Christmas In July 2026-Part 11

Happy Saturday! I feel like I get fewer visitors on the weekends. I don't have any numbers to prove that, but I think I get fewer comments and I'm interpreting that as fewer total visitors. Not sure why unless some of you read the blog at work. Is that true? Are you at work reading this right now? OK, maybe not. Anyhow, the most interesting thing I have for you today are two tracks from different records that used the same stock photo cover. I almost didn't notice until I was sitting there looking at it wondering why one of the stained glass windows was split into different sections that the others. Then I wondered the same thing on another record and realized it was the same picture. Weird how that works. They spent decades slowly making their way to me from who-knows-where and then somehow I'm able to put them together.

1. Moe Koffman-Lonely Shepherd (The Magic Flute Of Moe Koffman, 1984)

We start off the day with a shepherd song that is not the usual one associated with Moe Koffman. I knew the name seemed familiar when I spotted this LP but I had to do some digging before I realized he's the composer behind Swinging Shepherd Blues. That one will show up later, but for now you get this shepherd song written by James Last.

2. Rev. Arthur E. Thom-Sweet Little Jesus Boy (His Name Is Jesus, 1972)

This is the first of the two tracks from albums with shared stock cover images. It's from the one shown up at the top of the post. I can't tell you much about the Rev. Thom, but he released an album and I dug it up. Isn't that enough?

3. Red Garter-Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (Santa's Musical Grog)

One more cut from this album full of musical grog. Thankfully for us, it's half filled with Christmas grog.

4. Madison Junior And Senior Choir, David Alan Ayers-Director-Sleigh Ride (The Joy Of Christmas And Greats From America Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow)

Come on and take a sleigh ride with these school choirs. I didn't make a note in there about where this school was located. Anybody got a clue, maybe with the director's name?

5. Poldi Zeitlin, Pianist-The Sick Doll (Tchaikovsky 24 Pieces For The Piano-Masterwork Series For The Young Musician, 1952)

More piano music from Zeitlin and Tchaikovsky.

6. Sharalee Lucas-Come On, Ring Those Bells (The Ultimate Accompaniment Library, Medium-High Voice, Volumes 9, 10, 1979)

This one is a cover of a song made popular by Evie, from her LP that I shared out here a while back. I was sort of surprised to see it turn up on this sampler of karaoke tracks, but there it was.

7. Hope Publishing Company, Somerset Press, Agape-Noel! The Savior Is Born (The Very Best Sacred Choral Music, 1979)

Sheet music advertising, buy, buy, buy!

8. Six Fat Dutchmen-Jolly Sleigh Polka (Merry Polkas, 1957)

I'm sure I've shared this track out with you any number of times, but I always have to turn their records over and look when I see them, it's just such a fun band name.

9. St. Cecilia's Men's Choir, Conducted By C. Irving Guyer-Holy Night (Glory To God In The Highest, 1965)

And this is the other track from an LP with the shared cover image of the day. It's right below this text and seems to be from about seven years earlier than the one above. I guess they keep these images in circulation for a good long while to get the most value out of them.

10. Bowmar Orchestral Library-Dance Of The Toy Flutes (Stories In Ballet And Opera)

And one last library track for today bring us to the end. Hope there's something good in there for you. Try to stay cool out there! 

MEGA

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

Christmas In July 2026-Part 9

Day nine, not quite a third of the way through the month, just getting started really. Seems like a lot longer though. I'm trying to do a little bit more commentary this year, don't know if you've noticed. In the far distant past I always said a little something about every track, but in recent years I've just posted the track list, said something generic about the whole collection and called it done. This year I'm trying to get back to that old habit of trying to post some little tidbit about each track. It's tough when there are ten tracks from the same album, trying to come up with something new every day is not the easiest thing. And then all those demo tracks from publishers trying to sell you their arrangements, I'm rapidly running out of ways to talk those up. But I'm doing my best to keep it a little interesting around these parts. Enough blather though, let's jump in the pile for this Thursday.

1. Doc Williams-Snowdeer (Collectors Series #1, 1957)

I'm a sucker for any song with the word 'snow' in the title. That's almost always an automatic record for the pile. I can only think of one exception, I think it's some song from Porgy And Bess. It really didn't do anything Christmassy for me.

2. Greater Milwaukee Touring Youth Symphony-Conductor: Hazel Johnson Wunsch-Bugler's Holiday (European Concert Tour 1971, 1971)

Not really a Christmas song, though I think it turned up on a Boston Pops Christmas record once, with Al Hirt on trumpet. That's a good enough reason for me to include it here.

3. Arthur Lyman-Sound Of Music Medley: (a) The Sound Of Music (b) My Favorite Things (c) Do Re Mi (d) Climb Every Mountain (The Shadow Of Your Smile, 1966)

The second-coolest guy in exotica, and as far as I know one of the few exotica artists to record a full Christmas LP. Pretty sure I've brought you this one before, but I couldn't pass it up when I noticed it.

