Christmas Past

Musicians

Jody Whitesides – Drum Programming
Jody Whitesides – Vocals/Guitars/Bass/Synths
Dannielle Gaha – BG Vocals (1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 10)

Credits

Arranger: Jody Whitesides
Producer: Jody Whitesides
Mixer: Chris Hellstrom
Mastering: George Leger III

Notes

Cover Illustration: Kim Whitesides
Editing: John Michael Kane

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen:

Meaning: Very spiritual song for those who have faith.
Trivia bit #1: I layered several Taylor guitars on this.
Trivia bit #2: One of my favorite arrangements.

Deck The Halls:

Meaning: Deck is very old school for decorate the halls with happiness.
Trivia bit #1: Tons of vocal tracks on this – over 40.
Trivia bit #2: Extremely short song.

Jingle Bells:

Meaning: Be merry and ring a bell.
Trivia bit #1: Surprised that this was a public domain song.
Trivia bit #2: I’ve actually played real jingle bells, or rather Sleigh bells.

Jolly Old St. Nicholas:

Meaning: Very spiritual song for those who have faith.
Trivia bit #1: It’s hard for me to get to sleep before midnight.
Trivia bit #2: I do have a sister named Jessie.

Oh Come All Ye Faithful:

Meaning: Very spiritual song for those who have faith.
Trivia bit #1: There is an odd measure of music in this song, can you find it?
Trivia bit #2: Lots of tracks of Taylor guitars in this.

O Christmas Tree:

Meaning: Ode to a christmas tree.
Trivia bit #1: I originally attempted to sing this in German like O Tannenbaum, I failed miserably despite all the German courses I took at University.
Trivia bit #2: Probably my second least favorite song in the entire collection, I really wanted to nail the German.

Silent Night:

Meaning: Give reverence to Christ.
Trivia bit #1: Probably the oldest Christmas song.
Trivia bit #2: had issues with time of some of the vocals in this.

The First Noel:

Meaning: Very spiritual song for those who have faith.
Trivia bit #1: Yeah, I went boy band on this.
Trivia bit #2: Surprised out how it turned out after Chris’s vocal direction on me.

The Twelve Days of Christmas:

Meaning: Get all your gifts ready cause it’s gonna be a big year.
Trivia bit #1: I think I did this too rigidly.
Trivia bit #2: I tracked each line with the number of vocals that it calls for in gifts.

Joy To The World:

Meaning: Spread joy around the world.
Trivia bit #1: Dannielle save my ass on this song too, I put it in the wrong key but had gone too far with all the recording to change it.
Trivia bit #2: There’s a lot of Orchestration in this, my first big attempt.