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(Alligator)
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Most blues Christmas albums are full of the usual repertoire: "Blue Christmas," "Merry Christmas Baby." This high-energy collection, on the other hand, is packed with fresh tunes that take an eclectic route to the holiday. C.J. Chenier offers a swinging-accordion-and-rub-board-driven "Zydeco Christmas," with lines like "Deck the halls with cayenne pepper." Piano queen Marcia Ball travels through Cajun territory with "Christmas Fais Do Do," in which she sings about a bayou holiday celebration. Little Charlie & the Nightcats bring their jump sound and wry humor to "It’s Christmas Time Again (Spend, Spend, Spend)." And Carey Bell rides the rails, plying the old harmonica-as-steam-engine trick in "Christmas Train." Like Elmore James–inspired slide man Dave Hole’s "Fattening Up the Turkey" and Koko Taylor’s romping "Have You Heard the News?", most of these tunes burst with exuberance, and they feature the brash, rock-fueled guitar tones that are something of a trademark on Alligator’s recordings. But the acoustic harp-and-guitar duo Cephas & Wiggins croon about a Christmas Day break-up, and Coco Montoya’s "A Bluesman’s Christmas" uses a mellow pop arrangement to chronicle another lonely night on the road. And representing tradition, the Holmes Brothers turn in a raunchy, funky, funny "Back Door Santa" complete with a "ho-ho-ho" backing chorus in three-part harmony.
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