Erin McKeown

In this special NSFW episode of "12 Songs of Christmas," singer Erin McKeown makes the case against Christmas and holiday music. In 2011, she released F*ck That!--and in this episode, we do say "Fuck"--which started as a laugh and ended up being a tool to work out some demons. She talks with host Alex Rawls about her fairly typical childhood experience with Christmas, and how at some point her questions and issues surrounding the holiday came together to constitute a genuine antipathy toward the holiday season. 

This conversation features music from F*ck That! as well as "Hey Lord" by Suicide and "Christmas with You (Merry Me)" by New Orleans' Kelcy Mae. 

After that, Alex talks about Lucy Dacus' recently released version of "Last Christmas," which was originally done by Wham! To help explain his take on that song, Alex also plays Taylor Swift's version.

If you’re listening to this episode here, please subscribe to “12 Songs” through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher and Spotify. That way, you don’t miss an episode and I have numbers to help convince artists and their managers that appearing on the podcast is a good idea. Those numbers also help advertisers see “12 Songs” as a way to reach their markets. It’s a win/win!