Mitchell Kezin of ”Jingle Bell Rocks,” Jim McCormick, and Bailey James

This is the last episode of the Christmas season, but The
Twelve Songs of Christmas is a year-around affair, so the
conversations will continue in January after I take a much-needed
week off.


This week's episode includes an interview with filmmaker Mitchell
Kezin, whose documentary Jingle Bell Rocks! takes a deep
dive into the world of Christmas music, talking to people who
collect it and create it. It's streaming on Hulu and Amazon
Prime, and we'll talk more about the movie next year, but this
week we discuss its origins including the songs and ideas that
set him on the path for a documentary on Christmas music. 


Then I talk to songwriter Jim McCormick, an old friend and
successful songwriter in Nashville. Last year, he co-wrote his
third number one, Gabby Barrett's "The Good Ones," and we catch
up on the story behind that, as well as some of his favorite
country Christmas songs. We talk about Kacey Musgraves, Randy
Travis, Alan Jackson, Luke Bryan and more, thinking about the
songs from the songwriter's or the industry's perspectives.


Finally, I talk to young country artist Bailey James, who is
still finding her audience. We talk about dealing with COVID
times and her two Christmas recordings, which at the time of the
interview made up a quarter of her output. How does Christmas
music create marketing opportunities? 


Alexandra Scott returns this week to discuss two of Phoebe
Bridgers' Christmas songs--"The Christmas Song" and her cover of
Merle Haggard's "If We Make it Through December." 


We also hear some of our favorite contemporary Christmas albums,
JD McPherson's Socks and Kelly Finnigan's A Joyful Sound,
and The Polyphonic Spree, who put tickets on sale for their 2022
Holiday Extraganza this week. JD, Kelly, and Tim DeLaughter of
the Spree have all appeared on Twelve Songs.


We also heard new lofi Christmas music this week from Brooklyn's
The Fundamental Sound. 


Last week, my story on the influence of Vince Guaraldi's
soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas appeared in The
New Orleans Advocate. This week, a story I wrote
on Christmas on Death Row, the Death Row Records' Christmas
album, appeared in The New York Times. It's based in
part on an interview on the podcast with Death Row vocalist Danny
Boy and label exec John "JP" Payne from earlier this year.


I'm going to take a week off and return in January with a new
episode. Christmas will be over the conversations continue. 


If you haven't already done so, please do what you have to do to
get Twelve Songs in your podcast feed. You can find us
at Apple Podcasts, Google
Play, Stitcher, Pandora, and Spotify.  


Thanks to Car Floats for the sponsorship.