PORT HOWE, N.S. —
1. Christina Martin - Kisses for Christmas
It started with This Christmas in 2018, continued with Coming Back Home for Christmas in 2019, and is now officially a Christina Martin holiday tradition with Kisses for Christmas this year, as the Nova Scotia singer-songwriter and her husband, guitarist/producer Dale Murray, deliver another musical gift of a new and original song for the season.
“It’s been a fun, and also healing, new tradition, since 2018, recording one new (Christmas) song a year,” says Martin from their home in Port Howe. “And it’s also challenged me because it wasn’t something I was open to doing before.”
Kisses for Christmas was written a year ago, when the holiday season of 2019 was ramping up, and finished in the studio this past spring, after Martin and Murray returned from a European tour that had to be cut short due to COVID-19. Its lyrics about making the holidays special by spending time together and sharing gifts from the heart seem especially poignant now, but they’re rooted in feelings that have been around since childhood.
“I’m mentioning things like puzzles and cookbooks, so I’m talking about the kinds of things that our family does,” she says. “My mom is really into puzzle making at this time of year, so it reminds me of my mother and the new traditions that we’ve adopted over the years to bring back the best of the holiday season.
“It can be a very stressful, awkward time of year for a lot of families getting together, so with these songs every year I’ve tried to hone in on the things that make us feel good, that we can focus on and look forward to.”
Making the song extra special is its video, with colourful, hand-drawn animation by artist/musician Seela Misra that perfectly suits the classic ambiance of Martin’s song.
2. Roy Orbison - Pretty Paper
Talking to Martin, I mentioned that Kisses for Christmas had the reverb-laced majesty of a Roy Orbison song, which it turns out is exactly what she and Murray were going for, so it only makes sense to include Orbison’s own Christmas hit, Pretty Paper, written for Orbison in 1963 by a musician who’s no slouch himself, Willie Nelson.
3. Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
When asked about her personal favourite Christmas records, Martin didn’t hesitate to pull out her vinyl copy of A Christmas Gift For You, featuring the ’60s artists whose careers were built on the foundation of Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound.
For the Spotify playlist, I included Darlene Love’s unforgettable original recording of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), but for the YouTube clip, I had to go with the emotional power of Love’s final annual performance of the song on Late Night With David Letterman, a tradition she maintained for an astonishing 29 years, over two networks.
4. Frank Sinatra - Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
The Chairman of the Board was also namechecked in our discussion of indispensable Christmas songs, and it just so happens there’s a snazzy new animated video for a young Frank Sinatra’s swinging version of Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
The clip goes hand-in-hand with a new collection of the same name of his Columbia Records-era Christmas recordings, from the days when he was often referred to simply as “The Voice” (with good reason).
5. Kelly Clarkson & Brett Eldredge - Under the Mistletoe
There’s also a splashy new animated video for this pop duet between everyone’s favourite American Idol Kelly Clarkson and Nashville chart-topper Brett Eldredge that has a bit of a ’90s-era Disney feel, if Disney cartoons were plastered with obvious product placements for coffee and paper towels.
If you can overlook those, it’s not hard to enjoy the song itself, which is relentlessly upbeat and well-suited to its singers’ cheery personalities.
6. Terra Spencer - In the City
This video for Terra Spencer’s warm and nostalgic In the City was shot in 2018, with the Bella String Quartet at the Sonic Temple, but the song is just getting released now on the Windsor singer-songwriter’s wonderful second album Chasing Rabbits.
The whole record is a must-listen and an insightful and observant step forward for the funeral director-turned-troubadour, who will likely play this and a few surprise songs during her Festive Blanket Fort virtual show on Thursday at 8 p.m. via Facebook and Instagram Live, and at the physically distanced Wolfville and area food banks fundraiser Singing for Our Supper on Sunday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. at Wolfville Baptist Church with Donna Holmes, Alan Slipp, Erin Gaudet and Rewind.
7. Emmylou Harris - Christmas Time’s A-Comin’
There’s a certain aching texture to Christina Martin’s voice that can switch from boundless love to crestfallen heartbreak in the blink of an eye, and while it’s instantly recognizable as her own, it’s hard to imagine that she hasn’t listened to more than a few Emmylou Harris records in her time.
In the Christmas music department, Harris created an all-time winner with her 1979 album Light of the Stable, produced by her former husband — and former Haligonian — Brian Ahern, with vocals by his sister Nancy Ahern. With contributions by Rodney Crowell, guitarist James Burton, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, Ricky Skaggs and Neil Young (and some of Nashville’s finest studio players), this an all-star record for the ages.
8. Christina Martin - This Christmas
As with last week’s Fortunate Ones-themed playlist, let’s bring this edition full circle with Martin’s first holiday single This Christmas, which to my ear has a bit of an ’80s U.K. indie pop vibe (the kind that isn’t overladen with synths) and a danceable groove that will inevitably lead to those kisses referenced back at the start.
