So, I totally thought that the concept of rhyming “mistress” and “Christmas” was really original, and then I found out that there’s an ACDC song about wanting a mistress for Christmas.  I haven’t actually heard the song, but I’m guessing it’s pretty different from this one.

This is part three of four of our holiday offering.  I was trying to channel late 60’s / early 70’s Dolly, Tammy Wynette, and Loretta on this one.  I always get really excited about the spoken word parts.  Cheesy?  Maybe.  But awesome.  I also love the whole one-take aspect of this recording.  It’s like you’re in Matt’s basement with us!  So download the song now!  There are mere days left before Christmas!

Last Christmas, when the band was just getting together, before we even had a name, our friend Ed literally bounded up to us, vibrating with visible excitement. “You guys have got to do this John Denver Christmas song.”

Oh, we told him, we’re actually already working on “Christmas for Cowboys,” and it sounds really nice.

“No, you have to hear this one. It’s called ‘Please Daddy (Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas).’”

Well, a song with a title like that pretty much sells itself, doesn’t it? A quick check of “Rocky Mountain Christmas” later, and we were hooked. Our first response, like I imagine yours will be, was hilarity, but in light of John Denver’s life story, it soon began to seem a bit more poignant, which (let’s be honest) is Ten Years Too Late’s bread and butter.

Just today, doing a Google search to find out more about the song, I found that it’s no longer quite the undiscovered gem we thought it was. The fricking Decemberists put out a version in November. The Decemberists! Totally copying our idea! I shall choose to be flattered.

So, here it is, for Ed, our tribute to the late, great John Denver, Please Daddy (Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas). Enjoy.

So, everyone seems to be doing a Christmas album. Even Rachael Ray has a Christmas album, which makes me need to go lie down for a little while.

Anyway, Ten Years Too Late are not immune to the holiday spirit. We’ve recorded a dazzling quartet of Yuletide-inspired songs for you to listen to and enjoy. First up, one written by little ol’ me.

This is a song about being alone at Christmas, which is ironic because I’m happily married. And Jewish. I suppose it’s really a song about being sad when everyone else is happy, or about the bittersweet feeling when all of your friends go home for the holidays, or about how awesome Tracie is on the tambourine. Anyway, ’tis a kicky little number, with a charmingly familiar fiddle part, and I think you’ll like it.

Why don’t you download It’s Christmastime (And I Don’t Care) and see?

This, my friends, is a song about Santa Claus.  No, no, I’m just kidding.  All of the Santa songs will be unleashed in due time.  I mean, I guess this song could be about Santa, though, if Santa is an old, kind of addled guy who you see walking around town all the time.  This song sounds more intriguing with every word I write, doesn’t it?

This song — well, the chorus, actually — was initially inspired by a friend’s dog, who is named Willie, but once I started the verses it became about something else entirely.  I guess the heart of it is the notion that you can never really know what’s going on in another person’s mind, body or heart.  It’s easy to make assumptions about people based on what we see, but we’ll never have any idea about the reality of their lives.  And when it comes down to it, we’re all wandering.

In addition to our usual line-up — Matt on guitars (including the solo!) and harmony vocals, me on mandy and lead vocals, and Stephanie on a really stellar bit of fiddle — we’d be remiss if we didn’t give credit to special guest Rachel Spaulding on the bad-ass hand claps.  Now stop reading and go download Willie.