Twelve Songs of Christmas

Dec 19 2024 100 ep. 54 mins 11

Twelve Songs of Christmas Podcast artwork

”The Twelve Songs of Christmas” tries to sort out the place of Christmas music in our culture by talking to the people who make it.

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Ha-Sizzle, G*ddammit Jeremiah, Superchunk

Dec 19 2024 71 mins

Season seven of 12 Songs comes to a conclusion with three very different conversations and artists. Ha-Sizzle is one of the finest examples of the New Orleans-specific brand of hip-hop known as bounce. I talked to him about his Christmas in New Orleans in front of a live audience. The members of the British punk band Goddammit Jeremiah talk about their irreverent approach to Chris

Porcupine Tree, É Arenas, and Ever More Nest

Dec 12 2024 94 mins

We're approaching Christmas, so this week I have excerpts from longer interviews that I'll run at full length next season. Steven Wilson is the driving force behind the British art rock band Porcupine Tree, and last year on a challenge he used artificial intelligence to write a Christmas song, something he felt that he couldn't do on his own. The whole conversation goes deep on the

Blind Boys of Alabama, Donna Summer, and Sia

Dec 05 2024 93 mins

We're officially in December, the Christmas season, and I have more interviews than I can get through in the weeks leading up to Christmas. From here on in, I'll run excerpts from the interviews I've done, and I'll run them in their entirety next season. This episode starts with some clean-up business after last week's conversation with Midge Ure on "Do They Know it's Christmas."

"Do They Know it's Christmas" at 40 with Midge Ure

Nov 27 2024 57 mins

Midge Ure from The Rich Kids, Ultravox and Visage co-wrote and produced "Do They Know it's Christmas" 40 years ago this week on November 25, 1984. He recently released a new live album, Live at the Royal Albert Hall 04.10.23, so we talked about that, touring, the Blitz club and his memories of the sessions for "Do They Know it's Christmas." In this episode, I talk a little more th

Dean & Britta & Sonic Boom

Nov 21 2024 56 mins

Husband and wife duo Dean & Britta have a sound that suits contemporary Christmas music beautifully. They've done a few movie soundtracks including 13 Most Beautiful, an album of songs commissioned by the Andy Warhol Museum to perform songs beneath Warhol's silent films shot between 1964 - 1966. Their sound is evocative but spare, with deeply reverbed guitars and melodic touch

Carpenters Legacy and Christmas Novelty Songs with April Brucker

Nov 14 2024 69 mins

Twelve Songs goes to Las Vegas this week, first to talk with Sally Olson and Ned Mills of the tribute act Carpenters Legacy about The Carpenters and their Christmas music. This year, they took their affection for both subjects to the natural conclusion and recorded "Christmas Time with You," a Christmas song made in the mold of the Carpenters. After that, I talk to comedian and ve

Jay Gonzalez and Christmas/Not Christmas Songs

Nov 08 2024 45 mins

Earlier this season, I interviewed The Drive-By Truckers' Patterson Hood about his ambivalent relationship with Christmas music. This week I talk to the Truckers' long-time guitarist Jay Gonzalez, who takes a different path to a similar place. We talk about his relationship to the band as a full-time member since 2008 who isn't Hood, Mike Cooley, or long-time drummer Brad Morgan, a

Jim Brickman and Trans-Siberian Orchestra (an encore presentation)

Nov 01 2024 72 mins

I've been out of the country, so this week is an encore presentation with two very different artists--pop instrumental piano player Jim Brickman and Jeff Plate, the long-time drummer for the arena rock band Trans-Siberian Orchestra. When I conducted these interviews in 2020, I was really interested in how COVID-19 would affect two acts that have made holiday season tours a meaningf

The Christmas Blues with Jontavious Willis

Oct 17 2024 41 mins

This week I'm talking with blues artist Jontavious Willis, who recently released his album West Georgia Blues. I wanted to talk to Jontavious not because of his Christmas music--he doesn't have any yet--but because he's doing something that I've been trying to pay attention to as people make contemporary music in traditional forms. We go a little longer with Jontavious talking abo

A Cajun Christmas at the Holiday with Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys

Oct 10 2024 46 mins

This season has featured surf Christmas music, calypso Christmas music, Sicilian Christmas music and smooth jazz Christmas music, so it can't be too much of a surprise that we finally get to Cajun Christmas music. I think Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys are an important band as they picked up the work of maintaining endangered musical traditions that was started by a generation