The Laney Report: There’s nothing like a country Christmas song
This is the time of year that country music radio stations get flooded with Christmas songs.
Many are versions of the all-time favorites recorded by your favorite country stars.
In the past year, we have received wonderful Christmas albums from Darius Rucker, Kelly Clarkson and Blake Shelton.
Many of the new Christmas singles that are sent to us are by no-name garage bands and karaoke singers hoping to strike it rich with the next “Rudolf Got Run Over By a Reindeer.”
This year, we heard from Sherwin Linton, who sent us his CD called “Global Warming Christmas (There is no Snow in Kalamazoo).”
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Batson Haynes sent his potential Christmas Classic, “Santa’s Having a Tailgate” and Kacey Jones is hoping to strike a cord with “I’m Down To My Christmas Underwear.”
Novelty Christmas songs have also been recorded by famous actors and comedians with mixed success.
Bill Engvall hit it big with “Here’s Your Sign Christmas.” Jeff Foxworthy sold millions of copies of his “12 Redneck Days of Christmas.”
Their follow-ups were less-than-exciting. Engvall’s “Fruitcake Makes Me Puke” didn’t get a lot of air play.
Cledus T. Judd had a Christmas hit with “The Tree’s On Fire,” but his next attempt, “Stephon the Alternative Lifestyle Reindeer,” was not. The Duck Dynasty crew has struck gold with their album “Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas.”
Some artists get airplay by recording music that is patriotic or heart-touching.
Songs like “Flags on the Christmas Tree,” “No Snow in Iraq” and “Little Billy’s Christmas Wish” remind us we should be thankful for our men and women in service this time of year.
Comedian Rodney Carrington, who is famous for funny and raunchy songs, has a tender and serious Christmas hit with “Camouflage and Christmas Lights.”
While most of the Christmas songs sent to us either end up in the bargain bin or in file 13, occasionally a song from an unknown artist will hit the jackpot and become a holiday classic.
Vince Vance and the Valiant’s recorded their hit “All I Want for Christmas is You” in 1989. For the past 15 years, Billboard Magazine has reported the song as the most played Christmas song on radio.
Da Yoopers is a traveling comedy show and musical group from Ishpeming, Mich., which, in 1986, recorded a parody of “Jingle Bells” called “Rusty Chevrolet” that has made them famous every December since.
And finally, what would Christmas be like in New England without Lou Monte’s Christmas staple, “Dominick the Donkey,” recorded in 1962?
COUNTRY TIDBITS
Almost two years after Ray Price‘s death, AmeriMonte Records is releasing a new single off of his final album. “No More Songs to Sing” was penned by Robert Ellis Orrall, Roger Springer and Tony Ramey and appears on “Beauty Is … the Final Sessions.” Price passed away on Dec. 16, 2013, from pancreatic cancer; he was 87.