A Bummer Christmas Mix
Every December I think that I should make an Xmas mix and I usually don’t. I assume that if you want to hear holiday music then there are hundreds of other places to do that, so my addition would just be another link on your feed. Nonetheless people ask me to make them and I realize that it’s not about the amount of mixes, but that people respect my taste and want to hear specifically what Dollar Country can make out of it. This year I did something that I thought would stand out, all bummer Xmas songs.
Country music has a great tradition of sharing human emotions, often about things that people might not feel comfortable talking about with each other. For many, Christmas can be a difficult time of year. It reminds folks of who’s not there, who has been lost, and point out how happy other people seem, which can create difficult comparisons to your own situation. In the 60s and 70s a lot of families were affected by the war in Vietnam, and there is no lack of country songs about Christmas in Vietnam, Christmas without someone who’s in Vietnam, and the loss of a family member from the war.
My assumption was that people didn’t want to hear sad Xmas songs about loss, broken families, and death, but I had all of these singles about that stuff and I really wanted to share them. So the Bummer Xmas Mix was born. People loved it, give it a listen and tell me what you think.
Full Time Daycare
Years ago I studied abroad with someone who’s family had a child care business and at one point she told me that her mom would say “we don’t watch days, we watch children.” Whenever I say Daycare I always think about that because it’s true, it’s child care. Well we’re having our child watched now. It has opened up my week to be able to actually do DC again. I was hobbling along for the last two years but really I only had the time and energy to do whatever task was the highest priority on a given day, and sometimes not even that.
This affects you, dear listener, in a big way. I have had time in the last two weeks to put together the above Xmas mix, get a show ready to record, and do a bunch of other work that I had been neglecting. I’m hoping to be able to share more and more things with this new time I have. It has been on the front of my mind for the last two years that I want to be able to make more shows to share stuff, but the time I had to do it in wasn’t enough, and the product never felt completely up to snuff. Such is life with a newborn/baby/toddler. If I did manage to make an episode of DC it took up all of my available free time that week to put it together. Now I’m hoping to get back to somewhat regular releases, although I won’t set any schedule in stone.
That’s all the updates for today, I hope you have a holiday that’s slightly better than some of these folks:
Tommy Hestler – Daddy’s Drinking Up Our Christmas
Eleanor Wells – Christmas In Vietnam
Sullivan Family – Merry Christmas From Vietnam
Arlie Brady & The Cavaliers – Christmas Plea
Starla Parrish & The Parrish Bros – Is There A Santa Claus In Vietnam
Dallas McComb – Blind Christmas
Jack Cardwell – Christmas In Vietnam
Lena Hix – I Want My Daddy For Christmas
Bobby Myers – I Want A Mommy For Christmas
Brent Pace – I Won’t Be Home For Christmas
Bob Smith – Lonely At Christmas
Clyde Murphy – There’s A Christmas Tree In Heaven
Billy Egr – What Would Santa Claus Think
Mike Tuttle – Can Johnny Come Over For Christmas
Joyce Brown – Christmas In Viet Nam
Susan Wheeler – A Christmas Prayer
Royel Clark – Christmas Time Draws Near
Jim Eanes – It Won’t Seem Like Christmas
Commander Cody – Daddy’s Drinking Up Our Christmas