Now that Bob Dylan has entered the lucrative Christmas album market, albeit honorably for charity, the floodgates are open for anyone to record their favorite holiday songs without fear of losing artistic credibility. In the past week alone, I’ve come across two more rockers turned carolers that are perhaps even more unexpected additions to the genre than Dylan: Tori Amos and Judas Priest’s Rob Halford.
Although Amos has had traditional songs “Little Drummer Boy” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” in her repertoire for a while, her upcoming as-yet-untitled holiday album will be a more ambitious undertaking. “It’s a mixture of variations on old melodies and ancient carols; but variations o those themes, not exactly as you’ll have heard them from the Methodist church,” Amos told The Quietus’ Mark Eglinton. “It’ll be slightly different, but you’ll recognise some of them. Then there are new ones. So it’s a merger of old and new, with full brass, harpsichord, timpani and concert bass drums.” There’s no release date yet, but Amos said they’re shooting for a November release.
Leather-clad Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford will be putting out his own collection, called Winter Songs, next month on his own label, Metal God, 3 News reports. “The Halford band has assembled a fantastic release, and we’re excited to have produced a collection of holiday tracks which all of us have enjoyed from a very early age,” Halford revealed.
So which songs did the “Breaking the Law” singer choose? The two track names he leaked so far include “What Child Is This?” and “Come All Ye Faithful.”