When the Rain Turns Into Snow
Of course, there are the post-war classics such as White Christmas, Jingle Bells, All I Want for Christmas Is You, Last Christmas, It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, and so on and so forth.
But beneath the surface of cheerfully twinkling lights lie the currents that really matter. Socially, economically, and geographically, it goes much deeper than romanticized, snow-soft jingling bells and red velvet-clad love songs by the fireside with eggnog in your hands, while red-nosed reindeer fly around delivering presents. And that certainly applies to the period 1916-1925.
At Magnificent Sounds Records (reissuing historical recordings from around the world) in Buffalo, New York, they understand this very well and have compiled a delightful collection of 17 strange and wonderful seasonal tunes about lonely holidays, cold weather, seasonal depression, and the agony of wet socks in winter.
"From early American blues queens to Sicilian bagpipers, from Peruvian folk musicians to Romanian klezmer singers, the artists assembled here can all agree on one thing: the holidays can be rough. Whether you’re by yourself at home or all alone in a crowd, the songs here are as relatable today as they were 100 years ago."
Honky-tonk 'n bluesy:
Italian, mandolin and guitar:
Female blues:
Romanian klezmer:
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