"My childhood memories of Christmas aren't warm and fuzzy. The holidays were more of a nuisance for my parents than cause for celebration. This is not to say that on behalf of their only child they didn't give the season a halfhearted try. There were Christmases when I found under the tree an electric football set, a Daisy pump air-rifle and a basketball goal that never got nailed up. But, there were also mornings when apples, oranges, hickory nuts and a hammer signified that year's bounty. Which is to say that Christmas in our household was mostly a wait-and-see proposition. I was finally ready to record an album of original Christmas songs. With Dan Knobler producing and some very gifted musicians and vocalists lending their talents, the making of the album Christmas Everywhere ranks as some of the most enjoyable recording sessions I've ever experienced.

Tracks

1. Clement's Lament (We'll See You in the Mall)
2. Christmas Everywhere (Feat. Lera Lynn)
3. When the Fat Guy Tries the Chimney on for Size
4. Christmas Makes Me Sad
5. Merry Christmas from An Empty Bed (Feat. Brennen Leigh)
6. Very Merry Christmas
7. Christmas in Vidor (Feat. Mary Karr)
8. Christmas for the Blues
9. Come Christmas
10. Let's Skip Christmas This Year
11. Christmas in New York
12. All for Little Girls & Boys (Feat. Daddy Cool & the Yule)

Reviews

Featuring a dozen original tunes by the Texas-born tunesmith, the album, produced by Dan Knobler, features guest appearances from Vince Gill, Lera Lynn, Brennen Leigh, and poet Mary Karr and includes songs co-written with his daughters and granddaughters. Highlights include the title track, a duet with Lera Lynn, featuring a dream sequence in which a child asks Santa for a time machine to go back and prevent John Lennon’s murder. The closing track, “All for Little Girls and Boys,” was recorded in the early Eighties and features Crowell’s two oldest daughters, Hannah and Caitlin. Long regarded as one of the godfathers of the Americana music movement, Crowell’s creative Christmas-themed spark was fueled in part by a younger member of the Americana music community.  

“One rather warm December day in 2011, I heard on satellite radio, Hayes Carll’s soulfully written ‘Grateful for Christmas’ and was so moved by the song – its wry humor and bare-bones honesty –that I ditched whichever errand or appointment I’d set out on in favor of an honest-to-God Christmas shopping spree,” says Crowell in a release. “Not only did ‘Grateful for Christmas’ jolt me out of a self-indulgent funk it also tweaked my creative curiosity.” - “One rather warm December day in 2011, I heard on satellite radio, Hayes Carll’s soulfully written ‘Grateful for Christmas’ and was so moved by the song – its wry humor and bare-bones honesty –that I ditched whichever errand or appointment I’d set out on in favor of an honest-to-God Christmas shopping spree,” says Crowell in a release. “Not only did ‘Grateful for Christmas’ jolt me out of a self-indulgent funk it also tweaked my creative curiosity.” - Stephen L Betts, Rolling Stone