Album Notes

Yes, Virginia, it all started a couple of years back when songwriters Whit Hill and John Latini happened to be playing the same benefit concert. Whit heard John’s band play his song D-E-A-R S-A-N-T-A, came up to him afterwards and said, “Let’s make a Christmas record!”

And here it is: 12 unexpected, original, secular songs that celebrate the complex emotions that, well, for some of us at least, accompany the Season of Light: joy, crabbiness, loneliness, whimsy, dissatisfaction, exhaustion, peacefulness….

Here are songs about childhood trips to the mall to sit on some underpaid old guy’s lap, songs about grumpy, oversugared little boys on Christmas Day, about how snow softens an urban landscape and about cutting down a tree with Grampa. There are two songs about electric trains.

Both Latini and Hill were born and raised in New York City but have lived in Michigan for years. Both are seasoned songwriters and band leaders (Latini of the Flying Latini Brothers and Crowbar Hotel, Hill of Whit Hill and the Postcards). Both are recent winners of the Great Lakes Songwriting Competition.

If you’re sick of “Rudolph” and “Jingle Bells” check out these new Christmas classics – witty, literate and soulful.