NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

The Vanguard Room is a recording studio in Lakeland, Florida, run by Aaron Marsh , best known for his work with Copeland . Besides recording Copeland, Marsh has recorded and produced artists such as Anberlin , This Wild Life , Anchor & Braille , The Myriad , and many others. In 2019, The Vanguard Room released the album, A Lakeland Christmas, Vol. 1 , a project funded by Kickstarter . The ten-track record features local artists from Lakeland covering Christmas tunes. None of the artists featured have a large streaming following, but the Aaron-Marsh-produced record is beautiful nonetheless. Today, we'll look at the John Denver song " Christmas for Cowboys " performed by Dan Sharrett of nora's breakfast club , originally from Denver's Rocky Mountain Christmas album. BACK IN THE CITY, THEY’VE GOT DIFFERENT WAYS--FOOTBALL, EGGNOG, AND CHRISTMAS PARADES. Starting in about October, I started listening to Spotify’s country playlists. It’s a genre that I have to b

  "I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I. Don't want a lot for Christmas." *struggles to change the radio dial amid gridlocked holiday traffic* "There's just one thing I need" *hurry up with my damn latte! I think I'm going to die. Why the hell is  Starbucks   playing Christmas music in mid-October?* "I don't care about the presents" *internal Elaine monologue 'I think I'm going to die in this department store. Ma'am, why must you spray the perfume so close to my face. I can't breathe! What if the earth begins to shake and we're stuck in here forever underneath mannequins and holiday shoppers and that damn  Mariah Carey     song  stuck on repeat?'* "Underneath the Christmas tree" "No" *raising a strict finger to students who should be studying in the back* "Not before Thanksgiving." "I just want you for my own/ More than you could ever know." Every year, Christmas music gets earlier and earli

  Hark! An unexpected gift has appeared under the tree this season, and it’s a gift for us all to Cher . That’s right, this year Cher has released Christmas , a combination of jukebox Christmas favorites (and non-Christmas songs made festive) and new jingly jams. Unless you’re a Jack McFarland-level fan of the corset-wearing pop star, you probably haven’t thought about the 77-year-old star since, well, 1998 when the contralto brought autotuning to the mainstream with her mega comeback hit “ Believe .” For millennials like me, it was my first introduction to the singer. It was also a rarity for a singer popular during my parents’ generation to score a number-one hit on pop radio. And while Cher's latest Christmas single, " DJ Play a Christmas Song ," has not yet hit Billboard' s Hot 100 --it's peaked at 115 so far--the song has topped Billboard 's Adult Contemporary chart. THAT’S THE ONLY THING I WANT THIS YEAR. Cher’s Christmas is a little anti-climactic afte

  In 1944 or 1945, Mel Tormé   and Robert Wells wrote the song “ Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire .” Tormé talks about writing the song on a hot summer’s day as a list of cold weather fantasies he and Wells, his songwriting partner, brainstormed in order to think cool thoughts. The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded the song in June 1946, under the name “ The Christmas Song ” (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire). The group re-recorded the song in August, which became a hit on pop and R&B radio. Nat “King” Cole , as a solo artist, would record the song two more times throughout his career. Cole’s 1961 version, his fourth and final, is the version most played on radio and streamed today. That version is also in the Library of Congress to be preserved by the United States National Recording Registry . SO, I’M OFFERING THIS SIMPLE PHRASE. On a 2021 holiday episode of Hit Parade , host Chris Molaphany talks about the phenomenon of classic hit-makers becoming reduced to their holida

  When Aaron Gillespie announced his solo project would be the band The Almost , it began with the Underoath drummer recording demos and uploading them to MySpace under the moniker The Almost. In 2006, while recording Define the Great Line , Gillespie started writing the album Southern Weather , which he would then take to Aaron Sprinkle and record in ten days, releasing the album in 2007. Gillespie played most of the instruments on the album. Before the release of Southern Weather, Gillespie formed a band to tour and promote the album, including Dusty Redmon and  Jay Vilardi   on guitars, Alex Aponte   on bass, and Kenny Bozisch on drums. I GET IT, I NEED TO FALL. The Almost’s Southern Weather was a successful record released on both Tooth & Nail and Virgin Records. The lead single, “ Say This Sooner ” peaked at number 7 on the Alternative Airplay chart. The band’s second album, Monster Monster , was also jointly released through Tooth & Nail and Virgin Records.  Gillespi

  We’ve come to the end of this year’s Anberlin : Seasons series. It’s been a big year for the band from the release of their second post-hiatus EP, Convinced . The shift in direction to post-hardcore didn't necessarily translate to the band's live show, as they only performed the lead single " Lacerate " live. The band played many legacy shows, including Hawethorne Heights' ...Is for Lovers and Furnace Fest. In August, Anberlin played a show in Dallas without lead singer Stephen Christian . Filling in for Christian was Memphis May Fire singer Matty Mullins . Then in October, the band announced that Stephen would be taking an indefinite hiatus from the band's touring schedule in 2024 with Mullins taking on lead vocalist duties for Anberlin's touring schedule. Stephen played his last show in North America last Friday, though he will tour with the band in Australia in early 2024. 

  Sleeping at Last   is a band that almost made a song of the day two days ago for their   cover   of " Chasing Cars " until I made time to listen to the Snow Patrol version and their music, eventually settling on " You're All I Have."  Like   Snow Patrol , Sleeping at Last came to fame, albeit not Snow Patrol-level of fame, from a well-placed appearance in Season 3 of   Grey's Anatomy .  The indie-rock band turned solo project of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist   Ryan O'Neal   has had many songs included in the ABC drama and its spin-off,   Private Practice .  Their cover of   "Chasing Cars" was used to add a dramatic counterpoint in the series, as the audience had already heard the original in the Season 2 finale. O'Neal stays busy producing lots of music, composing albums based on larger concepts, such as the solar system, the Enneagram, emotions, land, oceans, and many other topics.  WAR IS OVER, IF YOU WANT IT.  In the band