Everyone knows what Mariah Carey wants for Christmas, and Michael Bublé is constantly nattering on about how it’s beginning to look a lot like the holiday long after all the lights and baubles are hung.
Know what Swampcandy, the Annapolis blues-and-roots group, asked Santa to put under the tree?
I want my dead friends back
Bring ‘em right away.
They’re the ones I miss the most on every Christmas Day.
It’s a dark turn on Christmas music, sure, but more honest than chestnuts roasting.
There’ll always be time for Nat King Cole and Brenda Lee, The Jackson 5 and Tex Ritter. They’re everlasting. But your December playlist isn’t complete until you add local Christmas music.
“It’s about tradition, right?” asked Alex Cortright, the morning host on WTMD out of Towson. “It’s about a certain degree of sameness. But you also want something fresh and something a little bit different, like Swampcandy.”
You’ll hear local music sprinkled through his Christmas Day program, part of the station’s two-day, pre-recorded production.
WTMD 89.7 FM plays more from artists across Annapolis, Baltimore and D.C. than any other station. Cortright has listened to enough local Christmas music to know when a song works.
“Something that is either traditional, something that’s really known, like you grew up with it, you love it,” he said. “Or something that is curious and fresh and bright.”
Swampcandy put out their Christmas song in 2012, but it’s still fresh for plenty of people. That’s true of all local holiday music.
You have to go looking for it if you want to diversify your portfolio for the season. And for a singer-songwriter, you have to start long before candy canes and silver lanes begin to glow.
“When you do that, you’ve got to kind of start in July,” said Dennis Schocket, part of the Annapolis band Starbelly. “You can’t get to Thanksgiving and decide you’re going to do it.”
Schocket’s “I can’t believe it’s Christmas Eve” is named for the annual family party he and his wife host on Christmas Eve, a blowout that has grown to about 50 people.
“Last year again, I was like, I can’t believe it’s Christmas Eve,” he said. “As a songwriter, I’m like, well, that actually rhymes, you know.”
There’s more than that, including a rockabilly rumination on giving music for Christmas, “(I want some) Rockin’ in my Stocking.”
A Buddy Holly record, and get me some Ramones
Baby, all I’ll list for Christmas is to hear the Rolling Stones.
Maybe every artist secretly wants to drop a Christmas song. It’s the only time of year when music becomes the holiday, whether you’re listening to Spotify at home or attending any of the shows on the calendar.
“Me and Eze Jackson did a Christmas song about two years ago titled ‘What I want for Christmas’ with a local artist, Lady Angelos, singing on the hook,” said Marquis Gasque, who performs as Mighty Mark. “And the song did real well.”
That led to thinking about a fuller project, with Jackson — a producer and community advocate — pushing Gasque to get into a studio before summer was over.
The result is “Baltimore for the Holidays,” a celebration of the city’s dance club music, a signature mix of hip-hop, R&B storytelling and house music.
I want full stockings for my block, and everybody in my family
If them elves, they need some help, tell Santa drop some addy
I’m a dilly, I’m a dally, I’m a hustler from the alley.
This is all about talented performers making music that folks want to hear this time of year. But it’s also about a dream that musicians tell themselves. Write a Christmas hit and you’re set for life.
“It’s just a labor of love, a passion project, you know, for Baltimore and beyond,” Gasque said. “And if we make some money, cool. But if not? Not the end of the world.”
You can find local Christmas music on stage.
Gasque and Jackson will perform their album at Jackson’s annual holiday music party, Dirty Baltimore, Friday at Metro Baltimore. Schocket will play songs from his album Tuesday night at this year’s Annapolis Christmas Show, a benefit at Rams Head on Stage.
Laura Brino will sing there, too, from her album “Bona Dea.” It’s named for a mysterious goddess of women, so the Annapolis indie folk singer-songwriter is definitely feeling adult alternative Christmas vibes.
It’s the only holiday album with a Christmas dinner song that includes the lyric, “Uncle Bill said I should have gotten an abortion.”
“I think that this album in particular is a healthy mix of nostalgia, like sweet music, but also songs that make you pause for a moment and wonder why it’s labeled as Christmas,” she said.
In “Unmerry” she sings:
It’s Christmas, it’s lonely without you,
Been watching all the movies you told me to.
My laughter turns to tears,
I guess it’s an unmerry Christmas this year.
It’s the polar (express?) opposite of Barry Morris’ “Ru Ru Rudy.” He wrote and recorded it with his daughter and son-in-law, Christina and Eric Irwin.
It’s a pop tune, a take on the famous reindeer. They played Monday night at the Christmas show with their Annapolis group, One Night Only Band.
“Everyone thinks about reindeer and Rudolph,” Morris said. “So I thought it’d be cute to write a song about the reindeer and how the reindeer have their own personalities, their own lives, and some of the issues that they face on a day-to-day basis.”
Ru Ru Rudy, you’re the one saving the night.
Ru Ru Rudy, you’re the one leading the flight.
Red light glowing, everything will be alright. Alright
Ru Ru Rudy, saving Christmas every time.
Will any of these songs make it into the hall of Christmas music fame? Ho, ho, ho, they’ve all got game.
So, merry Christmas to you and a happy New Year. Now, I’ve given you something to put in your ear.
Hey, wait! That rhymes!
All I need is a catchy tune.
This column has been updated to correctly identify Dennis Schocket.
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