"We recorded this album trying to encapsulate the classic Christmas
sounds I’ve always loved and put my own soulful and jazz-like spin on
it. If you need a place to rest your soul and a group of magical humans to
share it with, then just put this album on play, lay back, and take a
breath.""After I finished the Glow Tour last year, I immediately dove into writing an album full of original Christmas songs that will hopefully become classics in your hearts and minds," Eldredge writes on social media. "We recorded this album trying to encapsulate the classic Christmas sounds I’ve always loved and put my own soulful and jazz-like spin on it."
"Whatever you want to call it, just know it’s a reflection of the most important themes of the holidays — love, togetherness, family, and community," he continues. "If you need a place to rest your soul and a group of magical humans to share it with, then just put this album on play, lay back, and take a breath."
Read More: LISTEN: Brett Eldredge, Kelly Clarkson Cozy Up for Holiday Song | https://tasteofcountry.com/brett-eldredge-kelly-clarkson-sweet-december/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Two of his previous 7 albums were Christmas albums. On September 27, 2024, the third one from Mr. Christmas Brett Eldredge followed. This time, together with songwriter and producer Alexis Kesselman, he took on the challenge of writing all new Christmas music. The resulting project, "Merry Christmas (Welcome to the Family)", is smaller in scope than his previous Christmas albums with only 8 songs, but all of them are new originals and none of the endless new re-recordings of old classics.
On 'Sweet December' he gets support from Kelly Clarkson, on the uptempo and humorous 'The Night St. Nick Got Sick' he tells about standing in for Santa Claus, who unfortunately got ill, and the atmospheric 'Warm and Cozy' and 'Season of Lights and Wonder' complete the seasonal picture.
For around 7 years now, Mr. Christmas has been doing his Christmas tour every year before Christmas. "It's becoming like a family experience," he tells people.com. "That’s where the Welcome to the Family album came from. It has a sense of community and a sense of feeling the things that matter in life."
It is more than a shame that there has been no new music for more than 2 1/2 years (apart from the current Christmas project) from an artist, who is able to put so much emotion into his voice and choice of music. However, his last albums were commercially not successful enough and his contract with Warner Music Nashville has by now been dissolved.
But the good news is that Brett Eldredge has finally announced new music (for next year): music that no longer wants to feel pressure from the charts. Music that wants to make more use of the piano, which not only fits him so well, but which has also been so forgotten in today's music. As well as intentions to be musically limitless by combining Caribbean sounds and New York jazz influences in creating a more romantic Americana sound. Any open mind may be excited looking foward to things to come.
Until then, however, the focus is on the most festive time of the year. Musically, it has long become an annual tradition to release appropriate sounds. That comprises all forms from individual songs to EPs or entire albums, if the expected demand could be big enough.
Not all of the output succeeds though or is able to stand out. Too often it simply is a new recording of a handful of classics that everyone is all too familiar with - and the originals of which typically are difficult to trump. But once in a while, Christmas music gets created anew, which is risky but stands out, when it works. Among the newly released Christmas songs of 2024, there presumably is something for everyone. After all, holler.com can point to the impressive number of 94 new or newly recorded Christmas songs from 2024!
Gabby Barrett, for example, presents 11 songs on her project "Carols and Candlelight". They are all well-known songs, including a surprising cover version of 'Last Christmas' by Wham!, which, however, remains rather bland. Little Big Town also released their first Christmas album (quite late in their career) at the beginning of October. "The Christmas Records" also contains 11 songs, including 5 originals. However, these don't sound too Christmasy.
The atmospheric classic 'If We Make It Through December' by Merle Haggard is among the songs covered by Little Big Town. Apart from their trademark harmony vocals, the arrangement stays quite close to the original. How it can be done differently is demonstrated by the still unknown artist Belle Frantz with her version.
Newcomer William Beckman also presents a great interpretation of the classic 'White Christmas' which certainly can hold its own alongside the original. Koe Wetzel, on the other hand, makes the melancholy in 'I'll Be Home For Christmas' particularly tangible in his bluesy version. The song was actually released in 2023, but it has been re-released as part of the expanded EP "Wetzel's Wonderland Chapter 2" from 2024.
Megan Moroney offers something for everyone in just 3 songs: 2 originals (one happy and one emo-cowgirl-sad) for both of which she was a co-writer, as well as (naturally) the classic 'Blue Christmas'. The latter has probably never been heard with a steel guitar before. And in 'Christmas To Me', co-written with Erik Dylan, Riley Green's his fireplace-voice describes how his Christmas day typically goes.
Kassi Ashton uses Christmas as more of a thematic hook in her painful loneliness with 'Your Angel', while for Logan Mize it can only be Christmas when the world is peaceful for once ('Sounds Like Christmas').
Someone who, like Brett Eldredge, is particularly associated with Christmas music is Michael Bublé. He also released an original Christmas song in November 2024, which he co-wrote. In addition to a solo version, 'Maybe This Christmas' is also available as a duet with Carly Pearce, which far surpassed the solo version with over 1.7 million streams on Spotify.
Ultimately, we should all attempt to live in the here and now, especially during this time of year. And follow the feelings that maybe take us back to our own childhood days, while at the same time give us more hope. Just like Brett Eldredge and Alexis Kesselman describe it in their song:
as the years fly past, we can still go back.
Just put up your lights, open your eyes.
It's the season of lights and wonder.
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