Welcome to the Holiday Extravaganza edition of BLUES JUNCTION.

Christmas time is hard on a lot of people. We are, at the very best, comparing this year’s current holiday experience to all others. Does it live up to those tinsel covered expectations? Was the turkey as good as it was last year? Who is missing from this year’s festivities? Am I alone this Christmas? Am I with family? Depending on one’s family, maybe you wish you were alone. Nothing conjures up these thoughts like Christmas music, it is everywhere and practically unavoidable. To make matters worse, much of this music is just old and tired.  

We here at BLUES JUNCTION are concerned about our readers and their mental health this time of year. It is why we have a feature entitled The Best Christmas Albums of All-Time. Many have been in our library for years. However, there are three new entries on this list of holiday favorites. Each of these three albums are reviewed here in this month’s edition of BLUES JUNCTION. They are Socks by JD McPherson, Hi-Fi Christmas Guitar by Joel Paterson and a wonderful compilation entitled Boogie Woogie Santa Claus.

If you have these albums in your library you can listen to them and not be driven stark raving mad. They are also fun to travel with 1) to  avoid the absolute drivel being played by the XM Satellite Radio this time of year and 2) you can bring them to Christmas parties and play a little defense. It’s a win/win. You don’t have to grab your head and let out a blood curdling scream just because some thoughtless cretin put Little Drummer Boy on the jukebox.

The album Boogie Woogie Santa Claus that I mentioned earlier comes to us via the Richard Weize Archives from the Rhythm Bomb Records family of labels out of Germany. Speaking of Rhythm Bomb Records (RBR), Christmas came early for fans of vintage music in America, as RBR has finally struck a deal with a distributor here in the United States. What this means is that Charlie Lange’s Bluebeat Music has just begun to carry many of the titles from this label, whose output over the past couple of years has been prolific. As we prepare to publish, Bluebeat Music has no less than thirteen separate compilations all put together by than none other than the D.J. Mojo Man himself aka Little Victor on the RBR subsidiary imprint Koko-Mojo Records. We will try and keep you posted on this exciting development.

While on the subject of Bluebeat Music check out Charlie Lange’s Re-Issue Rodeo. We also have another Recommended Listening feature that we hope you enjoy.

We are also republishing the interview I did with Santa Claus that goes back to December 2015. If you haven’t seen this yet you are in for a treat. Santa and I discuss a variety of subjects in a wide ranging and candid conversation with this generally very private, long time North Pole resident.

Additionally, we present another reoccurring feature which has always been popular with our readers and that is called Re-Visited. It is where we look back on an old recording that is a favorite of ours out here at the JUNCTION. This month we examine an album (CD) called Blues Mistletoe and Santa’s Little Helper. We are making this CD available to our readers. For details click here or contact me. This long out of print compilation features many of the stars of the long defunct Black Top Records out of New Orleans and is a real gem.

As we close out this year, I would like to wish all of our loyal readers a most joyous and happy holiday season. We are constantly trying our very best to enhance our product and bring you what we hope is a thoughtful and enlightening commentary on this music that we love. Thanks always for your kind words of support throughout the years.

Until next year…be well and be in touch.

- David Mac