Christmas In July 2026-Part 10

Welcome to day ten of Christmas in July! During the Christmas season proper, this is the day I try to share out a few 10" records (start here, end here). I didn't have enough slightly smaller records this year to do the whole share, but I do have a couple for you, one of which is very special and I'm hoping maybe you can help me find out some more info about just exactly what it is. Time to dive in.

1. Hope Publishing Company, Somerset Press, Agape-Were You There On That Christmas Night? (The Very Best Sacred Choral Music, 1979)

Of course I have to start out with some publisher's demo music. Still got a lot of these to go through, but not as many as when the month started.

2. Tommy Scott & His String Band-Joy Bells (The Best Of Tommy Scott's Blue Grass (Also Some Mountain And Gospel Songs), 1975)

Probably not much of a Christmas tune, but a little bluegrass never hurt anyone.

3. Poldi Zeitlin, Pianist-Mamma (Tchaikovsky 24 Pieces For The Piano-Masterwork Series For The Young Musician, 1952)

Some lesser-known Tchaikovsky for you. I imagined a doll saying mamma when I recorded this track. That's probably a stretch for Christmas, but let's just run with it, shall we?

4. The New Hope Singers, Soloist-Dennis Baw-Last Month Of The Year (New Hope For You!)

I really enjoyed this album from a group affiliated with a church in Texas. The better track is still coming, so keep checking back. (I enjoyed it so much I even recorded a non-Christmas song from the LP!)

5. Red Garter-White Christmas (Santa's Musical Grog)

I know I've shared tracks from this record in season's past but I was excited when I noticed the cover is a little bit different on this version I found recently. My old copy had a line on it about the band will trade a copy of the record for a beer. For whatever reason, at some point they changed that to say they would trade copies for a small tip. Not sure what would provoke a change like that, but OK.

6. Bowmar Orchestral Library-Trepak (Stories In Ballet And Opera)

Generic orchestra performing royalty-free music. Yes please!

7. Madison Junior And Senior Choir, David Alan Ayers-Director-Angels We Have Heard On High (The Joy Of Christmas And Greats From America Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow)

Hoping someone familiar with this school stops by at some point. I love hearing from people who have some connection to these private-press records.

8. Unknown Artists-Dear Mister Santa Claus (From The Score Of Meredith Willson's Here's Love 10" 33 RPM)

This is the very special record I told you about. I found it a couple weeks ago on the second pass through the record pile in the back of the thrift store. I had missed it the first time through because it was in a plain white sleeve and set apart from all the other records. Thankfully my wife was off trying on clothes and I had time to go back and do a second scan. It appears to be a promotional piece attached to the 1963 Broadway musical Here's Love, a retelling of the 1947 film Miracle On 34th Street. As I'm sure you know, that movie was all about how Santa Claus goes to work at Macy's and miracles happen. The play explores much of the same territory so there are plenty of Christmas songs sprinkled into the soundtrack. The tracks here are not the versions from the officially released cast recording, but seem to originate from around the same period. My copy was in a plain white, slightly water damaged sleeve, but the one copy I was able to track down on the internet seems to have a sleeve with an image of the brightly colored exclamation marks that was used in artwork for the play. There's even a note about sheet music being part of the package. I'm not going to spend the $15 they want for it (plus usurious shipping!) to but it and see what it looks like, but I'm hoping someone who stops by here can shed a little light. This particular song was used in the play but was not performed on the OCR. I was pretty excited about that. Give it a listen, tel me what you think I've got here. (If I get enough interest, I can share the whole LP with you after Christmas in July, I've got it all recorded already.)

Update: After I wrote this, a user commented on an earlier post and pointed me to a mention of this record on a cast album site. Good to know that it is a known item out there. 

9. The Mennonite Hour Male Quartet-The Star Of Bethlehem (Hymns That Live 10" 33 RPM)

This is the only other 10" record I had in the pile to share with you. I think there were actually two songs on this one, I may have already shared the other inadvertently. But I remembered to hold this one back for the 10th.

10. Jenson Publications-Waltz Of The Flowers (Jenson Publications Presents...Warner Bros. Finest For Concert Band, 1983)

And we end where we began, a publisher's demo recording. It's filler, but it's nice. Anyhow, that's the end of the Christmas music for the day, hope you found something worth listening to. I'd be remiss if I didn't point you towards my buddy Buster's blog where he shares out music from 10" records year-round. He's always been a good friend to me and the blog, so I am more than happy to send a little love (and traffic) his way. Tell him I said hi!

MEGA