There are some latent perks to residing in Nashville regarding the music industry. For instance, if you walk into a bar and do not see anyone you know just wait a few minutes, we all go to the same places. Got a little wild last night? No prob, having too much to drink the previous night (this is Nashville who are kidding, the previous day), is a valid excuse to forgive levels of reprehensible inappropriateness that would end friendship in most other places. And we have managed to quarantine our hipster population to the other side of the river. Yet, one of the coolest things about this town is the undeniable talent we have the pleasure of commingling with. In this article I set out on a mission to find out what some of the top writers behind country music had to say about their favorite Christmas songs. I also stumbled on something thought provoking.
I first caught up with Bernie Nelson. You would recognize Bernie’s work with Kenny Chesney, Randy Travis and Trace Adkins amongst a cornucopia of consummate country cognomen. A formidable artist in his own right I suggest you do yourself a solid and pick up Bernie’s latest album release “Blue”. The multi-platinum songwriter had this to say on our topic, “I love so many of the traditional Christmas songs but none can take me down a snow covered memory lane like Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Colorado Christmas”. I had only been in Nashville a couple months when I had my first Christmas here. Hearing the Dirt Band sing Colorado Christmas made me want to pack up my dreams and go back home to the Rockies. Its been a lot of Christmases since then but Colorado Christmas still has the same affect on me now as it did then.” Head over to bernienelsonmusic.com for a copy of Blue and show Bernie some countrymusicpride.com love.
Another cogent Christmas carol came from Mark D. Sanders. (Okay, I’ll stop with the battological alliteration). With over 200 cuts in country music you may know Mark best from his tune “I Hope You Dance”, performed by Lee Ann Womack. He cites “Mary Had A Baby Boy”, by Bruce Cockburn as his favorite. “I like to hear a lot of people singing along, rather than a solo. I like it a little rough, which it is, and a little mystical, which it also is”, said Sanders.
Now is where I found something interesting. Tom Barnes, the pen behind Tim McGraw’s “Indian Outlaw” told me “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”, “‘cause it is so happy and upbeat. I love the melody”. Ashe Underwood, writer of the recent hit “Fish” by Craig Campbell says, “Walking In A Winter Wonderland”. “Because the melody is so singable I sing it all year round.” And finally, the mind behind Chris Young’s hit “Tomorrow”, Anthony Smith gave us “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)”, simply because he just loves the song.
Why is this interesting? I really did not have a way to end this and honestly, with a few exceptions, the stories where not as salient or deep as I would have expected from people who think for a living. Until I did some ruminating of my own. All of these prolific songwriters chose fun, uplifting or joyous songs. Perhaps I am projecting my own morose sensibilities into the ether but even though all the tunes are well written I expected to see at least one country music style heartache holiday hymn. (I couldn’t help it).
The reasons for this are not profound immediately.The obvious being that Christmas is a time to forget all of the day to day sadness and despondency. I get that. Ergo, this substantiates a view of country music I have held for a while. Country music is about pinpointing an emotion, whether happy or sad, and distilling that to it’s rawest form. What elicits pure feeling greater than Christmas? For religious praise, seasonal mirth, or just a trip down memory lane holiday music touches us with just as much heart wrenching passion as any Hank Williams or George Jones ballad.
Thank you to Bernie, Mark, Tommy, Ashe and Anthony for contributing. We at CountryMusicPride.com would love to hear what all of ya’lls favorite Christmas tunes are in the comments. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good write.
