The long awaited time has come! Place your order for the Wayside Waifs Charity CD TODAY!
When they are gone, they are gone. So those of you waiting to order your copy, please keep that in mind!
Also, if you donate $15.00 or more, I will also throw in a "bonus disc" of outtakes of songs submitted that didn't make the final cut. Scroll down for more details!
I have set it up where you can put in your own donation amount. As stated, the suggested donation is $10.00 for the CD, but extra donations would be GREAT, either to donate to Wayside Waifs or to order more than one copy! I promise you any extra money made will not go into my pocket...all the money made on this CD will go to benefit Wayside Waifs.
If you are ordering overseas I just request you add whatever you feel is appropriate to cover the extra cost of shipping and handling as the cart only calculates for domestic shipping.
Pay Pal is the only option available for the online store, which accepts all major credit cards and bank debit cards sponsored by a credit card. However, if you MUST pay with a check, contact me and we will work something out.
There, I feel I did my "PBS/Public Radio" part to drum up extra donations. Sorry, no tote bags or membership cards to offer you for higher donations to the cause.
And, to add in my "PBS/Public Radio" fund raising mode, I just wanted to say that I understand the economy is in horrible shape right now. Charitable donations are down this year, people are cutting back on buying things all across the board, and I naturally feared that might hurt the sales of my CD. So I just want to say if you found out about this CD because you read my blog at
The Twelve Months of Christmas, then you know I do this for free. I am not making a thin dime off my Twelve Months blog or from this CD. Not even a ha'penny, so God bless you! (Sorry, I couldn't resist the obscure Christmas music reference!) And if you are web savvy at all, you know The Box site I use to host my files isn't free. I am not asking for donations to cover my costs of running the blog, but I point it out to say that if you have enjoyed that site, then have received far more music and entertainment than ten dollars could possibly buy you elsewhere. And if the economy is tight so you don't know about giving to a charity, how many charities are giving you something in return for your donation? Some do, but not a lot do. And here you can donate to the Wayside Waifs and get a full CD in return, full of original songs for the holiday. Songs I guarantee you that you won't hear on the radio. So give to a puppy or a kitty and get your you feet moving to the music. It sounds like a win/win situation to me. I know I am ALL OVER the Internet looking for fund raisers like this because I enjoy the idea of getting cool new Christmas music and helping out a cause along with it too. I hope you do the same.
OK, end of PBS/Public Radio mode.
And the final track listing....one minute samples are included.
1) ShiSho-Christmas Bells2) Zen Doggies-Oh Santa3) Don Campau-It's That Time of Year Again4) Ray Carmen-Jingle Bell Rock5) Lord of the Yum Yum-Ukrainian Bell Choir6) What About Frogs-The Cat Who Controls Christmas7) The Harvey Girls-Christmas Time Is Here8) Thee Majesty-I Like the Holidays9) Fireflies-Xmas Song (new version recorded for this compilation!)10) Matthias Rowe-A Different Scarf11) Ken Clinger-I'm Coming Home For Christmas This Year12) Rick Malsick-Joseph's Song13) Euchrid Eucrow-A Horse Is Not Just for Christmas14) John Mitchell-The Reason for the Season15) R. Stevie Moore-Joy to the World16) Zen Doggies-Goodbye Christmas17) Mercurial Rage-It's Christmas18) Ethan Waters-5AM Christmas Pawn Groove19) Worm is Green-Jólaljósin20) Matthias Rowe-Northern Lights21) Ken Clinger-I Will Hold You Until You Sleep22) Larry Garrett-Old DogsLINER NOTES:
One thing I would have liked to include in the CD are liner notes, but the cost of a full CD booklet would have added needlessly to the final costs and cut into the donation money going to Wayside Waifs. But the CD cover has my blog address on it, so hopefully somebody is finding this blog for the first time by buying the CD. And if that's the case, that is WONDERFUL and I am delighted to have you reading!
