There’s something special about holiday traditions, one that all but demands a certain reverence. Nevertheless, when a clever and creative twist is applied to cherished memories, well, suffice it to say, they can bring a certain levity to the situation as well.
That’s apparent in the title alone to a new holiday ditty, Santa Ate A Gummy, courtesy of Tim O’Brien and Ben Winship. The song details Santa’s misadventures when one of his elves offers him a gummy on Christmas Eve after St. Nick complains that a backache might impede his midnight mission. Naturally, the jolly old elf is unfamiliar with this supposed antidote and takes one, hoping for some much needed relief. At that point, a series of unexpected and unfortunate results transpires, causing a great deal of chaos, mischief, and misadventures that turn the normally reliable Mr. Claus into a dumbstruck stoner. He not only gets lost along his route but also gets a severe case of the munchies, not only gobbling up all the treats that have been left for him, but the popcorn strung on the tree, the eggnog in the fridge, and practically anything and everything he can get his gloves on.
Released on Snake River Records and recorded at the Henhouse in Victor, ID, this breezy little number with its catchy chorus has all the makings of becoming a holiday standard, albeit from a somewhat loopy perspective..
“Ben’s an old friend who lives in Victor, Idaho,” O’Brien explained when asked how the song came about. “I met him in 1991 when Charles Sawtelle was producing the first Loose Ties record, and I’ve always liked his soulful music.”
Winship offers his own memories of how the track came to be. “For some reason, the idea and title for this song popped into my head at Christmastime about three years ago,” he recalled. “I sat down to write it, but realized I wouldn’t be able to finish it before the holidays. Who needs a new Christmas song in January? I remembered about it the next year with the same result. Finally, this past summer, I overheard someone say, ‘the best time to write a Christmas song is in July,’ and I decided it was now or never.”
At that point, the song started taking shape. “Tim was game and we got it written fairly quickly during a zoom session,” Winship continued. “I had a couple options for melodies in my head and a handful of lyrics. Tim quickly came up with a chorus melody and had some big picture ideas for the narrative arc that I hadn’t thought of. Once we had that down, we both scribbled away on a bunch of verse ideas which we bounced back and forth. 90% of it was done pretty quickly.”
O’Brien picks up the narrative from there. “I was in touch with Ben in July while looking for a wonderful but obscure recording, and he mentioned the idea of this song, which he’d been wanting to write for the past three years. He said he usually remembered the idea during the holiday season, when it was already too late to release. We both knew Mel Torme wrote Chestnuts [The Christmas Song] in the middle of the summer, so I figured the timing was right. We met on Zoom and sketched most of it out. After a few more tweaks over the next week, it was done. The subject matter was certainly ripe for exploitation.”
O’Brien went on to explain that he overdubbed his vocal at home to a track his friend had started in his studio near Jackson Hole with Phil Round on guitar. The others added their parts and the songs took shape.
“For the recording, I produced it in my studio here in Victor,” Winship noted. “I laid down mandolin, banjo, and harmony vocals, then called upon long time bandmates Eric Thorin on bass, Phil Round on guitar, and Mike Patton on melodica. Tim was game to sing the lead vocal — critical to legitimize the song in my opinion — which he recorded at his place in Nashville. To finish out the track, we employed Tim’s old bandmate from the Ophelia Swing band, Washboard Chaz from New Orleans to play washboard. I then called upon Billy Novick — the amazing clarinet player from Boston who was featured prominently on my Fishing Music CDs — to add the clarinet part.”
Notably, Santa Ate A Gummy wasn’t O’Brien’s first attempt to add some levity to holiday happenstance. “There have been various tracks that came together over the decades,” he added. “They’ve always been for sorta special occasions. Thomm Jutz and I co-wrote a song called Old Christmas Day, that came out two years ago on Howdy Skies Records. Before that was I’ll Be Your Santa Baby. There are tracks by Red Knuckles (That White Christmas Song), Tim and Mollie, and some solo songs on various Sugar Hill holiday releases. I did a track with Shawn Camp called Bah Humbug for the Christmas on the Mountain CD. There’s even a whole record called A Christmas Heritage with Darol Anger, Alison Brown, Mike Marshall, Todd Phillips, and Phil Aaberg. That band came to be known later as Newgrange. I should mention that Ben recorded a nice Christmas collection with Loose Ties called Yule Ties.”
“Soon after finishing the song,” Winship said, “and never having released a single before, I started to muse about ways to promote it. Given the light-hearted goofiness of the song and the imagery, I thought an animation might be a worthy undertaking. I got in touch with Peter Wallis, an artist I know who used to teach animation at my old high school, and he jumped in with both feet. Now it’s a couple weeks away from Christmas and I’m tickled to have both the song and the video out in the world.”
O’Brien explained that this wasn’t the first time the two men had worked together.
“I got to sing and play on a couple of the Fishing Music CDS that Ben and his partner David Thompson released, and on a couple of Ben’s solo tracks,” O’Brien said. “I produced a Loose Ties recording back in 1994. Other than that, our playing has been limited to informal jams on and off stage.”
While Santa Ate a Gummy is sure to add to this year’s fun and festivities, O’Brien noted that he has several “serious” projects in store for the coming year.
“Jan Fabricius and I are releasing a record in the spring called Paper Flowers,” he offered. “We’re excited about playing the new music on tour next year. There are a dozen songs the two of us wrote with Tom Paxton, a couple Jan and I wrote, and one I wrote alone. Before all that happens, Jan and I tour the UK and Ireland January into February, with a couple of very fine traditional Irish players named Dermot Byrne and Seamie O’Dowd. We have four monthly shows with the equally fine Mike Bub and Shad Cobb at the Station Inn starting February 14.”
In addition, O’Brien said he’s also finishing transcriptions of 40 songs that will be included in a songbook Randy Barrett is putting out on his Barcroft imprint. “He put out Ben Eldridge’s banjo book a couple years ago. I now have thirty-five fairly accurate Sibelius lead sheets filed. Today I transcribed a Hot Rize song called Bending Blades.”
Lastly, O’Brien suggests readers check out the video for Our Home, a song he recorded with Bonnie Prince Billy. “Come to think of it, that song’s got some good holiday spirit,” he added.
You can check out all the Christmas bluegrass we have covered at Bluegrass Today by following this link.
