Adventskalender 2013: 10. desember: Stephen Simmons

I år har vi invitert et knippe av våre favorittmusikere fra inn- og utland til å si noen ord om SIN favorittjulesang. Hver dag gjennom adventstiden vil vi presentere én låt, og artistenes personlige forhold til låten.

10. desember tilhører Stephen Simmons.

Vår gode venn Stephen Simmons svingte nylig innom Norge på sin vei gjennom Europa, og spilte både i Haugesund, Bergen, på Hundorp og i Oslo.

Han turnérer med den nye platen Hearsay i kofferten. En plate som ble meget godt mottatt her på Dust of Daylight når den kom ut tidligere i år. Den kommende julekalenderen ble naturlig nok diskutert når Stephen var på besøk, og det viste seg raskt at han satte pris på julelåter, akkurat som undertegnende. Ikke bare hadde han en kompis som hadde skrevet en fantastisk julesang – han hadde til og med skrevet sin egen. OG spilt den inn… Den har han nå lagt ut på Soundcloud i anledning kalenderen.

Besøk Stephen på www.stephensimmonsmusic.com, finn ham på Facebook, kjøp Hearsay (og/eller noen av de andre platene hans). I løpet av uken legger vi også ut en bunke videoer fra Norgesbesøket hans.

Okei, vi overlater ordet til Stephen Simmons:

Being from the South, Christmas brings opportunity for too much food, too much family and sometimes too much booze.  But we all seem to get through and still love each other after it’s all said and done every year.  Just don’t go near the Shopping Malls.  The over commercialization of Christmas (as well as everything else under the stars) in the USA at times leads me to want to be a bit “bah humbug” about it all.  But I do still love some classic Christmas music and maybe there’s more of the ole Christmas Spirit in me than this Grinch sometimes wants to let on.

 

Some of my favorites and even one of my own are:

 

Blue Christmas – Elvis Presley

 

My Mom was a huge Elvis fan and had this album in her vinyl records.  It was the first Christmas album I ever listened to and I still love this version above all others.  I especially love the exquisite harmony singing.

 

 

 

Hard Candy Christmas  – Dolly Parton

 

I think this is one of the best written Christmas songs of the 80s.  It was in my parents stereo when I was growing up on 8 track per the Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton Christmas album.  If you lived in Tennessee and grew up in the 80s, Dolly & Kenny were in your stereo.  This is such a sad and melancholy tune and the key change at the end is beautiful.  

 

[youtube]http://youtu.be/GOzi-gD7-ts[/youtube]

 

Strung Out Like The Lights (at Christmas Time)  -Dodd Ferrelle

 

My Athens, Georgia buddy Dodd Ferrelle wrote this tune and I’ve always thought it was killer.  Christmas time is definitely an occasional downer for some of us boozers, so I could always relate to this song.  He’s sings it as a duet with his talented cousin Betsy Inglesby.  One of these days I expect to hear a Nashville ‘hat act’ record it on a Christmas album.  But I’ll always prefer Dodd’s version.

 

 

Gå til Dodd Ferrelles Bandcamp for å laste ned låten GRATIS! (Eller donere litt hvis du føler for det):

[media id=885 width=650 height=20]

 No Snow On The Ground (on Christmas Day)  – Stephen Simmons

 

I wrote this song with my good friends Shannon and Adam Wright www.TheWrightsMusic.com  

We usually don’t have snow in December in Tennessee and it was a big deal if it ever snowed on Christmas day.  As I grew up I noticed I seemed to often come to the end of the line in doomed relationships around the holidays.  Not sure if it was the extra down time at the end of the year or the stress of the holidays that brought it on, but I always found it hard to be festive in the midst of a break up.  This is just a home demo version of the song I posted on Soundcloud.  Maybe one day we’ll go in the studio and do a proper version.

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 track=1818176227 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small]