Christmas Made in Canada! rolls on... Before there was Justin Bieber, Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion, Anne Murray... There was Wilf Carter! An East-Coaster (he hailed from Nova Scotia), Carter -- according to Wikipedia -- is the father of country music in Canada, and judging by the photo on the cover, was one happy dude. And it shows in this RCA Camden recording of 10 Christmas tunes,
Christmas in Canada, a few of which you're unlikely to have heard outside the country of Canada -- "Punkinhead" (the sad-red-headed bear, an Eaton's department store marketing creation), the titular "Christmas Time in Canada", complete with spoken intro by Carter, and "Ting-a-Ling a Jingle" (I believe the Ames Bros. are one of a few artists that have also recorded this song). Also included is Carter's "Jolly Old St. Nicholas", which he has often been credited as actually writing.
The mood here is more relaxed and informal than a lot of Christmas music -- think lo-fi country with yodelling ("Silver Bells"), kind of a Slim Whitman Christmas, if that even exists. It might not be high art, but I dare you not to check this out and crack a smile at least once... Or catch yourself yodeling along with Wilf.
Please enjoy:
Christmas in Canada
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Yes! Your description of Wilf's genial, lo-fi approach is right on the red nose! I'm a Canuck and have loved this for years. It always brings some smiles, and is worth it alone for the cheesy, uplifting organ runs.
ReplyDeleteDear Hi-Fi,
ReplyDeleteMy holiday song Operation North Pole got airplay from DJ Jimmy Jay yesterday.
Press release:
http://www.prlog.org/11159531-radio-airplay-for-martin-blasicks-operation-north-pole.html
I hope it would be nice for your blog. Youtube vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6S_nz3wS7U
for sale on bandcamp:
http://martinblasick.bandcamp.com/album/happy-holidays
I'm happy to send a preview copy.
Don't mean to blatantly plug my music but I didn't see an email link.
Happy Holidays,
Martin Blasick