American singer Katherine McPhee and her husband, producer and MotD royalty David Foster, released a holiday EP titled Christmas Songs in 2022. “Blue Christmas,” composed by Billy Hayes and Jay Johnson and originally made famous by Elvis, is the second track.
The tune begins in Eb and glides up to E at 1:48.
“Ring The Bells” is the title song on Christian singer and worship leader Travis Cottrell’s 2008 holiday album. The track also features Grammy-nominated singer Natalie Grant.
Beginning in F, the song shifts up to Gb at 3:26.
“Christmas Time,” written originally by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance, is the ninth track on Canadian singer Tyler Shaw’s 2021 holiday album A Tyler Shaw Christmas.
The tune begins in Bb and modulates up to B at 2:37.
Guitarist Adam Hawley released his first holiday album, What Christmas Means To Me, this past October. On this track, the second on the record, he features Kansas City-based bassist Julian Vaughn.
The track begins in E minor and shifts abruptly up to F minor at 2:25.
“DJ Play a Christmas Song” is the lead single on Christmas, American singer Cher’s first holiday album. “This is a cut-glass powerhouse pop-dance banger” said critic Jamie Tabberer, writing for Attitude. The record, released in October, is Cher’s first to include original material since 2013, and her first ever to feature duets.
The track begins in G and modulates up a half step at 2:41.
American singer Andy Williams made Leroy Anderson’s 1948 standard “Sleigh Ride” the lead track of his 1965 album Merry Christmas. According to Anderson biographer Steven Metcalf, ‘Sleigh Ride’… has been performed and recorded by a wider array of musical artists than any other piece in the history of Western music.” This is our first time featuring the tune on MotD.
Williams’ cover begins in Eb and quickly modulates up to E at 0:18. This is followed by series of successive half-step modulations at 0:45, 0:53, 1:39, and 1:48.
Reminiscent of the classic “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” but leaning more towards a PG-13 rating, “The Naughty List” was written by country singer/songwriter Phil Vassar and released as a single with Vassar and former American Idol contestant Kellie Pickler.
It begins in A and modulates up half step to Bb at 1:57.
“Manhattan in December” is featured on Merry Christmas, Darling, Tony-winning actress Stephanie J. Block’s debut holiday album released earlier this year. The record also features tracks with Block’s husband and daughter.
The jazzy number starts out in F and shifts up a half step to Gb at 3:08.
“Christmas Spirit” is featured on Richard Marx’s eponymous 2012 holiday album. Marx co-wrote the song with Fee Waybill, the former lead singer of The Tubes and frequent collaborator with Marx.
The track begins in G and modulates down to E for the first chorus at 0:49. It returns to G for the verse at 1:25 and again moves to E for the chorus at 1:54. A final modulation up a step to F# occurs at 2:56.
“In the 1970s in Minneapolis, bass player Jimmy ‘Flim’ Johnson hooked up with a couple of other studio musicians named Billy Barber (piano) and Bill Berg (drums), and created a jazz group they whimsically called Flim & The BBs. (Billy Barber, Bill Berg – BBs – OK, you got it),” (VinylDiscovery). “Woodwind/reed player Dick Oatts was an integral part of the group as well, but his name wasn’t part of the group’s name because (I’m guessing) Flim & the BB’s and Oatts just didn’t have the right ring to it.
Their music is best described as fusion or contemporary jazz, which would normally make me run for the hills. But these guys are different: They are inventive, technically superb, and seem to always inject a touch of whimsy into their playing. As one reviewer put it, ‘They’re playing is the perfect combination of tight and loose.’ The whimsy shows up in the band’s name of course, but also in their album titles and artwork.”
Featuring a supple fretless bass melody at its start, “New Snow” (from 1992’s This is a Recording), with guest vocalist Michael Ruff, starts in Ab major. At 2:27, a downward modulation to F major is in effect for an instrumental bridge until 2:57, where the tune reverts up to Ab.
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