George Winston, The Bird and The Bee, The Myrrhderers, and Mento Buru

I'm ending 2020 with a bang on a number of fronts. First, I have four interviews for the nights before Christmas--"folk pianist" George Winston; singer Inara George of The Bird and The Bee; Jamie Hilsden, who performed this holiday season as The Myrrhderers; and Matt Munoz of the East Bakersfield ska band Mento Buru. 

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The second big news is that there will more in the upcoming months from all of these artists and others I have interviewed this season including Steven Drozd, Grant-Lee Phillips, Joey Burns of Calexico, and Holly Foster-Wells, Peggy Lee's granddaughter. Twelve Songs will take December 30 off but will return January 6, 2021 and will continue year-around at that point. I've always thought that the show was more about musicians and their musical, commercial and personal lives, and that Christmas music was simply a unique lens to help us get that view. I've never thought the show was simply part of the soundtrack to the season.

This episode's interviews need little explanation. Inara George's roofers decided the day and hour of our interview was the time that they needed to work over her room, but the hammering is only briefly noticeable. All of today’s artists have new music this season. Winston has released a new version of “Silent Night” that we talk about extensively in the interview. It was inspired by New Orleans’ Professor Longhair and Joseph Byrd, who released the analog synth Christmas album A Christmas Yet to Come.  The new track is for sale at Apple Music and benefits Feeding America, a network of more than 400 non-profit food banks.

The Bird and The Bee have released a number of Christmas songs that we’ll talk about next year, but this year they released the excellent Put Up the Lights. The Myrrhderers released two punk Christmas EPs, The Myrrhderers Sleigh Christmas (with a cover that riffs on the Bad Brains’ self-titled debut album) and The Myrrhderers Sleigh Some More. Mento Buru released an EP of ska Christmas music, East Bakersfield Christmas.

episodesAlex RawlsGeorge Winston, Christmas music, interview, conversation, Inara George, The Bird and The Bee, punk rock, The Myrrhderers, Jamie Hilsden, Mento Buru, Matt Munoz, East Bakersfield Christmas, Put Up the Lights, Silent Night, skaComment