For many, Nelson is the answer to a trivia question: What twin blonde guitar-playing brothers had a hit in 1990 with “Love and Affection”? Matthew Nelson acknowledges that his profile isn’t what it once was this week on “The 12 Songs of Christmas,” where he talks about This Christmas and This Christmas Too, companion albums that were released in 2015 and 2016. Each features the songs with a mix of vocal and instrumental tracks; songs that feature vocals on one album are instrumentals on the other, and vice versa.
Matthew Nelson and his brother Gunnar are third generation in their family in the public limelight after their father, singer Ricky Nelson, and their grandparents Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, who had their own sitcom Ozzie and Harriet from 1952 to 1966. Matthew remembers Christmases with his family and talks about how he and Gunnar came to make not one but two Christmas albums, and why he considers “Blue Christmas” the hardest Christmas song to cover.
The albums became part of a plan to do Christmas shows each year, and this year their Christmas tour starts on November 23 and runs through December 21. Go to their website for tour dates and tickets.
After that conversation, host Alex Rawls talks about The Molly Burch Christmas Album by indie singer/songwriter Molly Burch. The new album is Burch’s third, and Rawls reviews it, talking about how it fits into her body of work and some of the smart musical choices she makes on the album. We also hear her unusual take on “Last Christmas” by Wham!
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Pink Martini
Jimbo Mathus of Squirrel Nut Zippers
Johnny Mathis
Lowland Hum
Scott McCaughey of The Minus 5
Darling West
The 179 Days of Christmas
Los Straitjackets, and The Band's "Christmas Must Be Tonight"
Chris Butler of The Waitresses
Rodney Crowell and Flow Tribe
PJ Morton, and "All I Want for Christmas is You"
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Kristin Chambers and Mars Williams
Delicate Steve, and Outkast's "Player's Ball"
Wizards of Winter, and Faith Hill's "A Baby Changes Everything"
The Sultans of String and The Carpenters' "Merry Christmas Darling"
Robert Earl Keen
Michael Cerveris and Kimberly Kaye of Loose Cattle
Ben Schenck of the Panorama Jazz Band
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