Chattanooga Pulse

Chalk it up to the season of giving, but I thought that for this Christmas issue I would focus on a charitable music feature. I chose to highlight a little selection I thought was pretty neat, particularly in the way of helping children. I will admit—I don’t really like Christmas music. It wears me out. It starts around Halloween and then continues into the New Year. However, I do like a good cause, and this CD is brimming with them. The CD is called Merry Kidsmas. It’s put together by a husband-and-wife duo in the country music industry, Joey+Rory.

This couple has just put out two projects. Merry Kidsmas, which is a full album and “It’s Christmas Time”, which is a single by Joey+Rory. Both works go towards charity, so I figured I should mention them both, just in case you want to double up on good karma. CMT One Country, which is a pro-social initiative that was launched in 2005 to promote civic participation and inspire CMT viewers to take action and bring about important change in their communities, has partnered up with the couple to release both projects.

Portions of proceeds from CD sales will be donated to the local chapter of Feeding America, which is The Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee. This will help those close to us, as well as the USO. Regarding both projects, Joey says, “We’re incredibly grateful for an amazing year and hope to share some of that good fortune this holiday season. CMT helped launch our career, so we’re really excited to team up with CMT One Country in the spirit of giving.”

Merry Kidsmas (Giantslayer Records/S1 Songs/Welk Music Group), is a 12-song collection sung by everyday kids of all ages and created by The Song Trust. Founded in Nashville, The Song Trust is a collaborative group committed to creating and delivering music from the perspective where the song, not the singer, is the star. True to concept, Merry Kidsmas lists only writer credits and no singer credits.

The first track on the album, “Bring Him Home Santa,” was originally released to country radio in December 2007, causing an immediate national reaction. Sung by an anonymous 6-year-old girl asking Santa to bring her father home for Christmas, the single shot to  number 29 on the Billboard Hot Country Chart. Following that success, The Song Trust spent the next year creating an album’s worth of songs that would continue to look at the Christmas season from a child’s perspective, to be sung by kids of all ages, resulting in the Merry Kidsmas CD.

The album features nine original songs co-written by members of The Song Trust, including “Bring Him Home Santa” and “Box of Rocks.” The CD also offers new takes on holiday favorites “(All I Want For Christmas is My) Two Front Teeth,” “Rudolph (the Red Nosed Reindeer)” and the “Little Drummer Boy.”  Joey+Rory are nominated by CMA for Vocal Duo of the Year for the upcoming awards, as well as the ACM Top Vocal Duo nomination.

When not on the road performing, Joey continues to wait tables and bake breads at Marcy Jo’s Mealhouse, a restaurant she and her sister-in-law own outside of Nashville. Rory heads to Music Row, where he writes award-winning hits at Giantslayer Publishing. He recently won ASCAP songwriting awards for “I Will” by Jimmy Wayne and “You Can Let Go Now” by Crystal Shawanda. Other hits include “Some Beach” for Blake Shelton and “The Chain of Love” for Clay Walker.
If you are anything like me, then you don’t know who any of these people are, but that isn’t the point. The point is possibly marking someone off your Christmas list, with a gift that gives back. It’s a win/win type situation. Now that my good deed is out of the way, let me offer an option of what to do on Christmas night, if you need to break away from the family to rock out a little bit with your friends. Ramble Horse will be playing at JJ’s Bohemia on Christmas night. Ramblehorse is an electro rock-n-roll band with some indie-style folk twists. They have recently released an EP and are working on their full-length debut. Ramble Horse is stoked to provide a dance party/ rock show fused together.

The night will include a dance party, followed by or continued into Talk, 10 – 11 p.m., Drug Money, 11 p.m. – midnight, and Ramble Horse will take the stage at midnight. The band is made up of Bijan Dhanani (of CreateHere) on bass and guitar, Kip Smith on vocals and guitar, Tedo Stone on guitar, Wilch Oehmig on synthesizer and keys, and Jimbo Schwartz on drums. So if the weight of the holidays is on your shoulders, then come shake it off at the dance party. Regardless of what you do, have a great holiday season!

Ramble Horse, Talk, Drug Money
$7
10 p.m.
JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK. Blvd.
(423) 266-1400.
www.myspace.com/jjsbohemia