Last year, I got to work on the Christmas CD right after coming off of Scoot 66 and by the end of August, it was pretty well ready to go. This year, mostly because of the In Between Mixes, I’m a bit more timely. Still, the Christmas swag is already in stores and I am already well on my way to having the Christmas CD ready to send out in lieu of actual Christmas cards.

While the now more plentiful In Between Mixes generally focus on specific bits of music, the Christmas Mixes are broader and hopefully more enjoyable to more people.

Up to this point, the Christmas mixes were obviously Christmas (or seasonally) centered. The music was never Christmas music, but the covers reflected the time of year. The first, A Cure for the Winter Blues, was about winter. The second, Mary Christmas, used a bit of word play to show you 17 Bruce Springsteen songs that mention the name “Mary.” The third, last year’s Covers to Keep You Warm, alluded to the chilly climate in winter while chuckin’ a bunch of cover songs at you.

This year, I forgo all of that. I sort of miss it, but it also broadens the idea and allows me a bit more freedom, which is nice. The problem is that I started the Christmas CDs as a replacement for Christmas cards and this year’s hardly accomplishes that.

Still, I think it’s a fun mix.

Ok, this year’s mix is…

Greetings from the Lower 48
48 Songs about 48 States

Last summer (in 2008), I finally made it to all of the lower 48 states. That got me to thinking, “I bet there’s at least one song for each state.” That, as you might have figured out, was true. Sure, for some states (like California) there are a billion songs. But for other states (like South Carolina), you’re sort of a bit stuck. Some states were easy and gave me many songs to pick from, others pretty well forced me to use a song I maybe didn’t care so much about, but eventually great to like.

This is a very solid and unpredictable mix. I did not use “Hotel California” or “New York, New York” in this mix. I have more self-respect than that. Some songs, however, so require a bit of a stretch to make work. That’s ok though, they’re good songs.

While compiling the songs, I got to thinking about song order. Which song would come first? Which would come last? How would the songs fit together? Then I figured that since I was doing a mix about something that already had an order to it, I’ll just use that.

The songs, each about a single state, are arranged in the order of statehood. This means that Delaware’s song is first. Maryland’s is seventh. Wisconsin’s is 30th. Arizona has the last song.

The artists vary wildly and range from Weird Al to Billy Joel. From Judy Garland to Matt Pond PA (which is one of the stupidest names for a band ever – still a decent song). There’s also a bunch of stuff from bands you’ve never heard of like the Valparaiso Men’s Chorus, The Devil Makes Three and Six Cents & Natalie. But there’s also Frank Zappa, Hank Williams and Camper Van Beethoven.

So anyway, just wanted to give you a head’s up. It’ll be awhile before they’re actually finished and ready to go. They’ll mail out when most folks mail out Christmas cards. If you got one last year, you’ll get one this year (probably). If you’ve moved, let me know.

And most importantly, this is my fourth Christmas putting out mix CDs. In that time, I’ve gotten lots of thanks, which is very nice, but only one mix CD (actually several from one friend) in return. Christmas cards are nice and lovely and they’re really appreciated, but Christmas mixes would be awesome! Thanks!