There is a land that has never seen snow. There, a tornado grabs the first Dorothy and her dog Toto, casually sweeping away the neighbors’ homes. For a short time, this land was ruled by shepherds who led herds of cows from pasture to pasture, and farmers who cultivated cotton, corn, and tobacco. This land is called the Southern States. The land of labor, songs and magic. The hitherto impossible folk music was born out of sweat and blood, tobacco and notorious magic. More precisely, it was fixed.
The settlers brought music with them, and then no king had the power to forbid them to play the violin in the middle of the barren plains. Huge herds of buffalos grazed on those plains, from which the local tribes fed. We all know what happened to the tribes and buffalo, so let’s focus on the migrants who replaced them. Even during the great drought, these guys remembered their roots, hated the whole European army and honored Christmas. Country music, as a musical style, was born among those hard workers who worked hard in coal mines and cotton fields, and loafers who tried to wash gold in Alaskan streams.
Let’s ask ourselves: would Santa have come to these simple-minded folks? Of course not. Santa, fueled by “coca-(made from high-quality coca leaves)-cola” laughs for no reason to this day that your Valentin Smirnitsky is in the role of Porthos. That’s why the South made its own music, with whores and blackjack (the robot Bender only repeated, being a Southerner before the screws were lubricated). Don’t you dare interfere with Southern Christmas, you damn Yankees!
Loretta Lynn – Country Christmas
Loretta Lynn was not just a friend of Patsy Cline, Lynn was an independent creative unit in a land that did not know icicles. In 1966, she released a full-length album of Christmas songs, Country Christmas. The most significant were “Country Christmas” and “Away In A Manger”, the first was almost a rockabilly, although quite a family song, the second was distinguished by an extraordinary warmth, as if the listener found himself at a crackling fireplace. “Silver Bells” is a necessary masterpiece.
Loretta Lynn – Away In A Manger (mp3)
Buck Owens – Christmas With Buck Owens
Buck Owens was perhaps the most important influence on modern country music. His album “Christmas With Buck Owens” is filled with warm irony, supported by the arrangements that made Buck famous and Bakersfield a recognizable point on the map. Among other things, his version of “Jingle Bells” is the most elegant and least banal. “Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy” tells a story that is close to everyone, in an ironic way with a great twist. “Santa couldn’t get up the chimney, so Mom let him in from the front door…”
Glen Campbell – That Christmas Feeling
Glen Campbell seems to have forgotten his sense of humor at some point, so the whole album “That Christmas Feeling” took on a bulldog seriousness. Nevertheless, “Little Altar Boy” is poignant, and the next one, “It Must Be Getting Close To Christmas,” has swing and a crooner style, which will manifest itself to a greater extent in the magnificent interpretation of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.”
Ernest Tubb – Blue Christmas
Ernest Tubb decided one day to compete in absentia with Irving Berlin, having sworn off singing about “white Christmas”. But Berlin did not even notice the demarche. The next step was Billy Hayes and Jay Johnson’s “Blue Christmas,” which sounded like a snide honky tonk to Ernie, despite the rather sad lyrics. Then Berlin shook slightly. But it wasn’t until Elvis sang about both white and blue on the same record that the author of “White Christmas” ran to call controlled radio stations demanding a boycott of Elvis’ songs. At least the one about the white one.
His request was granted. Elvis, however, had two Christmas albums, but we’ll look at them separately.
Brenda Lee – Merry Christmas With Brenda Lee
It wasn’t until 1964 that Brenda Lee’s longplay “Merry Christmas With Brenda Lee” was released, bringing together her favorites from the fifties to the present day, “Jingle Bell Rock” and “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”. In addition to these unconditional imperceptibles, the collection contained every girl’s dream: “A Marshmallow World”.
There is a land that has never known snow. There’s a tornado ripping off hats along with heads, and roosters impersonating Elvis. Tchaikovsky spoke about the rest with his great music.
