1991- "Christmas In July"

.....Christmas has taken on a life of its own in Japan where gift giving was already an art and way of life long before Americans started to worry about the holiday becoming materialistic. It's true that there has been a Christian presence in Japan for a long time now, but one has to wonder if the prospect of wrapping presents doesn't have an even stronger spiritual appeal for the Japanese.

.....It was probably in the hopes of marketing some of those presents that someone from the Japanese record label P-Vine approached the Denton, Texas based folk-dance band Brave Combo about releasing an album of Christmas songs familiar to Americans. After more than a decade as a recording unit, Brave Combo hadn't considered doing a Christmas album since, while still a niche market, it has become saturated with rerecordings of the same few standards. They had already done well in folk/klezmer/polka circles are weren't interested in what would amount to competing with Barbara Streisand and Johnny Mathis for name recognition. The prospect of reimagining and reinterpreting traditional songs from a new perspective was always intriguing though, and the opportunity to play them live to an entire nation with few or no preconceptions about the songs was even more of a lure. So, in the summer of 1991 they recorded the self-produced album at Inside Track Studio in Denton and toured with the album's release in Japan in December. The not-so-dirty little not-so-secret of Christmas music is that it's almost never recorded during the season which it's intended to evoke. To be in stores ahead of Christmas it must be recorded at least a few months in advance. Thus, the likely inspiration for one of several originals from this fine album:

• 02:12 "CHRISTMAS IN JULY" (Bubba Hernandez, Jeffrey Barnes)
• performed by Brave Combo
• original source: CD IT'S X-MAS, MAN! P-Vine PCD-2300 (Japan) December, 1991
• and my source: CD IT'S CHRISTMAS, MAN! Rounder Records CD 9033 (US/Canada) September, 1992

.....Unlike many of the songs on the album, this one is not designated by a dance tempo. There is a touch of zydeco in it, but it's definitely not one pure style. There's also an odd break where they rewrite the titles of well known songs and carols to reflect summer themes and sing each in the melody of the respective song. If this song hasn't caught on it's not likely due to Rounder's small stature as a label (they're routinely up for Grammys). It's more likely due to the requisite musicianship to even attempt a cover of it.

.....There are a few more originals here and I'll be noting them over the next few days.