A bit of back story:
Everybody wants to know why I chose to do this. The answer is two fold: nobody else done this before, at least not as far as I can see, and because of the economy.
Sure, people raise money for animal shelters all year long, and they have their Christmas drives as well. But in all my searching for Christmas music as I've collected it over the years, I never saw anybody do a charity CD for an animal shelter. For children, yes. And Christmas is for the children, I get it. But you know, children and pets often go hand in hand for a lot of folks, so I was wondering when somebody would get around to doing a CD for an animal shelter.
Then I remembered, I got a dog from an animal shelter, and I run a Christmas music blog, and instead of whining and wondering when somebody would do something, I could do something myself. Why the heck not?
That's pretty much it in a nutshell. The reason doesn't get much deeper than that.
I mentioned at some point in the past that I approached the Humane Society of Kansas City to do the CD. I offered to do ALL the work, all I was asking from them was to be able to sell the CD online through their online store. What I didn't mention before is that they were my SECOND choice. So when they declined my offer for whatever reason, I went with not my third choice, but my first choice: Wayside Waifs. The only reason I waivered from that first choice was because of the online store the Humane Society had, I will freely admit. But for a charity to actually TURN DOWN an opportunity to get some donations? I don't know...it makes me wonder if I wasn't meant to do this for Wayside Waifs all along.
And Wayside Waifs has been wonderful in working with me on getting this CD out into the hands of people who will support it. It's been a really positive experience.
The Process
Once I made the decision to go forward on this project, I sought out help, but help was hard to find online, and not too many "dummies" books are out there on how to do a charity CD. I posted a few posts here and there asking for advice on how to go about this, and no replies came. Not a single one. Not even from people who I knew who did something like this in the past. So I did what anybody with no idea on how to get people interested in a project like this would do: I decided to contact artists one by one.
My goal at first was to make this exclusively and 100% a compilation featuring music from artists in the Kansas/Missouri/Kansas City area. That idea soon was proven to be not very likely when the majority of the area artists/bands I contacted never replied. Which, I have to say, is frustrating. There were some who said yes who I never heard from again, some who said yes who later backed out, but over all not enough to fill up one CD.
So I started to look further. Which is a wonderful thing about MySpace...you click on friends of certain artists and follow friends of friends of friends and you can find an amazing variety of music out there.
Overall, I contacted 235 artists/bands. Most never replied. A few who did reply said they thought the message I sent them might have been spam, so that might have been one reason why I didn't get many responses.
I even took a chance to contact a few better known name acts than others. There were a few well known artists that I REALLY wanted to contribute, but nobody replied. One of them was the Eels... I really hoped I could get an alternate version of "Christmas is Going to the Dogs" for the compilation, but it just wasn't to be.
Early on it did not look like this project was going to happen, that I would not have enough music. But I extended the deadline from Sept 31st for submissions to Oct 31st and that really made all the difference. I actually wound up with too much music, so preference for the final tracks was given to people who recorded something for the project and to people who provided original material instead of covering a familiar standard. Some had to be left off the final compilation, but it was by no means anything against the music they submitted, but I just could not leave off a track somebody recorded for the compilation in favor of a previously released track a band pulled off a CD they already put out when there were space limitations and cuts had to be made.
The Bands and songs
1) ShiSho-Christmas Bells
From Kent, Ohio. ShiSho created some of my most favorite Christmas songs in the past, and anybody who has perused my Christmas music blog or are fans of Christmas music to the extent they seek out compilations online probably already know of their work. So it was with great excitement that I received the news that ShiSho would not only do a song, but would do one of MY songs I gave them! Suddenly, the project came together for me, and it became something I HAD to see through. I am delighted for each and every track on this compilation, but ShiSho were one of the first bands to agree to contribute, so much appreciation goes to them for their work here.
