A Christmas album for people who thought ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer’ was nice

The first full-length holiday sampler from Chicago’s famed Bloodshot Records can best be described as an equal-time Christmas record. A selection of largely deflated and down-and-out tales, “13 Days of Xmas” is music for those souls who find seasonal cheer unobtainable or simply repugnant.

Take for instance, “I’m Drunk Again This Christmas,” a hapless ode by Pittsburgh songsmith Zach Schmidt, set during an uncomfortable hometown gathering in 65-degree weather. All it takes from there is a one-two punch of wine and egg nog to earn scorned looks from family when conversation turns to climate change.

There’s also “How to Make Gravy,” a tune from the all-female Australian quartet All My Exes Live in Texas. It begins with a warm acoustic cast of ukulele, accordion, guitar and mandolin, but then you realize that the song’s heroine is singing from behind bars (“If I get good behavior, I’ll be out of here by July”).

This isn’t to say that “13 Days of Xmas” is exclusively bummed-out. “I Slept Through Christmas,” by Aussie (now Nashville-based) singer Ruby Boots, sounds like Neko Case crossed with the Ronettes. The tune’s restless narrative is framed by a vintage girl-group pop groove and is colored along its vocal contours with subtle reverb.

Then there is a beautiful instance when the album’s mood turns a more elegant shade of blue. The remarkable Chicago vocalist Kelly Hogan (who has played Lexington numerous times over the years with Andrew Bird, Jakob Dylan and Alejandro Escovedo) resurrects “Blue Snowfall” but opts for modest combo accompaniment instead of the orchestration that fueled separate 1962 versions of the tune by Dorothy Squires and George Morgan. Hogan’s performance possesses a timeless, crystalline and absorbing clarity. This is the album’s highlight.

There are only two well-worn carols, “O Holy Night” (sung with poker-faced country solemnity by Murder by Death) and “White Christmas” (updated with slightly woozier prairie grace by Philadelphia song stylist Ron Gallo). And for those surrendering to the dark side this holiday season, there is punk/insurgent country hero Jon Langford’s unrepentant “Christmas Carol, Christmas Ray,” Devil in a Woodpile’s kazoo-driven hoedown “The Pagans Had it Right,” and the Dex Romweber Duo’s surf-meets-spaghetti Western twangfest “Dark Christmas.”

Granted, “13 Days of Xmas” isn’t for everyone. Those who embrace the season with boundless cheer probably will view the album as something of an uninvited guest even though it’s not wrapped in unending cynicism. But for anyone whose holiday sensibility has been worn down by the consumerism inflicted on us since Halloween, this lovely little diversion of a record is just the Christmas coal you’ve been searching for.

This story was originally published December 18, 2017 at 2:56 PM with the headline "A Christmas album for people who thought ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer’ was nice."