Musician and Composer
Our family has a tradition of recording Christmas songs each year. This year, we did White Christmas, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and Auld Lang Syne.
I also recorded a version of Feliz Navidad entirely in Spanish with my collaborator, Mariadela.
Here’s all the songs we’ve recored over the years.
Have a Merry Christmas!
When my wife and I first married, we started a tradition of recording Christmas songs every year. Sometimes it’s just one song and other years, we’ve recorded as many as five. We’ve kept it up for 11 years now, totaling 24 songs. This year, we recorded “Little Drummer Boy.” I sang lead vocals, played acoustic guitar, bass, mandolin, tamborine, and cajon. My wife, Melissa sang harmony vocals. Our three kids joined in and played cajon and sang backing vocals. It was a fun song to put together. I hope you enjoy it and have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
A few week’s ago on Episode 24, I shared some of the favorite Christmas songs my wife and I have recorded over the years. I promised there were more songs on the way coming this year and so now, here they are.
This first one is folky/bluegrass take on Angels We Have Heard On High. I sang and played all the instruments and my wife, Melissa, sung harmony.
Next, we changed things up and did a slow, serious version of Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel sung by Melissa. The instruments include acoustic guitar, organ, a ride cymbal played with brushes and a cajon, which we altered to sound extra deep, echoey and distorted, sort of like a low, rumbly explosion. In fact, I recommend listening to this with either headphones and a system with a fair amount of bass.
Today’s episode is focused on Christmas music. Ever since my wife and I married, we’ve had a tradition of recording Christmas Songs every year. We haven’t recorded this year’s songs yet but I wanted to share with you some of the songs we’ve recorded in past years.
So, I’ll start things off with “O Holy Night,” which we recorded in 2012. As you’ll hear, this arrangement is sort of a rock doo-wop version. My wife, Melissa, sang lead vocals and I played all the instruments.
“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” was recorded in 2011. We lived in an apartment at the time so we needed to record something a little quieter that year. We added our own little interlude to change the song up a bit.
“Still Still Still” was recorded back in 2009 at Muse Recording Studio, which we owned at the time. I’ve always loved the melody and feel of this one.
“The Christmas Song” also known as (Chestnuts Roasting) and is one of the first Christmas Songs we recorded back in 2007. We were going for an old-fashioned, jazzy feel. We recorded the vocals on an older microphone to get a warm, bassy tone. We even recorded some record crackle sounds to get even more of the vintage sound.
“I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day” was also record in 2007, the first year we started recording Christmas songs. I’ve always been struck by the story behind this one. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the words on Christmas Day back in 1864. A few years before, his wife had died from a tragic fire caused by a strong gust of wind blowing their window open and knocking a candle over onto her dress. His son was later crippled in an injury while fighting in the Civil War. After a very rough couple years and with the war coming to a close, Longfellow was inspired to write the words that became this beloved song, that through despair, the Christmas season brings a feeling of hope for peace among men.
This last song, “Blue Christmas,” was recorded in 2013. This was originally made famous by Elvis when we recorded it back in 1957. We tried to keep some of that vintage, old-timey feel in our version.