2) Zen Doggies-Oh Santa
Some may question why I wrote a handful of the tracks on this disc. The simple answer is because I needed songs to fill the CD and while I would have LOVED to include other great original songs by artists, some artists did not have a new song to contribute and were willing to help me out with recording material I provided.
Zen Doggies is the name I gave to the collaborations I did with Ken Clinger. The name actually is in honor of my dog, who seems to always be in his center of zen. This song is a light, fun tune, and I thought decent to follow up the fun of "Christmas Bells."
3) Don Campau-It's That Time of Year AgainDon hosts a radio show on KKUP called No Pigeonholes and is one of the main names known in home recording. His recordings span back into the early 70s, so it is with considerable honor that I am glad to receive and use his contribution for this compilation. He is out of Santa Rosa, CA.
4) Ray Carmen-Jingle Bell RockRay is yet another name long associated with the home recording scene, and goes back at least a quarter century or more in solo recordings and with collaborations with other artists. He recorded this track for the compilation. He is from Green, Ohio.
5) Lord of the Yum Yum-Ukrainian Bell CarolLord of the Yum Yum is one of my MySpace contacts and I quickly contacted him asking him if he would contribute this song. It's previously released, but it's an outstanding track in it's unique approach to the all familiar music. An inspiration. His general music out put is also very interesting...I look forward to hearing more from him. From Chicago, IL.
6) What About Frogs-The Cat Who Controls ChristmasWhat About Frogs is actually Dave Cusick, host of That Sound on KPSU in Portland, OR. He recorded this song for his Christmas episode last year and was very willing to contribute his song to this compilation. It's not only great to have this wonderful song on the compilation, but it's great to have a cat Christmas song as well!
7) The Harvey Girls-Christmas Time Is HereAlso from Portland, OR. They recorded this version for this compilation. They were also kicking around an idea for an original tune, so hopefully one day they get that original song done as well. And I am not saying this just because they recorded this song for this CD, but this is perhaps my personal favorite version of this song. I think they did a fabulous job.
8) Thee Majesty-I Like Thee HolidaysAnother MySpace contact with a previously released tune, but I asked them to contribute the track. Just familiar enough to fit in, just off beat enough to REALLY fit right in. From New York City.
9) Fireflies-Xmas Song (Piano Version)Lisle Mitnik recorded this version for the CD. I would have been DELIGHTED to have them submit a new track, but I am glad to have this. I contacted them fairly late...they were one of the last artists I contacted...but Lisle really came through on making this new version for us. From Chicago, IL.
10) Matthias Rowe-A Different ScarfI discovered Matthias last year on MySpace and while his songs are not your standard Christmas songs, I felt they were very fitting for this compilation and he was happy to contribute them. And this song seems to be a great follow up to the Fireflies track, seeing that it's more about a relationship at Christmas time than it is a straight forward Christmas song. Matthias is from Sweden.
11) Ken Clinger-I'm Coming Home For Christmas This YearKen is from Pittsburg, PA. When I first contacted him to contribute, he submitted three previously recorded songs. I had written the lyrics for this song back in April of 2008 and had been trying to find somebody to record it for quite some time. When I heard his work, something about it told me he would be the ideal artist to record my song. So I submitted my lyrics to him, and this is the result. It was this song that provoked me to continue to collaborate with him.
It is a song about the violence we see at Christmas time. I realize most Christmas music is escapist and this is the exact opposite of that, taking the topics in the verses straight from the headlines in the evening news. Not exactly as fun and cheery as some of the songs that came before, but I thought it was a song that needed to be written. The lyrics came to me in a dream.
12) Rick Malsick-Joseph's SongFrom Independence, MO. If you are a reader of my Twelve Months of Christmas music blog, then you may recognize this name...he gave us Christmas Tumbleweeds last year. He recorded this song new this year and I was very happy to receive it. And following the previous tune it is just a sober reminder that perhaps the violence at the holiday times is nothing new at all, and is old as the Christmas story itself. I know, I know...not exactly the brightest of cheer for the holiday season!
