Posts by Alby

Most retellings of the nativity understandably dwell on the spiritual aspects. Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn went in another direction. I wanted to put it into terms people can relate to…

In the five years I've been writing the Song of the Day feature, nobody has compiled more page views than John Prine. Prine loved Christmas – he told Rolling Stone…

You're probably familiar with "Little Saint Nick," the Beach Boys' tune about Santa's new hot rod. Alternate transporation for Santa was a popular theme back in the '50s and '60s,…

Mannheim Steamroller sounds like the name of a Krautrock outfit, but it's really mostly one guy, composer/producer Chip Davis, who would have a footnote in music history even without the…

Elvis Presley made this cowboy Christmas song a classic, but I can't listen to it without thinking of this porcine parody, which pretty much ruined Elvis' version for me. Yes,…

The media is having a newsgasm because Colorado's Supreme Court barred Trump from the ballot there, based on the 14th Amendment's insurrection clause. The appeal to SCOTUS will determine the…

Here's another piece of evidence supporting the theory that time makes songs Christmas classics: The LP "A Christmas Gift for You from Phillies Records" was a flop when it was…

Guest post by Nathan Arizona Melancholy is almost a standard quality in Christmas music, but only one song was so sad that it got banned from the radio. And it’s…

If you're not a church-goer you might not realize that, as pious as this song sounds, most Christian denominations do not have it in their hymnals. The reason is as…

If you've ever seen one of those listicles of the best and worst Christmas songs, you might have noticed an oddity – several of the songs appear on both lists.…