2023 by Smith Fam Christmas Jam

Each year, we aspire to be super on-the-ball and get all the songs recorded and ready to go by November so we can release ahead of the holidays and have a chance of people outside our family, you know, actually listen to us. But each year, we fail. And you know what? I think that’s okay. This year, like in previous years, pretty much everything came together within a week and I actually really enjoyed it.
It started with Lukas coming over two Saturdays ago to figure out an arrangement for Joy to the World or Hark the Herald Angels Sing. He half-heartedly strummed his way through the carols a couple of times, then hit me with a, “I mean, I don’t know, I actually wrote a Christmas song, maybe we could try that…” and then proceeded to play one of the best songs he’s ever written. I promptly responded, “Okay, it’s that. That’s the song we’re doing,” and by the following day, we had a working demo. Damon, Sophie, and I recorded some backing vocals and Damon ripped a guitar solo and we were done. Hear it all come together in “Utah Winter.”
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen was a song we had recorded and almost finished last year. In the end, however, it didn’t feel quite right, so we put it on the shelf to revisit another year, and I’m so glad we did. Waiting a year meant that we got Sawyer on the sax and our good friends the Gees as our caroler choir (the version with Mellotron choir was truly cursed). Those two additions really pushed it over the edge for me and it may be my favorite Christmas jam we’ve ever recorded.
And last, an 11th hour addition. We had already locked in the track list, but Sophie sent me a cryptic text ahead of our all-day marathon recording session this past Saturday saying “If I want to play the bass do I need to bring a cord?” Hmm, I knew Sophie had been learning bass this past year, but I had already tracked bass on the songs we were working on, so I wasn’t sure what she was planning to do. Still, I thought she might have some ideas to try, so I went with it. So, on Saturday, she came with her bass and shortly after walking in, asked, “So, when are we doing I’ll Be Home For Christmas?” This was news to me, but after she told me she’d been practicing it for weeks, I had a vague recollection of her mentioning once in early November that she would work on an arrangement of the song, then never brought it up again. Still, we had time to kill before Damon got there, so I figured what the heck. She had a bass line that felt very 50s/60s, and she mentioned She & Him as an influence, so I took that and ran with it. We had the whole song recorded in an afternoon. I love the energy and creativity that comes from spontaneity in music. I hope you can hear that on our version of I’ll Be Home For Christmas.
Notably absent from this year’s Christmas jam are Venice, Kilian, Mom, Dad, and Lucy. They were meant to be featured on a different song that we started recording, but between Venice finishing up her last semester of classes (Hallelujah!) and everyone’s busy holiday schedules, we couldn’t finish it in time. Look out for a folky rendition of In the Bleak Midwinter next year and rest assured, they were still involved in this year’s jam and the songs are better for their feedback.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season with love in your hearts and good times with friends and family. I know I’m appreciating that this year more than most with everything going on in the world.