While we may all have ghouls and ghosts on our minds right now thanks to the rapidly approaching Halloween, Blue Rodeo are looking further ahead with their newly announced holiday album A Merrie Christmas to You. The upcoming festival offering will arrive both physically and digitally on Tuesday (November 4) through Warner.
Although the album includes a couple of well-known Christmas tunes — "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "O Come All Ye Faithful" — the rest are a slightly more modern. There are covers of Joni Mitchell, Big Star, Paul Simon, Gordon Lightfoot, the Band and more. There are also two Blue Rodeo originals: Jim Cuddy's brand-new "Home to You This Christmas" and a re-recording of Greg Keelor's "Glad to Be Alive."
The album was recorded in a week at their very own Woodshed Studio in Toronto. Each song was captured live.
"The songs are as much about the season as they are about the actual day," Cuddy said in a statement about the selection of material. "The criteria for choosing material were to find songs that we could actually sing and make our own."
The cover art comes from an illustration by Keelor's great-uncle, who made greeting cards back in the '20s. The tracklist is below, and the name of the artist who wrote each song is in parentheses.
A Merrie Christmas to You:
1. Jesus Christ (Big Star)
2. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Hugh Martin & Ralph Blane)
3. If We Make It Through December (Merle Haggard)
4. River (Joni Mitchell)
5. O Come All Ye Faithful (traditional)
6. Getting Ready for Christmas Day (Paul Simon)
7. Glad to Be Alive
8. Home to You This Christmas
9. Song for a Winter's Night (Gordon Lightfoot)
10. Christmas Must Be Tonight (The Band)
Although the album includes a couple of well-known Christmas tunes — "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "O Come All Ye Faithful" — the rest are a slightly more modern. There are covers of Joni Mitchell, Big Star, Paul Simon, Gordon Lightfoot, the Band and more. There are also two Blue Rodeo originals: Jim Cuddy's brand-new "Home to You This Christmas" and a re-recording of Greg Keelor's "Glad to Be Alive."
The album was recorded in a week at their very own Woodshed Studio in Toronto. Each song was captured live.
"The songs are as much about the season as they are about the actual day," Cuddy said in a statement about the selection of material. "The criteria for choosing material were to find songs that we could actually sing and make our own."
The cover art comes from an illustration by Keelor's great-uncle, who made greeting cards back in the '20s. The tracklist is below, and the name of the artist who wrote each song is in parentheses.
A Merrie Christmas to You:
1. Jesus Christ (Big Star)
2. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Hugh Martin & Ralph Blane)
3. If We Make It Through December (Merle Haggard)
4. River (Joni Mitchell)
5. O Come All Ye Faithful (traditional)
6. Getting Ready for Christmas Day (Paul Simon)
7. Glad to Be Alive
8. Home to You This Christmas
9. Song for a Winter's Night (Gordon Lightfoot)
10. Christmas Must Be Tonight (The Band)