13) Euchrid Eucrow-A Horse is Not Just for Christmas
When I found this band on MySpace, I felt this song would be a good selection for the CD. Not a merry tune, but a good message over all, and a message that could be extended to just about any animal. A lot of dogs and cats are given as Christmas presents only to be given up and turned loose or surrendered to shelters later on, and for those animals I say the same: a dog and cat are not just for Christmas either. I thought this song had a positive message for animals and caring for them, and I am glad the band let me use it. They are from Brighton, UK.
14) John Mitchell-The Reason for the SeasonFrom Kansas City, MO. I could not have released this track without including this song. If I had, it would have felt lacking some how. Who better to remind us what the
real reason is for the season than John Mitchell...and he does it with a great sense of humor.
15) R. Stevie Moore-Joy to the WorldR. Stevie Moore may be a new name to some of you and if it is, I suggest you look up his music on MySpace and elsewhere as soon as possible and marvel at what you were missing. I really wish Mr. Moore had been able to provide an original track, but he was swamped with work already when I contacted him, but when he submitted this track to me, I instantly loved the sound. It's an honor to include him on this compilation.
16) Zen Doggies-Goodbye Christmas
This song went through many stages before we got to this version here. Ken Clinger turned in an EXCELLENT version that was hard for me to decide not to use but we seemed to record our own versions of the song at the same time, so he went ahead and added his music to the mix on this. I ultimately decided to use it not because I am particularly fond of the vocals (I did the vocals on this, and I realize I am not much of a singer at all, and I don't claim to be a singer at all...I just try to provide vocal tracks that work with the material the best I can) but I decided to use this version because, stylistically, it was a break from the rest of the songs Ken contributed or contributed to, and I thought the low-fi sound on this track would compliment Mr. Moore's track well.
If you buy the CD through this site and donate $15.00 or more, you will get to hear Ken's versions...this song went through many different stages to get to this final take.
17) Mercurial Rage-It's Christmas
Another band that was early to sign on to this project, they did not disappoint. While this song was on their MySpace page in 2007 they remastered it and submitted it for this compilation. It's previously unreleased on CD. They are from Minneapolis, MN.
18) Ethan Waters-5AM Christmas Pawn GrooveAlso previously released, but I thought many of the listeners in America haven't heard this track since it was released as a single in New Zealand. And it's easy to see why this was chosen as a single, as it's a very enjoyable Christmas tune.
19) Worm Is Green-JólaljósinAnother band that supported the project early on, I was very glad to have them contribute. However, I was a little uneasy when they told me the song they chose would not be in English, but all fears subsided when I heard the song, as in any language this is a beautiful Christmas song, and it is with great honor that I include it. They are from Akranes, Iceland.
20) Matthias Rowe-Northern LightsNot so much of a Christmas song as it is a winter song, but considering songs like "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and "Snow" get attention at the Holiday times as Christmas songs, I felt that this song was a very good Holiday related song to include here. Just a beautiful song with startling imagery of taking a holiday to go north to see the Northern Lights.
21) Ken Clinger-I Will Hold You Until You Sleep
22) Larry Garrett-Old Dogs
Both of these songs are about the same topic: losing beloved pets that seem to live such short lives, certainly too short of a life. I wrote I Will Hold You... before Larry gave me his track, and it seemed fitting to pair the two tracks together on the disc. The track I did in collaboration with Ken Clinger is autobiographical, and is about a dog my family had that fell ill one Christmas day and died a week later. She is still missed dearly to this day. The chorus was actually written for my current dog, Fletcher my golden retriever, and I wrote the verses about Ebony, who was a golden/black lab mix.
Larry's song is not so much of a Christmas song but I thought it was a fitting song to conclude the CD with. I apologize for ending the CD on such a down note, but nothing else submitted seem to be appropriate to follow this up with.
Larry is from Independence, MO as well.
