Album Review: Savannah Red’s Christmas Album is Your New Holiday Classic

December 12, 2024 Amanda Quraishi 1029 Views album review, Anslee Connell, Brian Scartocci, Christmas, Christmas Music, Holiday, jazz, Mariah Carey, Melissa Engleman, Savannah Red

At some point after Halloween and before Thanksgiving, we begin to detect familiar melodies in the background while we’re at the grocery store or waiting in a doctor’s office. By the time December rolls around, the holiday music is in full effect. Which might not be so bad except that out of the decades of popular Christmas music available, there seems to be only a handful of Christmas songs that get played ad nauseam. By the time Christmas is over, even the most ardent Mariah Carey fan needs a break. Which exactly is why A Savannah Red Friends & Family Christmas should be on tap for all your holiday festivities this year.

Austin’s Savannah Red dropped this new classic Christmas album last year just before the holiday season. But a snafu with the vinyl press they’d contracted with meant that the peppermint-striped vinyl edition didn’t make it onto shelves until this past summer. Still, all good things come to those who wait – and this album is definitely a good thing.

Savannah Red can be found on Austin’s jazz and lounge circuit, with lead singer Anslee Connell’s signature clear, smooth alto chilling out audiences with beloved standards and original tunes that sound best in a smoky, low-lit bar where private investigators lurk in dark corners. Connell is joined on this album by her well-seasoned band, Tosin Awofeso (piano), Ian Bailey (drums, percussion), and Derek Thigpen (bass, saxophone) whose sax takes us back to the long-lost days of swanky holiday cocktail parties in middle-class living rooms.

Connell’s bluesy voice shines on original tracks like the sultry “Misunderstood Mrs. Claus” or the rockabilly-inspired “Christmas Ain’t the Same Without You,” that will have your cynical ass bopping around the kitchen, making cookies and wearing an elf hat. As the album title promises, Connell is joined by some of her friends and family on a few of the songs, including Austin’s favorite crooner Brian Scartocci for a jazzy version of “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” and her own father, Don “Big Daddy” Connell for a finger-poppin’ rendition of “Cool Yule.” Her sweet duet with Melissa Engleman on “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” perfectly captures the melancholy of this well-worn standard.

At the same time, there’s a classic element to this album that gives us beloved standards like “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “O Holy Night” that stay faithful to traditional arrangements and instrumentation and reminds us Connell’s powerful voice isn’t a gimmick of retro sound.

But the best part of A Savannah Red Friends & Family Christmas are the touches that make it a deeply personal project for Connell. In “Christmas Ain’t the Same Without You,” Connell was able to visit her musical family (credited as Big Daddy and the Fireant Blues Band) in Georgia, and record the song with them. For the tender ballad “To: Mom,” Connell wrote about her mother’s dedication to her family and to making Christmas special throughout the years, singing with loving adoration:

Red and green fills the house
What awaits under the tree
Our hearts desires possibly
All because you made it so

Christmas music doesn’t need to be, uh, polarizing. There’s enough on this album to please everyone, making it a perfect holiday standard. The blend of traditional favorites and catchy new songs will have your guests tapping their feet and asking, “Who is this?” as you knowingly smile over your deep knowledge of Austin’s diverse musical landscape, and top off their eggnog.

A Savannah Red Friends & Family Christmas: