Calexico

In December, I had more good interviews than I had time for, so I ran episodes that featured excerpts from conversations with a number of artists. One such musician was Joey Burns of Calexico. Calexico released Seasonal Shift in time for last Christmas, and last December I ran the part of our conversation about their version of "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" and the political significance that Calexico's music has taken on. 

This week, I'm returning to that conversation, which again ranges wildly from talking about their musical guests, their method, and their musical default settings (which aren't what you might expect.)

Unfortunately, it sounds like someone is stacking poker chips throughout the interview. That sound wasn't audible when I talked to Burns, but it showed up on the recording for the first and only time so far. I wish it wasn't there, but since the alternatives were use the recording or don't, I went with it. I didn't find it too distracting; if you do, sorry. I wish it wasn't there either. 

This episode also shines a spotlight on an album I consider to be a good but not great Christmas album: The Beach Boys' Christmas Album from 1964. I generally consider Christmas music to be a singles or playlist medium, but The Beach Boys' Christmas Album gets a lot of love. It deserves the praise it gets on the strength of a handful of songs, but the version of "Blue Christmas" illustrates some real problems that The Beach Boys just couldn't overcome.