Pew Playlist: Christmas on the Lam and Other Songs From The Season

Our friends at Red House Records, based in the nation’s icebox of Minnesota, have a lot of experience with below-zero temperatures and dark, snowy nights. Red House veterans and newcomers alike have joined forces to bring you their unique takes on the season with Christmas on the Lam and Other Songs From the Season, a folksy, offbeat collection of tales about the winter and the holidays. Don’t worry though, you definitely won’t find any eye-roll inducing cheesiness or clichéd standards here.

Bluesy vamp and jazz pianist Davina and her Vagabonds give Elvis a Dixieland twist on “Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me”. “Titan of the Telecaster” Bill Kirchen & Austin de Lone find St. Nick hoping to get lucky on the good and greasy “Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’”. A Prairie Home Companion favorite Heather Masse of the Wailin’ Jennys gets warm and sexy herself with “Mittens”, while folk great John Gorka gets out of the cold with the ghost of Buddy Holly in “Holed Up in Mason City”. Ethereal indie folk trio The Pines deliver a haunting rendition of Gordon Lightfoot’s classic, “Song for a Winter’s Night”, while New York City’s Suzzy Roche goes bluegrass with “Cold Hard Wind”. The unrivaled king of Texas honky tonk Dale Watson takes us home for the holidays with “Christmas to Me” and the first couple of Americana, Grammy-winner Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams, give us their own turn on Elvis with their heartbreaking version of “Blue Christmas”.

Appropriately, Christmas on the Lam closes with two spirituals: Rock and Roll Hall-of-Famer Jorma Kaukonen contributes a gentle finger-picking acoustic guitar and vocal rendition of the West Indian carol, “The Baby Boy”, and The Wailin’ Jennys close with the uplifting, banjo-driven “Glory Bound”…and that’s not even all that this album has to offer!  Give it a spin as you enjoy your turkey, and get ready for a stellar holiday season: