IMPORTANT: From now until December 25th, 2017, 100% of profits exclusively from Bandcamp sales will go to an organization that prepares nutritious meals for cancer patients in Nashville, TN, where I reside. The organization is called the Heimerdinger Foundation, founded by the surviving spouse of a former Tennessee Titans coach who passed away from cancer. Not only do they provide healthy food for families during a very difficult time, they also work with teen volunteers who get an education about healthy food, healthy living, and service.

This organization is important to me for 2 reasons. My father died from prostate cancer in 2016. Megan and I were living in Nashville 12 hours away from home during the 2 years my dad suffered with cancer. Although we visited and made great memories, I still wish I had been closer; I would have loved to help more. The second reason I chose this group is because the founder of the Heimerdinger Foundation was a friend of ours at Good Food for Good People, my former work place here in Nashville, TN. Help me honor this amazing work.

If you'd like to learn more or give a tax deductible donation please visit heimerdingerfoundation.com

About this EP:
I wrote the song "Christmas Cactus" in Nashville in December of 2016, my family's first Christmas without my dad. Between 2014-2016 my family lost five members. This song exuded out of me all at once during the holidays. Holidays are hard for so many people. I never experienced this personally, but now I get it.

"Christmas Cactus" is a song about the suffering and enduring Christ. A cactus is a persevering and resilient thing that is full of life even in the most extreme circumstances.
I wanted to juxtapose a similar concept from the classic "O Christmas Tree" with a heavier subject- suffering. I also drew a lot of inspiration from my favorite Christmas carol, and one of my favorite songs, "O Holy Night."

The song "The New Years Day Carol" is an ode to the annual New Years Day feast that was always held at my grandmother's place, where she would serve a traditional pork, black eyed peas, and collard greens meal to make the new year rich and happy. "You must eat poor if you want to be happy." I've never released a song that was a literal snapshot of my personal life the way this song is. I usually mask things in layers of poetic metaphor or satirical hyperbole. I confess it's not the best performance, but I like it because I wrote and recorded it in one sitting and it felt honest.

The instrumentals are a hodge podge of lighter diddies, including Silent Night and three originals (one of which was an homage to the character "Dustin" from Stranger Things 2)

And featuring the mouth trumpet, "It Never Snows on Christmas Day" is about exactly what it sounds like.