A selection of some of my favorite Christmas carols. A daily event through Christmas.

Today's selection: Leon Redbone & Dr John - "Frosty The Snowman" - 1950/1988

Frosty The Snowman was first recorded by Gene Autry in 1950, followed by Jimmy Durante the same year. Autry had success with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and looked to have another Christmas song.

The song has been covered many times through the years; a TV version came out in 1969 with Jimmy Durante as the narrator.

Leon Redbone performed a duet of the song with Dr John on Redbone's 1988 album "Christmas Island"

A selection of some of my favorite Christmas carols. A daily event through Christmas.

Today's selection: Mormon Tabernacle Choir - "Angels We Have Heard on High" 1862

Taken from a 18th century French tune, the English version was produced in 1862. The lyrics are based on Luke 2:8-20

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is a 360-member choir based in Salt Lake City. The first choir performed in Salt Lake only a month after the Mormons settled the valley in 1847. Known from the beginning as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the name was changed in 2018 to "The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square".
I suspect like Twitter becoming X, the choir will still be known by the original name ...

A selection of some of my favorite Christmas carols. A daily event through Christmas.

Today's selection: Blackmore's Night - "We Three Kings" - 1958

The song "We Three Kings" was written in 1857 by the rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Williamsport, PA for a Christmas pageant in NYC. It has been compared to music written in the Byzantium era and is the first popular carol written in America.

Ritchie Blackmore was a founding member of Deep Purple, Rainbow, and Blackmore's Night - a medieval folk group.

Not quite Deep Purple style, eh?

Candice Night first met Ritchie Blackmore at a 1989 Rainbow concert when she asked for an autograph. By 1991, they were a couple based on their interest in Renaissance-era music. "We Three Kings" was released in 2006 on their "Winter Carols" album.

A selection of some of my favorite Christmas carols. A daily event through Christmas.

Today's selection: Dean Martin - "Silver Bells" - 1950/1966

Originally written for the 1951 Bob Hope movie "Lemon Drop Kid" but first released by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards in 1950, this version was recorded by Dean Martin in 1966.

It's Christmas carols time ...

A sample of some obscure - and maybe not obscure - tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.

Today's selection: Insect Trust - "Declaration Of Independence" 1968

Today's selection was inspired by several of Jean's poems.

A New York band of sorts, the core of the band to be left for San Francisco in '66, singing for gas and food along the way as the Solip Singers. They gave up heading west, the Solip Singers broke up, and returned to Memphis. The Insect Trust congealed in 1966 in Memphis and bounced back and forth between Memphis and Hoboken. During their "success" time, they fronted for bands such as Santana and the doors but eventually, personnel problems - drugs and business didn't mix well - led to the final breakup in Hoboken.

This cut is from their first, self-titled album. As one critic put it: "The album did nothing, sales-wise ... But what was really remarkable was that, somehow or other, the Insect Trust got a second chance a year later with "Hoboken Saturday Night. After the 2nd release, the band quietly fell apart bit by bit."