JD McPherson’s got a great backstory as a guy from small town Oklahoma who loved playing rock ’n’ roll so much that he finally started touring in his 30s. Fortunately, he’s good at it and has been able to sustain a career since. But that’s not why he’s on “The 12 Songs of Christmas.” In 2018, he recorded Socks!, which is perfect for people who want their Christmas music as schmaltz-free as possible. This week he talks to host Alex Rawls about he solved the problem of how to write Christmas songs with an approach that reveals a deep love of rock ’n’ roll history.
This week, Alex starts a new segment and talks about a song that ought to be part of the Christmas canon, Charlie Rich’s “Santa Claus’ Daughter.” The song went unreleased in 1965 when Rich recorded it, so its obscurity is understandable, but its playfulness is undeniable and Rich’s Elvis-like vocal makes the song sound familiar on first listen.
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"Joyeux Noël, Bon Chrismeusse" from Lafayette with Chas Justus
Peggy Lee with Holly Foster-Wells
Amy Grant's "A Christmas Album" and Patrick Droney
"Do They Know It's Christmas" with Michaelangelo Matos and Flaming Lips' Steven Drozd
George Winston, The Bird and The Bee, The Myrrhderers, and Mento Buru
Calexico, Grant-Lee Phillips, and Peggy Lee
Big Freedia and Kelly Finnigan
Judith Owen and Harry Shearer, and Office Romance
Jim Brickman and the Return of Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips
"Just Like Christmas" with Low
The Goo Goo Dolls and Tori Kelly
"Mele Kalikimaka" with Ana Cristina Cash
Janie Fricke
The Beatles' Christmas Recordings with Jonathan and Julia Pretus of "Ranking the Beatles"
Rhonda Vincent, and Carrie Underwood's "The Gift"
Mega Ran
Christmas Music on the Billboard Charts with Chris Molanphy
"A Jazzy Little Christmas" with Ernie Haase and Signature Sound
"Hard Candy Christmas," with Alexandra Scott
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