Artist:Nicki Bluhm Song: “Everyone’s Getting Love for Christmas” Album:Buon Natale EP
In Their Words: “This song felt very fitting for Christmas 2020. With so many out of work, spending money on gifts just isn’t in the cards for some. The silver lining is gratitude — gratitude for the things and people in our lives that money cannot buy. With the help of my Nashville friends and neighbors AJ Croce and Scot Sax, director/producer Jesse Noah Wilson and Todd Sherwood (owner of The 5 Spot in East Nashville who warmly opened his venue doors), we were able to shoot this all-too-real seasonal video.” — Nicki Bluhm
Artist:Tommy Emmanuel Album:Live! Christmas Time Song: “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” Release Date: December 4, 2020
In Their Words: “This live Christmas album was recorded at The Big Room at the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico, California, which is the same place I filmed and recorded my album, Center Stage. That room just has some mojo for me. When I listen to this recording, I hear the joy, soul, and fun we had at that show. Christmas music is so joyous to me and I feel we rose to the occasion that night. I’ve always felt a connection to the song ‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas.’ It just speaks to the heart, especially to anyone who travels for a living. Annie Sellick’s singing is just beautiful on that song. ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘Guitar Boogie’ are also standout tracks for me. Pat Bergeson’s harmonica playing seems to push me to another level.” — Tommy Emmanuel, CGP
Artist:Liz Longley Album:A Little Magic EP Song: “Feels Like Christmas” Release Date: December 4, 2020
In Their Words: “‘Feels Like Christmas’ is about embracing the beauty in the messiness of the holidays. Kids might be extra rowdy, the presents might not be wrapped, there may not be any sign of snow, but time with the ones you love is all that really matters. With a year like we’ve had, togetherness is what we’re all craving right now. When we can safely gather again, I believe it will be all the more special. Until then, I hope this song reminds people of the best parts of the holidays.” — Liz Longley
Christmas is upon us, and we’ve been loving the roots-centric holiday music we’ve been able to share with our December BGS Wraps series thus far! This week we bring you some holly (yet not always jolly) holiday tunes to keep you warm through this weird season – on brand for 2020! – along with some new bluegrass and roots music to be enjoyed year-round. Remember to check back in every Monday for a new episode of the BGS Radio Hour!
This week on BGS we’ve got plenty of wraps. Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, one of the youngest blues players on the scene today, is here to start us off with a new Christmas-inspired blues number.
Australia-born and Colorado-based guitarist Mark Harris is one of few who have been able to redefine the six-string, flat-top guitar in roots music. His new album, Old Time Guitar, is a reconfiguration of old-time classics for solo guitar. This week, Harris brings us “Lost Girl.”
From her new Christmas Anyway EP, Heather Maloney brings us the message that what makes the holidays meaningful isn’t dependent on circumstance. Rather, our holidays are made much more special by our own choices, our gestures of kindness, and how we deal with said uncontrollable life circumstances.
December 2020 Artist of the Month Sister Sadie brings us another song this week from their 2018 release, Sister Sadie II. The all female, hard-driving bluegrass band racked up an impressive sampling of IBMA awards this year. We’re covering them all month long, so stay tuned! (You can read our #AOTM interview here!)
From their new album Principium, “Fall: War” is the most intense of The Arcadian Wild’s 4-song movement. Like it did for so many artists, 2020 provided the Nashville band with an opportunity to dust off some old songs. This week, they bring us the result.
There’s no doubt Christmas this year is going to be a difficult one for so many. Anthony D’Amato provides “a good cry” for us all this year, recognizing that we may not be able to see our loved ones this December – or any, for that matter.
Joey Burns of Calexico brings us an Arizona-inspired holiday theme this year, meditating on Dia de Los Muertos, the All Souls Procession, or perhaps even lovers or family members.
We all know some folks with an undying love for Christmas music – Noah Wall, of the Barefoot Movement, is one of them. Citing a 700-song playlist which she narrowed down to a mere 14, Wall and the rest of the band bring us their original contribution to the holiday repertoire.
In 2006, Bruce Molsky redefined a collection of old-time classics on his magnum opus, Soon Be Time. Still as important today as it was at the time of release, the autumnal track “Cider” is a favorite of BGS, and a recent feature on Tunesday Tuesday.
Christmas, and the rest of the holiday season, is a time when many of us, whether purposefully or not, get in touch with our inner child. Through the season’s peace, comfort, and familiarity, the Hello Darlins bring their new Heart in the Snow EP to BGS.
New York’s Coco Reilly is one of our most recent 5+5 guests – that is, 5 songs, 5 questions. She chatted with BGS about the inspirations, songwriting, and the influences behind her new self-titled album.
The shopping sprees, mega light-displays, and commercialism haven’t been as important to many of us this holiday season. Instead, we’re clinging to those things we miss a little extra: family, peace, and the kindness of humanity. In this spirit, von Kampen brings us “A Midwest Christmas.”
Another recent 5+5 guest, Colorado-based Canyon City recently spoke with BGS about cherished memories from the stage, rituals, and a dream meal with a dream musician. This week, he brings us “Purple Horizon.”
To close out this holiday packed Radio Hour, Chandler Holt and Lauren Stovall bring us this instant holiday country classic. The fact that it was left off of the Chatham County Line album it was originally recorded for gave Holt and Stovall the opportunity to sing a wonderful duet, and gift it to us this holiday season.
