Usually Tuesday nights are not interview nights on my shows. But usually, I don’t get to have our own Adam Waltemire, of Pop Garden Radio on my show (Friday nights on Woody Radio)!
This has become a tradition between us over the years. Usually, I have him on my show before Christmas, and he has me on his show on New Years Eve. We recap what we liked about the prior year’s music, and catch up on things.
This year, Adam has a little something extra going on. He put out a call to indie musicians to record their own spin on what is perhaps the most basic of all holiday songs, “Jingle Bells”. And a dozen and a half artists stepped up and answered the call. What made them rush to do it? Well, besides the fact that they all love Adam, this turned into a digital album, with 100% of the proceeds going to Access Charter School, a school for kids on the autism spectrum, in Orlando Florida. To quote Adam on the Bandcamp page: “Because of the pandemic in 2020 the school was unable to hold traditional fundraising activities so we at Pop Garden Radio wanted to do our part to help out.” Admirable. And, as it turns out, fun too! Lots of great, innovative versions. Check out Dolph Chaney’s version, which is a riff on Van Halen’s “Panama”. It’s brilliant. And Marshall Holland turned in a lovely version which starts at Jingle Bells, but goes off and becomes its own thing. Marshall also created the artwork for this collection.
As always, Adam and I had a few laughs, marveled at the quality of music in the year that was, and even talked about food. Check out this compilation, “Very Merry Variations of ‘Jingle Bells'”, on Bandcamp: https://popgarden.bandcamp.com/album/very-merry-variations-of-jingle-bells.
Artist | Title | Album
The Pretenders | The Phone Call | Pretenders
Rachel Taylor Brown | Up You | Run Tiny Human
Bellygunner | Negative Kid | Machine Gun Built For Two
Elk City | No Depth | Everybody’s Insecure
HUGElarge | Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White | HUGElarge
The Bobbleheads | Groovy Time Of Year | Single release
Lisa Mychols & SUPER 8 | Peaceful | LISA MYCHOLS & SUPER 8
The Catbirds | The Crutch Of Music | Catbirds Say Yeah
Adam Waltemire interview
The Smith Brothers | Jingle Bells | Very Merry Variations of Jingle Bells
Rick & Layla Hromadka | Jingle Bells | Very Merry Variations of Jingle Bells
Marshall Holland | Laughing All The Way | Very Merry Variations of Jingle Bells
Petrified Max | Snowshoe | Charlie Drove North
R.E.M. | Supernatural Superserious | Accelerate
The Brothers Steve | Beat Generation Poet Turned Assassin | #1
Sparklejet | Somewhere Along The Way | Phonovella
Life in a Blender | Vacancy for a Bluebird | Satsuma
Shoukichi Kina & Ry Cooder | Jing Jing | Luaka Bop 10th Anniversary: Zero Accidents On The Job
Electric Light Orchestra | Do Ya | The Essential Electric Light Orchestra
Kat Jones | Losing | We Are Warm, Young, Blood
Anton Barbeau | Land Of Economy | Kenny Vs. Thrust
Yung Wu | Shore Leave | Shore Leave
The Armoires | Pushing Forty | Zibaldone
Midnight Oil | In The Valley | Earth And Sun And Moon
Glenn Morrow’s Cry For Help | The Sun The Moon The Scars | LP2
Tawny Thiele | Happy Together | The Fowl Tone Sampler
Richard X. Heyman | Miss Shenandoah Martin | Incognito
Sunshine Boys | A Ghost, at Best | Work and Love
Jackpot | Tongue Tied | Moonbreath
Hannah Judson | Twisted | Stingray
Natalie Cortez & The Ultraviolets | Three Times | Twitch!
Iggy Pop | Brick By Brick | Brick By Brick
Rogers & Butler | Jump Like Alice | Poets & Sinners
Gretchen’s Wheel | heat death | such open sky
Bill Lloyd | I’ve Had Enough Of Your Love | Don’t Kill The Messenger
Rockpile | Fool Too Long | Seconds Of Pleasure
Eric Peter Schwartz | Invite The Devil To Tea | Mustard On My Sexy Dress
Krista D | You & Me | Look at me… I’m Krista D
The Mighty Lemon Drops | Inside Out | Young Gifted, and Black Country
Lannie Flowers | TV Off | Home
Sex 66 | California | Grew Up Down
Chris Church | Begin Again | Backwards Compatible
In.Deed | Heart Attack | Everest
Don Hawkins | What To Where | Observation Blind
Felsen | Poor In A Wealthy City | Blood Orange Moon
Blake Jones & The Trike Shop | Alchemy C’mere | Make
Gail George with Early Times | You Are There | The Barrio Sessions
John Entwistle | No. 29 External Youth | Smash Your Head Against The Wall
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