Well my friends, 2010 is rapidly coming to a close. Halloween has come and gone and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. This can only mean one thing: Starbucks is switching to red cups! That, and the most ambitious musical project I have ever attempted is about to be unleashed on the world!
Last September, Lindsey and I decided to record God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen on a whim because she had some credit left with Light Of Day Studios. The song came together pretty quickly and it didn’t change much from the version you heard on the EP last year. With GRYM Gents (as we call it) more or less in the bag, Lindsey and I realized that we may have time to put eight or ten songs together in time to release a full Christmas album for 2009. We scratched out six songs and, after a few recording sessions, it became apparent that we were only going to be able to get three additional songs complete in time to get an album out by the week before Christmas. Lindsey convinced me that an EP would be fine for 2009, but we would have to promise to follow the EP with a full-length album in 2010…in fact, she even added that commitment to the back cover of the EP sleeve. The EP was released a few weeks before Christmas and we sold every physical copy we ordered within two weeks, it was a bigger hit than we had imagined!
I owe so many thanks to so many people for their role in the new album. My gratitude runs the gamut from the musicians that contributed to Yuletide Songbook, Volume 1, to the people that simply told me that they are excited to hear our album…in February.
Chad, Rainier, Erdis and Lindsey are the most talented group of musicians I have ever played with. There’s a chemistry among us that makes performing these songs second nature and that is hard to find! In addition to being a fine group of musicians, these individuals are some of the warmest people I know and their enduring friendships have become one the great joys in my life.
Of course, taking on a project of this scope and taking over an entire room in my house for eight months requires a very patient and dedicated spouse. My wife Nicole may not always enjoy hearing Little Drummer Boy over and over and over again, but she was always behind me 100%...even if that meant listening to Little Drummer Boy one more time.
I have to give a special thank you to Ryan Hawley. I think Lindsey would agree that Ryan’s Cheshire smile during our EP release concert kept us going all year. Ryan is, officially, our biggest fan.
Lindsey just put Yuletide Songbook, Volume 1 up for presale last weekend and there has already been an out-pouring of support from the online community…presumably all of our friends. Without support from people like you, Lindsey and I would not be nearly as committed to projects like this. Thank you for buying our music!
Finally, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the staff at Vista Grande Community Church for their strong support of our efforts. This church has served as a recording space, rehearsal studio, advertising agency and performance venue for us and all they have ever asked for in return is that we fill the house with music! We’re happy to oblige!
Ok, now the fun stuff. This was the first full-length album I have ever recorded at my “studio”, so I made sure to keep the atmosphere light and fun. There were so many silly takes and bloopers that never made it to the final album, but I kept a lot of the best ones in case Lindsey ever tries to blackmail me. Although we kept the album professional, you may like to know that the “party noises” that open the album were a series of conversations I had recorded during one of the early sessions. Rainier, Lindsey and Chad thought I was prepping a new project file for recording, so they were discussing Lindsey’s beloved fart app. I overheard the subject matter and just let the conversation track. That’s right, all of those conversations are about farts…real professional. My favorite line is, “there’s nothing funnier than a fart!” You’re right Chad, nothing tops a good fart sound.
The big finish on O Holy Night took three separate recording sessions, not because Lindsey couldn’t hit the note, but because she just couldn’t settle on the best version. Lindsey is a little neurotic when it comes to picking nits, but I still think she has one of the best voices out there. Even her “bad” takes are amazing. Although I feel that my performances on this album are nowhere near “perfect”, Lindsey still sticks with me, so for this, I put up with her neurosis. Besides, without perfectionists, we would have no standard to live up to.
Large projects come with large pressures. Through the course of recording this album, Lindsey and I both quit The Winters several times and threatened to start our own Christmas bands. I always won because I just threatened to sample her vocal performances and play without her. Obviously, we were kidding around, but it was always fun to drop the “I Quit!” in the middle of a difficult session. In fact, I quit twice tonight.
I hope you enjoy listening to this album as much as we enjoyed recording it. There is a fair amount of blood (dead Bose), sweat (no AC this summer) and tears (after having to listen to the master eight times in a row) in this album and my hope is that our hard work has left you with a Christmas album that will stand up against the classics in your collection. Best regards and Merry Christmas from me to you!
Blake G. Darling
Winter
