“The Holidays EP” project is something I’m proud of. I think I was able to accomplish my goal of re-imagining these songs and bringing something new to the table with them in terms of composition and arrangements. My buddy and guitar hero, Gary Hoey, has taken holiday songs to a new level with this Ho Ho Hoey series and his holiday shows are always awesome. There’s also the Trans Siberian Orchestra and Merry Axemas and Merry Axemas II albums featuring The First Noel, by my guitar hero, Eric Johnson, which is my favorite piece of music ever recorded. I hoped to stay out of those lanes and build my own path with these songs.
The difficulty with these songs is how visceral of a reaction people have to them and how they follow odd arrangements. You’ll hear how some phrases are longer or shorter than usual and that’s to fit them into a standard time signature. I did all the songs except “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” in 2022 but finished that song last year so decided to pull down my 2022 EP and add it to the 2025 EP with “Deck The Hall . O Christmas Tree” being re-recorded. This time around I recorded it with a microphone as opposed to plugging my guitar into my computer. The microphone sounds 100x better and my hope was it gave the impression like we were all in the room together. I re-mastered all the songs with the highlight of the album being my guitar solo on “Angels We Have Heard On High”.
There was a minor hiccup with my music distributor. They initially weren’t going to distribute claiming the songs were already online but I had to convince them it was them who originally distributed it in 2022 and I took it down before Thanksgiving to re-release it in 2025. Apple Music also wasn’t going to carry the album stating there was AI but my distributor also fixed that issue.
For album that is 100% me (playing all guitars, sampling/ programming all drums, bass, strings, and piano, producing, mixing/ mastering, etc.), I’m proud with how it came out. My hope is you enjoy it too. As a “thank you” for being part of this VIP list, here’s a free download of my “The Silent Faithful” arrangement which combines “Silent Night” and “O Come All Ye Faithful“. I love the transition between the two but assume radio wouldn’t play such a long track:
Happy holidays to you and yours.