4. Conducted By Paul J. Smith-Snow Frolic (People And Places: Switzerland/Samoa, 1956)

This is from the LP I chose to put at the top of the post with that great postcard image of the Swiss Alps and some alpen-horn blowers. I've been to Switzerland and it really does look like that. Green in the valley, snow and ice high above the treeline. We went to the top of a mountain on a skilift and the altitude made breathing painful. I understand that you get used to it but it felt a bit like someone was sitting on my chest for a few hours and something was burning inside my lungs.

5. Continental Strings And Brass-Go Tell It/Children (Go Tell It On The Mountain/Children Go Where I Send Thee Medley) (How Majestic Is Your Name, 1984)

I always pick up religious albums and check for Christmas songs. My hit rate with them is much higher than most other genres of music. This one is a bit late in the game for me, but it'll do. Hard to believe this is over 40 years ago now. I'm old...

6. Eydie Gormé-Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year (Love Is A Season, 1959)

Another great track from this LP, but still not the best one. It's coming, trust me!

7. Hope Publishing Company, Somerset Press, Agape-Come, Lord Jesus! (The Very Best Sacred Choral Music, 1979)

Is this the only publisher's demo track in the pile today? I must have screwed up somehow, I know I have a lot of these left for you. I'll have to double up on them tomorrow, sorry.

8. The Arlingtones, Jay Giallombardo-Director-Silver Bells (A Chorus For All Seasons)

More of that great barbershop harmony!

9. Gooding Amusement's German Organ-Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer (Christmas With The Gooding Band Organ, 1984)

I suspect the people who designed and built this organ never imagined a song about a reindeer with a red nose would be played on it. I'm sure they had novelty songs at the time, maybe even Christmas novelties, but Rudolph kind of takes the cake.

10. The Choir Of Leeds Parish Church-Directed By Simon Lindley-Michael Harris, Organ-O Come, All Ye Faithful (Favourite Hymns And Christmas Carols, 1984)

Last but not least is a track from an LP issued to help restore and maintain this church. I wish more places would put out Christmas music like that. That's all I have to say for today, so I'll shut up now. Don't forget to come back tomorrow for more. Enjoy!

MEGA

Christmas In July 2026-Part 8

We're moving into the second week of Christmas in July and we've still got a long way to go. I felt like I had a lot of music to share back in April when we finally wrapped up Christmas at Christmastime sharity, but then the finds just started coming out of the woodwork. Sometimes I go months without finding a single record I can plunder, but for a while there I was coming home with ten songs in a week. Then one day I went to the huge book store up in Largo (an hour away!) and came home with 44 new records to grab tracks from. On average, I get two tracks from each record, so that added almost 90 songs to the pile. So what was recently planned to be an average year is now going to be our biggest season in maybe the last five or six. I love finding this stuff and sharing it with you folks is just icing on the cake.

1. The Harry Simeone Chorale-One Little Candle (The Harry Simeone Chorale, 1966)

Harry really kept trying to have another big Christmas hit after stealing The Little Drummer Boy out from under Katherine Davis and Jack Halloran. This is probably not one of those attempts, but I thought it was worth sharing and mentioning. Little Drummer Boy was a great song and a great arrangement, but he shouldn't have taken the lion's share of the credit like he did. Rant mode off...

2. Flip Phillips And His Orchestra-I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (Flip Wails, 1956)

I shared this song with you before during my Christmas celebration of all things 45 a couple years ago, but I found it recently on this LP with a great cover painting, so you're getting it again.

3. Gooding Amusement's German Organ-White Christmas (Christmas With The Gooding Band Organ, 1984)

A week in and I feel like I've given you a track off this LP every day. But they're good tracks, I hope you're enjoying them. Records like this with lots of tracks I can share are good for my morale. They make me feel like I'm sharing enough music to make the days interesting. When I'm only sharing three tracks a day, I feel like it's not really worth the effort. But ten a day is a good number.

4. The Concordia College Choir-Victor Hildner, Director-Christmas Comes Again (The Concordia College Choir, 1956)

Another record with lots and lots of tracks to share. Not as good as the band organ stuff, but still worth a listen.

5. Bob Bradburn-Count Your Blessings (Happy Holiday With CHQT Radio's Bob Bradburn And The Jasper Place High School Stage Band)

This is not the song that you think it is. Bob Bradburn claims the writing credit for it, but based on some of the other things on this album that he claims to have written, he's not to be trusted. Anybody heard this one before by someone else?

6. Called By Dick Kraus, Music By The Berkshire Mountain Boys-Jingle Bells (Square Dance Country Style, 1961)

This may be the only square dance I have to share with you this July, so enjoy!

7. Hope Publishing Company, Somerset Press, Agape-A Christmas Antiphonal (The Very Best Sacred Choral Music, 1979)

Isn't this a great arrangement? Would you like to purchase the sheet music? I can hook you up, just let me know.

