Goo Goo Dolls, Low, Beatles on "12 Songs of Christmas" So Far
Our Christmas music podcast is having its best year yet, with some exciting interviews in the coming weeks.
So far, our Christmas music podcast The Twelve Songs of Christmas has featured interviews with artists as different as Robert Earl Keen, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Chris Butler of The Waitresses, Eddie Angel of Los Straitjackets, PJ Morton, Hanson, Mars Williams (on his Albert Ayler Christmas project), Debbie Davis, Pink Martini, Letters to Cleo, and Panorama Jazz Band, among others.
This season, host Alex Rawls has interviewed country legend Janie Fricke, The Goo Goo Dolls’ John Rzeznik, indie rapper Mega Ran, and Christian vocal group Ernie Haase & Signature Sound. He has talked with Alan Sparkhawk and Mimi Parker of indie rock band Low about their classic “Just Like Christmas,” and Jonathan and Julia Pretus of the Ranking the Beatles podcast about the Beatles’ Christmas messages to their fan club.
In the upcoming weeks, we’ll have interviews with The Flaming Lips’ Steven Drozd, Big Freedia, pianist Jim Brickman, Judith Owen and Harry Shearer, retro soul singer Kelly Finnigan, among others.
We’re proud of this season’s episodes and hope you’ll check them out. Here are this season’s episodes, and we hope you’ll subscribe to them wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, and starting this week, Pandora. You can also find the episodes at our home page, along with a Spotify playlist with music from almost all of the artists we’ve talked to so far.
The titles below link to episodes of the podcast, so you can hear what we’ve been up to this year.
Husband and wife team Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker talked about how their 1999 Christmas EP arose from the question/challenge of whether or not they could intentionally write Christmas songs, and how much more turned out to be on the line than they thought at first.
John Rzeznik talks about how their It’s Christmas All Over arose from the desire to do something during Coronavirus shutdown, and how playing Christmas music challenged them as musicians. Along the way, he had to deal with rock’s skepticism toward sentimentality when playing nakedly sentimental songs.
Americana singer Ana Cristina Cash married Johnny Cash and June Carter’s son John Carter Cash, and they operate the Cash Cabin Studios. She talks about her work there, as well as the unusual Christmas classic “Mele Kalikimaka” and singing in English and the Spanish she learned growing up as the daughter of immigrants from Cuba.
Country singer Janie Fricke has raft of hits, but she talks about her A Cowgirl Country Christmas as a homemade project, from the song choices, to the recordings, to filling orders.
Hosts of the Ranking the Beatles podcast Jonathan and Julia Pretus do a special crossover episode to talk about The Beatles’ contribution to Christmas. They never recorded any Christmas music proper, but they recorded a yearly message to their fan club members that became more elaborate with time. Alex and Jonathan geek out over them while the more surreal messages test Julia’s patience.
Bluegrass singer Rhonda Vincent talks about the role Christmas music played—or didn’t play—in her life when she grew up playing in her family’s band. She talks about bluegrass’ contributions to the Christmas songbook and what happened when someone played the song she planned to play shortly before she went on stage at the Grand Ole Opry.
Rapper Mega Ran talks how A Charlie Brown Christmas inspired his A Very Random Christmas, and about the way a rep for talking about pop culture in his music made it easier for him to make Christmas music.
Christmas Music on the Charts with writer/podcaster Chris Molanphy
Slate.com’s Chris Molanphy talks about why Christmas music struggled to crack Billboard’s Hot 100, and how changes in its rules and calculations made it possible for Mariah Carey, Burl Ives, Brenda Lee, and Bobby Helms to chart higher than Post Malone, Lizzo, and Lewis Capaldi.
Ernie Haase and Signature Sound
Vocal group leader Ernie Haase talks about how an unexpected meeting with Tony Bennett arranger Billy Stritch led to his A Jazzy Little Christmas, and how he squares his faith to the secular Christmas songs he plays with Signature Sound in addition to hymns.
“A Hard Candy Christmas” with Alexandra Scott
New Orleans’ singer Alexandra Scott gushes over the great Dolly Parton while she and Alex track the song from the stage cast recording of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas to the movie, to Dolly, to Tracey Thorn to RuPaul.