The first year my wife Katie and I starting dating, she introduced me to the legend of the Krampus. I decided to write an origin story song a la “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.” I included some of the most bizarre details that I found on the internet in the lyrics. One day we played hooky from work and recorded “The Krampus Song” along with some of our favorite classic xmas tunes. My best friend, Brian Crouch, performed the voice of Krampus. That year, we gave these out as gifts to all our friends and family. Katie designed the album art.

When Katie and I bought our home in Richmond, I was dying to use the space (high ceilings with lots of wood) to record some music using classic recording techniques from the 50s and 60s. Christmas was approaching and I was listening to Harry Connick Jr.’s Christmas album Harry For the Holidays. His med/up swing tune, “I’m Gonna Be the First One” describes the thrill of being the first one to wake on Christmas morning. I thought it would be fun to write the antithesis to that song and came up with the painfully slow “Sleeping In on Christmas With You.” I was also listening to Duke Ellington’s “Jeep’s Blues” from Live at Newport and I used that as inspiration for the big band swing duet. This concept gave me a good excuse to record ALL of my saxophones and recorded 5 parts with a soli comprised of harmonies inspired by Duke. With that song fleshed out, I thought it would be fun to record another Christmas album to give as gifts to our family and friends with a the common element of classic recording techniques (mic placement, minimal editing/effects, minimal processing) using Elvis’ “All Shook Up” as a guide. This made me think what it would have been like if Elvis covered Mariah Carey, and my friend Brian helped me make that a reality. Once again, Katie made our album art.

I performed Piano, Bass, Guitar, Ukulele, and Saxophone

Additional help:

Eric Godsey - Drums “Sleeping In on Christmas with You” and “All I Want For Christmas Is You”

Brian Crouch - Vocals “All I Want For Christmas Is You”

Stu Kindle - Ukulele (rhythm and 2nd solo) “Sleigh Ride”

Ollie Adcock - Percussion “Sleigh Ride”

Sandy Adcock - Horse sound “Sleigh Ride”