8. Charter Wind Ensemble Under The Direction Of Caesar Giovannini And Bill Holcombe-We Wish You A Merry Christmas (Charter Sound Series Volume 5-Concert Band, 1973)

This one, too. I can get it for you wholesale!

9. Jenson Publications-Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (Jenson Publications Presents...Warner Bros. Finest For Concert Band, 1983)

You want more sheet music? No problem!

10. Joan Cushing & Ensemble-Prepare Ye The Way Of The Snowplow (A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Shoreham, 1990)

Now this is interesting. It's a comedy song and dance show out of DC from the late 80's-early 90's. There's lots of humor here that may go over your head if you weren't around at the time. I'm sure I'm missing most of the references, but I did know about Mayor Marion Berry and his cocaine habit. I had a good chuckle on one of my visits to DC when I saw his name on the big elaborate gate in Chinatown. I'm sure there aren't many copies of this thing floating around out in the world, except maybe in the basement corner of Joan Cushing's house. 

MEGA

Christmas In July 2026-Part 7

Well, today marks the end of the first week of sharing. I think it's turning out pretty well. At the very least, I haven't missed any days yet (though that's more down to the fact that I'm posting these ahead of time to leave myself a little breathing room. I'm not far ahead of real time, but I am in the future a bit). Do you have any favorite tracks so far? Have you even listened to anything? Are you one of those folks who's saving it all in a pile to listen to come Christmas? I think half the fun is experiencing a little bit of Christmas in the middle of the year, trying to get that odd combination of cold outside yet warm fireside glow inside. But to each his or her own. If you wanna wait, be my guest. In the meantime, let's jump into the pile for day seven.

1. The Concordia College Choir-Victor Hildner, Director-Listen, Lordlings, Unto Me (The Concordia College Choir, 1956)

An unknown-to-me song from this college group. It was on the Christmas side of the record so I have to assume it was a Christmas song. Someone may correct me though.

2. The Accordion Masters With Rhythm Accompaniment-Skater's Waltz (The Accordion Masters Play Twelve Favorite Waltzes, 1958)

This is the track from our featured LP cover above. I love to find accordion songs to share with you. They're usually much better than the harp records I find.

3. Bill Mann With The Concert Orchestra Of Stockholm-Go Tell It On The Mountain (Go Tell It On The Mountain, 1965)

A rerun from years past, but still a nice one. I love it when a non-Christmas record announces it's Christmas content right there on the cover in big letters. Despite it's using a Christmas song for the title, this is the only Christmas song on the record.

4. Bowmar Orchestral Library-Chinese Dance (Stories In Ballet And Opera)

Another installment of The Nutcracker Suite from this demo record. Well, I've been calling it a demo record, but IIRC there are no ads on it to buy the music. This may have been more along the lines of a studio library record with royalty-free performances you could use as needed. I think the cover is pretty generic with a sticker for the title and catalog number. Anyone familiar with this series?

5. Gooding Amusement's German Organ-Here Comes Santa Claus (Christmas With The Gooding Band Organ, 1984)

One more good track from this actual band wagon. It's a giant steam powered organ and percussion device that made music and it was on wheels to be moved from location to location. I think it had been converted to run on compressed air instead of steam, but the mechanism to play the music is still the same.

6. The Choir Of Leeds Parish Church-Directed By Simon Lindley-Michael Harris, Organ-Christians, Awake, Salute The Happy Morn (Favourite Hymns And Christmas Carols, 1984)

More music from this fundraising album. I wonder if they ever got the church back in tip-top shape? Looks like they're doing pretty well for themselves these days, so I guess they got the funds they needed back in 1984.

7. Faron Young-If We Make It Through December (A Man And His Music, 1974)

This may be my favorite track today. I never gave much though to people covering this Merle Haggard track but I guess they did an here's a little proof. I bet if I keep digging I'll find more covers.

8. The JM Choral Group-Novices And Postulates Of The Religious Of Jesus And Mary-Mother Marie Laetitia, R.J.M., Director-What Child Is This? (Patterns In Song, 1960)

There's a long history of singing nuns here at the blog, and this is more of the same. We do not, however, have much history of flying nuns, though there was that one track...

9. The Arlingtones, Jay Giallombardo-Director, Soloist: D. Allan-I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas (A Chorus For All Seasons)

Not sure why they lengthened the title of this song, unless they were hoping to get away without paying any royalties to Irving Berlin. I think they're going to need to be a little smarter than that.

10. The Crane Wind Ensemble, State University Of New York At Potsdam-Anthony J. Maiello, Director-March Of The Plastic Soldiers (Music For Concert Band, 1985)

And bringing up the rear is a song from a demo LP for the arrangements. I love when they announce the name of the song before they play it. Enjoy!

MEGA