Christmas In July '24-Day 6

Day six already, time sure flies when you're having fun! I don't know how I used to do this when I was sharing out a dozen tracks a day, and went into the month with no music already recorded. Well, I was single and had few obligations out in the real world, so I was able to spend all my time finding, recording and sharing the music. But life has changed a bit for me, but I've still got music to share with you. Today's new track is a winter-themed song from Kinks guitarist Dave Davies. His brother Ray seems to have been the powerhouse behind The Kinks success, but Dave had a hand in it as well. It's certainly a change of pace from the other two songs. Enjoy!

1. The New York Percussion Trio-Drummer's Holiday (Holidays For Percussion, 1959)
2. Jane Morgan-Arranged And Conducted By Charles Albertine-Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Jane Morgan Serenades The Victors, 1963)
3. Dave Davies-Cold Winter (Chosen People, 1983)

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PS-Did you know there are still a lot of Christmas in July shares available to download from earlier years? In the past the shares used to expire after a few months of disuse, but at this point they seem to hang around for a bit. You can go back to 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 if you want a lot more good music to listen to. I've just linked to the first day of sharing, but from there you can walk your way through the entire month (or more) of goodies. And there are a lot of best-of and second-best-of collections to be found in there, too. Looks like there may be a few Thanksgiving and Chanukah shares sprinkled in there as well. You could be busy for a while.

Christmas In July '24-Day 5

I don't know about all you folks, but I had to go back to work today after getting yesterday off. No fun to come back to work for one day. I guess I should have taken the day off, but I burned all my vacation days late last year for a trip to England, Italy and Switzerland, and they haven't reset yet. So I work and work and work, even when it doesn't make any sense. Speaking of working, here are three more Christmas songs from non-Christmas albums that I recorded just for you. I think only one of these is an entirely new share from me, but the other two are still worthy of your time. I won't tell you which is which though, maybe that way you'll enjoy them all. Thanks for stopping by today, come back tomorrow for more.

1. Joe Cain And His Orchestra-I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm Cha Cha Cha (Irving Berlin Goes Latin, 1959)
2. Buck Owens' Buckaroos-Fiddle Solo By Don Rich-Greensleeves (Anywhere, U.S.A., 1969)
3. The Gregg Smith Singers-Gregg Smith, Conductor-A Virgin Unspotted (Judea) (The Continental Harmony-Music Of William Billings, 1969)

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Christmas In July '24-Day 4

Happy Fourth of July to all, especially those of us in the USofA who get a day off of work in the middle of the week. Not sure how I'm supposed to go out and enjoy the fireworks tonight when I have to be at work at 6:30 tomorrow morning, but we'll make do somehow. For some Christmastime fireworks, download these next three tracks and turn 'em up loud when you play 'em. The new track today is a great one that first came to my attention via my friend Buster's excellent blog where he shared the whole record. I eventually tracked down a copy for myself and now I get to share this song for you as sung by one of the original composers. Enjoy!

1. Ralph Blane Accompanied By Ralph Burns' Orchestra-Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Martin & Blane Sing Martin And Blane, 1956)
2. Willie Dittrich-I'll Be Home For Christmas (The Singing Zither-Christmas Music & Old Time Hymns, 1969)
3. Richard Hayman And His Orchestra-Winter Wonderland (Serenade For Love, 1956)

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Christmas In July '24-Day 3

Up next, day three of the Christmas In July sharity. I know I'm not giving you very much each day, but it's all I've got. In the past, I think there have been years when I've shared out over twenty tracks in a day, or where the season has gone through to the end of August because I had so much I wanted to share out. I wish I could say that I'm sharing less because it's better stuff, but that's not necessarily true. I've still got the school choirs and the local church groups, just not as much of it. But there's always something to enjoy. Here are the latest three tracks for your listening pleasure. Enjoy! (Is the Korean Choir music reprised on one of their full Christmas albums? I meant to check that out, but didn't.)

1. Gracie Fields-Out In The Cold, Cold Snow (The World Of Gracie Fields Vol. 2, 1975)
2. Capers & Carson-Cold And Wintery Soul (Capers & Carson, 1973)
3. The World Vision Korean Orphan Choir Directed By Soo Chul Chang With Ralph Carmichael And His Orchestra-O Come All Ye Faithful (The World Vision Korean Orphan Choir, 1962)

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Christmas In July '24-Day 2

Welcome to day two of our annual Christmas in July celebration! Hard to believe that I've been doing this annually since 2006! Well, except for those two years I took off because I was in a relationship with a lady who didn't understand my addiction to vinyl (thankfully my soon-to-be-wife is a lot more understanding about such things even if she doesn't understand why I get excited about many of these records). Anyhow, for those of you who may not have been around for all those years, the premise here is simple. I look for ordinary records that happen to have a Christmas (or seasonal) song in the middle of an otherwise non-Christmas album. They're not super common, but they're also not that rare. I figure songs like that need to have a little more visibility to the Christmas music-loving community, so I collect them up and share them here. You're almost guaranteed to hear something that you've never heard before, and I hope you'll love it as much as I do. Here's the tracklist for today, and I'll have a few more for you tomorrow. Enjoy!

1. Neal Hefti And His Orchestra-The Bells Of St. Mary's (Concert Miniatures, 1957)
2. Gene Krupa-Arranged And Coducted By George Williams-Arab Dance (From "The Nutcracker Suite") (Classics In Percussion!, 1961)
3. The New York Percussion Trio-Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers (Holidays For Percussion, 1959)

Three really good tracks today, though only the Gene Krupa is new to the blog. The other two are new copies and new rips, so maybe they sound better than the old shares. I was pretty excited when I found that Gene Krupa album just last week, I didn't even care that it was a retitled reissue, I was just happy to have some Christmas tracks from the drummer man.

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Christmas In July '24-Day 1

Good morning! Welcome to July, and the extra Christmas there-in! I wasn't sure I'd be able to have much of a celebration this year, but I've got a few records up my sleeve and I'll be sharing tracks from them with you after all. It ain't gonna be much, but it's better than nothing. At this point, I've got three tracks a day, but I think that number may go up a little bit as the month goes on. Over the past few years, I've had a harder and harder time finding a good selection of Christmas music from non-Christmas albums, which as you know has been the them to Christmas In July since 2006. Pickings this year have been especially slim, and even when I find something that I get excited about, I discover that I shared it in past years. I still record those repeats in hopes that they sound better than the first time around, but I try really hard to bring you more new music than rerun music. That may not be the case this year and I apologize. I'll try to make sure I share at least one new track each day, unless I have complete brain fart and don't realize I've already shared all the tracks. I'll have more to say as the month goes on, but for now, here are the first three tracks of the season. Enjoy!

1. Willie Dittrich-Alle Jahre Weider/O Tannenbaum/Ihr Kinderlien Kommet (The Singing Zither-Christmas Music & Old Time Hymns, 1969)
2. Clifton Davis-O Little Town Of Bethlehem (Say Amen, 1990)
3. The Valley Troubadours, Solo-Erwin Overby, Directed By Gloria Peterson-Let There Be Peace On Earth (The Valley Troubadours Sing Their Favorites)

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Yeah, I'm gonna try to do MP3 and lossless FLAC files this year. It's a pain, so we'll see how long that lasts. Grab the one you want, but they should be identical.