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Thanksgiving and Black Friday are behind us and Cyber Monday is here. And in terms of the latter two, most of the shopping does happen online these days. But if you did pop into a store or two since last Thursday, you’ll agree: if it wasn’t already by the moment Halloween ended, Christmas music is king for the next three weeks. So as much as we crave some quality Klezmer, we gotta hop on the Yuletide bandwagon and toss y’all a few fresh seasonal originals to stuff your stocking.
And there’s not really a better way to kick off that holiday spirit than with The Grapes & Friends. The genre-spanning Austin supergroup septet has become a cherished live Christmas staple over the past decade and a half, and for the last ten of those years The Grapes & Friends have only enriched that reputation with a release regimen of one new tune each December. One glance at today’s date tells you all you need to know; The Grapes & Friends have officially entered Holiday mode.
Yes, ahead of their 12th annual Christmas Extravaganza at Hole in the Wall this Saturday, The Grapes & Friends have gotten into a clinch with their inner Grinch on “Christmas With My Baby”. With a big cheerful opening (that sports sleigh-bells from the jump), there’s a surface level similarity to what you’d hear on those dime-a-dozen corporate major-key inoffensive Christmas rock playlists. But by the time you get to the first chorus it’s like hearing St. Nick up on the housetop; Christmas is real, and there’s some real soul, passion, and ingenuity to The Grapes & Friends’ songwriting, even if the lyrical protagonist of this latest one is somewhat of a soured, romantic Scrooge. And especially if you’re spending the upcoming holidays solo, you won’t feel so alone with this Huey Lewis-inspired piece of seasonal solidarity that glistens with killer production, outstanding performances, and an arrangement that only a Grinch could scoff at.
