Artist: Rich Hinman
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “White Christmas”
Album: Christmastown
In Their Words: “The songs on Christmastown originally came from a holiday show I played with David Piltch and Barbara Gruska at 1642 in LA in December 2019. We had a few hours to fill, and initially my impulse was to find lesser-known Christmas songs to explore — but overwhelmingly the ones that stuck out, that were the most fun to play, were songs that literally everybody knows. It was easy to feel connected to material I’d been hearing since I was a child. We made the record over two sessions, four days total, in 2021 and 2022 at Barbara’s studio and at Lucy’s Meat Market, a familiar spot in Los Angeles; we worked fast so as not to overthink or get bogged down in anything. ‘White Christmas’ was recorded at Barbara’s place in 2021; I slid a piece of foam under the bridge of my pedal steel to get the muted sound you’re hearing. Overall, it was hard to sound bad playing an Irving Berlin song with David and Barbara.” — Rich Hinman
