listen to more in the New Year!
some quickly gathered notes:
Samara Joy McLendon[1] (born November 11, 1999) is an American jazz singer. She released her self-titled debut album in 2021 and was subsequently named Best New Artist by JazzTimes. Her second album, Linger Awhile, was released in September 2022, winning the award for Best Jazz Vocal Album and herself for Best New Artist at the 2023 Grammy Awards.
Samara Joy has followed up her major label debut album, Linger Awhile, with a new take on a holiday song, “Warm In December.”
“Warm In December” was originally written by Bob Russell and is relatively unknown and rarely performed by modern artists. The most commonly known recording of it was released by Julie London in 1956, and Joy’s new version provides a refreshing addition to the holiday song cannon.
“I’ll keep you warm in December/Warm when the cold breezes blow,” she sings in her rich tone over double bass, piano and brushed drums. “My arms so lovin’/A kind of oven/To melt the sleet and snow.”
Samara Joy is back with another taste of her forthcoming Verve Records debut Linger Awhile, out September 16, this time reimagining Ronnell Bright’s 1960 tune “Sweet Pumpkin.” She joins a long line of musicians who have tackled the classic track including Bill Henderson, Freda Payne, Gail Wynters, Irene Reid, and more.
“All the songs that I chose for my first album were standards that I’d learned in the previous couple of years when I was in school just gathering material,” Joy told What’s Up Newp in a recent interview. “Now I’m experimenting with some new material, it falls under the same vein of standards, just different ones that maybe people haven’t heard of.”
Jon Pardi – Beer for Santa
another up and coming artist (morte like multiplatinum star) getting stuff out there for Christmas
13 DECEMBER 2023 (TORONTO, ON) – Multi-Platinum singer/songwriter/producer Jon Pardi continues to celebrate a milestone year on the heels of his Grand Ole Opry induction as the first California native ever inducted with the release of his first-ever holiday album, Merry Christmas From Jon Pardi.
Jon Pardi is changing things up this Christmas with his first animated music video – “Beer For Santa.”
“I picked this song because it was just so fun when you heard it and wasn’t like anything I had heard before,” Pardi said. “Literally, wasn’t your typical Christmas cookie-cutter song and a fun one to dance to.”
Jonathan Ryan Pardi (born May 20, 1985) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Capitol Nashville, he has released four studio albums: Write You a Song (2014), California Sunrise (2016), Heartache Medication (2019), and Mr. Saturday Night (2022). Pardi has also charted fourteen singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, of which four have hit number one on the latter: “Head Over Boots“, “Dirt on My Boots“, “Heartache Medication” and “Last Night Lonely“. Pardi’s music style is defined by neotraditional country influences.
In 2023, he gained one of country music’s crowning achievements when he was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
Panter Bélico – Un Vaquero En Navidad (A Cowboy At Christmas)
as I said on the show, it is hard to find out this musician. Even on Wikipedia the information is sparse:
Arturo González Galeno (July 8, 2002), known as Panter Bélico , is a Mexican singer , composer and musician of regional Mexican music . 1 From 2020 to 2023, he was the lead vocalist and accordionist of Grupo Arriesgado. Since then, he has had a solo career.
BUT – I was able to find some material on Spotify. He is a rising star so i will include some of their material on him here.
Just 21 years old, Panter Bélico has become one of the leading lights of the Música Mexicana scene. The former Grupo Arriesgado member broke through as a solo artist earlier this year, topping charts with hits like “LA 701” and “Símbolo Sexual,” along with releasing his debut album, Punto Y Aparte.
For this year’s edition of Spotify Holiday Singles, the rising star took a different approach and contributed an original song: “Un Vaquero En Navidad.”
More on the inspiration for the song and the style of Mexican music Bob asked about during the show.
When they asked me to record an original Christmas corrido, I thought I’d go outside of the traditional and tell a story about something I’m passionate about, which is horses. I imagined being a cowboy at Christmas time, and that’s where the lyrics came from. And with my musicians, we realized that the northern cumbia style was best for the period.
Bright Eyes and John Prine – Christmas in Prison
This is a good story from Pitchfork on this song. Best let them tell it, pretty nice version.
Bright Eyes have shared a new cover of the John Prine song “Christmas in Prison.” Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott’s new rendition features a sample of Prine’s “A John Prine Christmas.”
Proceeds from the song will benefit for the late Prine’s charity, the Hello in There Foundation and its 2023 beneficiaries: the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Porters Call, the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, and Renewal House. They’re also selling a Bright Eyes and John Prine holiday ornament to benefit the foundation.
“It is strange to get a chance to share a track with a hero of mine who has passed on,” Oberst said in a statement. “Normally not something I would do. I don’t like holograms. But I have so much love and affection for John as a person and his music. He really changed my life on a lot of levels. When I heard the sample of him talking about Christmas just put such a big smile on my face and I couldn’t help but want to share it with other people. A little Christmas gift to a stranger. It’s all about John and his beautiful song. But I am happy to sing in the choir. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone all around the world. I wish love and light this season to you and yours.”
Revisit 2020’s “Remembering John Prine, the Ultimate Songwriter’s Songwriter.”
Here are some of the links Bob mentioned on today’s show
https://christmasagogo.blogspot.com/
https://merryandbright.blogspot.com/
Whole-Hearted 
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