Twelve Songs of Christmas

Nov 01 2024 100 ep. 53 mins 9

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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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

Mindy Smith

Oct 03 2024 50 mins

Americana artist Mindy Smith has been referred to on 12 Songs before. At some point in the COVID years I talked about my love of "Santa Will Find You" from her 2007 album My Holiday, and last year when I talked to The Indigo Girls, we talked about the song "It Really Is (a Wonderful Life,)" which they recorded. It turns out it was written by Chely Wright, but the only version I kne

Behind the Christmas Songs with Annie Zaleski

Sep 26 2024 54 mins

Music journalist Annie Zaleski returns to 12 Songs this week. She last appeared in 2022 to talk about Wham!'s "Last Christmas." In 2023, she wrote This is Christmas Song by Song: The Stories Behind 100 Holiday Hits, so she's back to talk about a few of the songs she wrote about. In the episode, we talk about the Kate Bush Christmas special and the Kacey Musgraves Christmas special,

A Drive-By Truckers Christmas with Patterson Hood

Sep 12 2024 48 mins

I've long believed that if you can't get a good interview out of the Drive-By Truckers' Patterson Hood, you should hang up your keyboard and mic. The Truckers are a richly layered project with the loud guitars and pounding drums used to drive a lot of meatheaded lyrics instead supporting subtle storytelling that deals class and race as well as rock 'n' roll. For much of their caree

Boney James

Sep 05 2024 33 mins

Saxophone player Boney James has two Christmas albums, Boney's Funky Christmas and Christmas Present. Both make sense as the place where jazz and R&B meet, and that was transparently the case when he recorded his first album, Trust, in 1992. We talk about those early years in addition to his Christmas music, and we discussed having an album of new music in the can that he wasn'

Calypso Christmas with Charlie and the Tropicales

Aug 29 2024 45 mins

Our surf Christmas episode inadvertently laid the groundwork for this week’s, which focuses largely on Calypso Christmas music. New Orleans’ Charlie and the Tropicales released Presents for Everyone, an album of Calypso Christmas songs, in 2023. This week I’m talking to trombone player and bandleader Charlie Halloran about the album, Calypso Christmas music, Mighty Sparrow, t

Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick (an encore presentation)

Aug 22 2024 40 mins

In 2021, I interviewed Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick, a band I've only grown to appreciate more over the years. They released their first three albums--Cheap Trick, In Color and Heaven Tonight--in 18 months, and Dream Police followed a whole year later. They toured constantly at the time, which makes that productivity all the more impressive. In 2017, they released a Christmas albu

A UFO-Friendly, Spotify-Protesting Christmas with The Pocket Gods

Aug 15 2024 49 mins

I don’t usually get to end a conversation on Christmas music with memories of radio legend Art Bell and his late night deep dive into the paranormal, After Dark with Art Bell. But that’s what happened when I talked to Mark Christopher Lee of the British lo-fi indie rock band The Pocket Gods. It took a lot of discipline not to end the show with After Dark’s theme, “Chase”