This Christmas, we’re serving up holiday platters for the many moods and sonic flavors of the season. We get down to some very merry Chicano rockabilly from Los Straitjackets; gather around the fire with French fiddlers in snowy Maine; imbibe “Sugar Rum Cherry” concocted by Duke Ellington; dream of a white Christmas a la Booker T. & the MGs, and hear the tale of Miles Davis‘ “Blue X-mas” from jazz composer Bob Dorough. Plus, cool Yuletide exotica from Esquivel, joyous free jazz from Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and ring shouting for a New Year from the Georgia Sea Island Singers.
HOUR ONE
Open Bed: Santa Claus is Coming to Town Jimmy McGriff Christmas with McGriff, Sue Records
Jingle Bells (Greetings from Esquivel!) Esquivel Merry Xmas from the Space-Age Bachelor Pad, Bar/None
What Will Santa Say When He Finds Everybody Swingin'? Kermit Ruffins Have a Crazy Cool Christmas, Basin Street
Cool Yule Louis Armstrong 'Zat You, Santa Claus?/Cool Yule, Decca
Papa Ain't No Santa Claus (Mama Ain't No Christmas Tree) Butterbeans and Susie Screening the Blues, CBS
Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy Buck Owens Christmas with Buck Owens and his Buckaroos, Capitol
Run Run Rudolph Chuck Berry The Chess Box, Chess
Instrumental: Christmas in the City Marvin Gaye Christmas in the City, Motown Master Series
California Dreaming Bobby Womack Why Do Fools Fall in Love Soundtrack, Rhino
River Joni Mitchell Blue, Reprise
Winterlude Joe Ely To: Kate- A Benefit for Kate's Sake, Western Beat Records
Footprints in the Snow Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys Winning Combinations, MCA Special Products
Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning Mississippi Fred McDowell Fred McDowell: The Alan Lomax Recordings, Domino Sound
We Free Kings Rahsaan Roland Kirk We Free Kings, Mercury
Instrumental: White Christmas Tuts Washington New Orleans Piano Professor, Rounder
SEGMENT: Maine French Fiddlers
Christmas Must Be Tonight Amy Helm and the Wood Brothers Amy Helm and the Wood Brothers, Spotify Single
Go Tell It On the Mountain The McCrary Sisters Go Tell It on the Mountain/No Room at the Inn, Rounder
Closing Bed: White Christmas Booker T. & the MGs In the Christmas Spirit, Atlantic
HOUR TWO
Open Bed: Christmas Blues Ramsey Lewis The Joy of Christmas Past, GNP
Faraway Christmas Blues Johnny Otis The Johnny Otis R&B Caravan/Complete Savoy Recordings, Savoy
Baltimore Oriole Bob Dorough Devil May Care, Bethlehem Archives
CLIP: Bob Dorough
Blue Christmas Lumineers Blue Christmas- Single, Lumineers
Merry Christmas Baby Charles Brown Blue Yule: Christmas Blues and R&B Classics , Rhino
Instrumental: Greensleeves Jimmy Smith Christmas Cookin' , Verve
Christmas in Vietnam Johnny & Jon Merry Christmas Baby, Ronn
SEGMENT: Chuck Siler
Santa Claus is Ska-ing to Town Granville Williams Orchestra Natty and Nice: A Reggae Christmas, Rhino
Christmas is a Coming Leadbelly Leadbelly Sings for Children, Smithsonian Folkways
J'ai Vu le Loup, Le Renard et la Belette Balfa Brothers Balfa Brothers Play More Traditional Music, Swallow
Bachata en Navidad La Sonora Matancera featuring Celia Cruz Celebremos Nochebuena con Sonora Matancera, Codigo Music
Feliz Navidad Los Straightjackets 'Tis the Season for Los Straightjackets, Yep Roc
Instrumental: Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy) Duke Ellington Three Suites, Columbia
Sherburne (While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night) Sacred Harp Singers Songs of Christmas from the Alan Lomax Collection, Rounder
Cherry Tree Carol Pentangle Solomon's Seal, Reprise
Greensleeves John Coltrane The Best of John Coltrane: His Greatest Years, Vol. 2, Impulse
O Day Bessie Jones/Georgia Sea Island Singers Songs of Christmas from the Alan Lomax Collection, Rounder
End Bed: Auld Lang Syne John Fahey John Fahey Christmas Soli, Fantasy