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DWIGHT YOAKAM "Come on Christmas" BIOGRAPHY |
| The songs: Come On Christmas Run Run Rudolph Silver Bells I'll Be Home For Christmas Silent Night Santa Claus Is Back In Town The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) Away In A Manger Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane) Santa Can't Stay With COME ON CHRISTMAS, a set that covers the range of holiday moods from Yuletide blues to lighthearted celebration to the essential spiritual core, Grammy-winning country singer DWIGHT YOAKAM turns in another extraordinary album. "The genre is Christmas" emphasizes Yoakam, and through a combination of traditional hymns, familiar staples and two outstanding new originals (the title track and "Santa Can't Stay"), COME ON CHRISTMAS melds elements of country, pop, folk, jazz and sacred music into an engrossing view of the season. Between the interpretive depth of Yoakam's vocals and producer-guitarist Pete Anderson's distinctive arrangements, the album is characterized by a variety of fresh approaches that reveal volumes of previously unexplored moods and emotions within life-long familiar lyrics. Joining YOAKAM in his celebration of the holidays is his band--Pete Andersen (electric and acoustic guitar), Skip Edwards (keyboards, organ, accordion, piano), Taras Prodaniuk (bass), Jim Christie (drums) and Scott Joss (fiddle, mandolin)--along with special guests Ricky Skaggs (back-up & harmony vocals), Jim Lauderdale (back-up & harmony vocals), Eddie Shaver (electric guitar on "Santa Claus Is Back In Town") and "Freebo" (tuba). The opening title track, a jazz-tinged plea for holiday cheer to mask the pain of grim reality, is simply one of the most remarkable songs YOAKAM has written to date, and his wistful, bruised interpretation stands as one of his most noteworthy vocal performances in a career already marked by impressive achievement. The mood quickly upshifts with the whimsy of Chuck Berry's "Run Run Rudolph," here accorded a chugging, Farfisa-driven, bordertown roadhouse arrangement, while the post-war urban Christmas pop of "Silver Bells" chimes in via a Tex-Mex/banda framework, replete with infectious tuba bass lines, that gives the song a unique Southwestern downtown mood. "I'll Be Home For Christmas" strolls down the Memphis soul-Stax/Volt side of the street, while the good-natured, bluesy roar of Leiber-Stoller classic "Santa Claus Is Back In Town," featuring guitar firebrand Eddie Shaver, positively kicks out the proverbial holiday jams. YOAKAM goes straight to heart of the season on two marvelous readings of traditional hymns. The reverence and sensitivity of "Silent Night" and a downhome fiddle-limned "Away in a Manger" make it clear that this is Christmas music at its most sincere. Mel Torme's "The Christmas Song" uses a mellow jazz slant which its composer would most certainly agree is a gasser (and features a gorgeous solo from Anderson), while Gene Autry's "Here Comes Santa Claus" takes on a gentle rhumba groove with good-natured elan. Bittersweet broken-home closer "Santa Can't Stay" is something else entirely, a blend of ironic Buck Owens heart and almost Phil Spector-esque soundscape that clearly demonstrates the collaboration of singer-lyricist Yoakam and producer-arranger Anderson has reached an impressive new artistic plateau. COME ON CHRISTMAS is definitely cause for celebration. |
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