Photo credit: (L to R) Andrea von Kampen by Letura Idigma; Christone “Kingfish” Ingram by Rory Doyle; The Arcadian Wild by Shelby M’lynn Mick.
Artist:Grant-Lee Phillips Song: “Winterglow” Album:Yuletide EP Release Date: November 13, 2020
In Their Words: “‘Winterglow’ might not have been written if it weren’t for the coaxing of my late father. He urged me to write it some years ago. It’s a song about this season of reflection, family and peace. I tend to turn inward when the nights get long, recalling the passing years — the good memories. That’s the spirit of ‘Winterglow.’ I wrote it around Christmas of 2008, months after our daughter was born, so it’s almost like a treasured ornament that we pull out of the attic each year. The song was recorded in Paul Bryan’s bedroom studio with Paul producing and playing bass. Jay Bellerose played drums and Patrick Warren added some keyboards to my vocal and guitars. A year or so later, I performed ‘Winterglow’ with Aimee Mann on her Christmas tour. The song was featured on the Gilmore Girls in 2016 when I performed it, in my role of the Town Troubadour, for the reunion special.” — Grant-Lee Phillips
In Their Words: “I love Christmas so much, and it’s been a dream come true to track a holiday song. The Band is one of my all-time favorites, and this song is so special to me. I wanted to put a ‘Victoria’ twist on it. My band and I recorded it live around one mic, acoustic, in the studio. There was so much beautiful energy in the room with the back-up vocals and string instruments, and it truly did feel like Christmas! It turned out exactly how I wanted — raw and live — and it just really represents who we are as a band and who I am as an artist.” — Victoria Bailey
In Their Words: “‘Winter’s Night Waltz’ was written in the spring of 2019 while Chatham County Line was preparing to cut a record with our longtime Norwegian buddy Jonas Fjeld and the one-and-only Judy Collins. Tracked at Echo Mountain recording studio in Asheville, North Carolina, featuring Greg Readling, Dave Wilson, John Teer, Russell Waldon (Judy’s musical director and fabulous piano player), as well as the masterful drummer Bill Berg (Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks as well many other classics). This recording you hear was done with all of us (except for Bill) in one room and in one complete take. At the time it seemed unfortunate that ‘Winter’s Night Waltz’ didn’t make it onto this album, but it gave me the chance to add my own voice to the duet and work with an amazing vocalist, Lauren Stovall of The Railsplitters and By the Lee. Lauren and I headed to Vermillion Road studios to cut the vocal tracks and I’m sure you’ll agree that Lauren absolutely nailed her part and that I didn’t muck things too much on my end. ;)” — Chandler Holt
In Their Words: “I have always loved Christmas and over the years, my Christmas tours were my favourites. I loved looking out over a sea of Christmas sweaters and happy faces while they sang along to the familiar carols and other songs of the season. This collection is made up of those songs that have given me the most joy to record and perform over the years.” — Anne Murray
Artist:Anthony D’Amato Song: “Merry Christmas, I Guess” Release Date: December 8, 2020
In Their Words: “The holiday season is going to be a lonely one for a lot of people this year, and it just didn’t feel like the standards would offer much comfort given the current circumstances. Most of us won’t be home for Christmas, and it’s tough to be ‘holly jolly’ when you’re watching a deadly pandemic sweep through the country. So I decided to write something for all the folks who won’t be able to see their loved ones this December (or any December, for that matter), something that would capture the particularly bittersweet feeling of being alone on a day that’s traditionally all about togetherness. If you’ve lost family or friends, if you’re being responsible and hunkering down by yourself, if 2020’s pushed you to your limit and you just need to let off a little steam with a good cry, this is for you. Merry Christmas, I Guess.” — Anthony D’Amato
Artist:Heather Maloney Song: “The Secret of Christmas” Album:Christmas Anyway EP Release Date: November 13, 2020
In Their Words: “I adore this song and I actually didn’t know it existed until pretty recently. While my producer Ryan Hommel and I were in the process of making the Christmas Anyway demos, our friend (and Ryan’s bandmate in the Amos Lee band) Jaron Olevsky, turned us on to the song. We listened to it and then pretty much simultaneously texted each other to say that we needed to record it. Not only is the original recording devastatingly gorgeous (because Ella), we both agreed that the lyrics are perfectly aligned with our central ideas for this holiday EP.
“Basically, the words felt like they underscored this sentiment: what makes the holidays meaningful isn’t dependent on any outer circumstances (the gifts we give/don’t give, if we are physically together/apart, etc.) — but rather, meaning is something we can choose to create (at any time) through the choices we make, our gestures of kindness and the way we frame those uncontrollable life circumstances.
“We asked Jaron to arrange our version of the song and he blew us away with what he came up with. Another dear friend and collaborator Cynthia Tolson played all of the strings and by the time I was singing the final vocal, we all honestly had to take a few cry breaks in the studio before we could get through it. This song is amazingly short and sweet for being so packed with meaning, and to me, singing it feels like singing one long beautiful sentence that slowly builds in intensity — and eventually culminates in the line that drives it all right home: ‘The secret of Christmas is not the things you do on Christmas, but the Christmas things you do all year through.'” — Heather Maloney
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