Genuine Houserockin Christmas

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 16, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Alligator Records
• ASIN: B0000AYLJB
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #103,198 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the blues and nothing but the blues!, December 5, 2003

By 

cyclista (the Midwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Genuine Houserockin Christmas (Audio CD)

If you like the blues, look at this lineup of artists. There are no bad songs on this 59 minute CD. "Genuine Houserockin' Christmas" is one of the best CD's I've heard for a long time. It's worth more than 5 stars, that's for sure. I know I'll play this one year around. Koko Taylor is awesome. For Zydeco fans, there is even "Zydeco Christmas". Lonnie Brooks is fantastic. I think my favorite is "A Bluesman's Christmas", a song about a bluesman who is on the road and can't be home. I would say a couple songs are not what you'd play for your fiance's parents when they came to visit. Great party music.

Did you ever had the experience of buying a CD by your favorite artist and find out that they've switched their style to a traditional Christmas style? These artists are playing the kind of music they play best... THE BLUES!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful alternative to the same old Christmas classics, November 17, 2007

By 

R. Knight (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Genuine Houserockin Christmas (Audio CD)

When you have had your fill of the local radio station fare, and when you grow tired of the Time Life classic collection, pull out the Genuine House-rockin' Christmas disc for an evening of blues-inspired holiday fun! This is not the first collection you will want to pull out to get you in the Christmas mood as the jingle bells of tradition are replaced with the accordion and fiddle of a hopping Zydeco party, but it sure is a great change of pace during the holidays that gets better with repeated play. While I still enjoy the classics that I grew up with (including Ray Conniff and Mitch Miller...), this is one of the discs I pull out when I want to take a break from the cocoa in front of the fire and want to put my dancing shoes on. It is great for Christmas parties, and many friends have heard it and gone on to get it for themselves. So if you are wondering if it is your cup of tea, take a listen to the sample tracks here, and if you like what you hear don't hesitate to add it to your collection.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If This Doesn't Liven Up Your Christmas Party ..., August 29, 2008

By 

AvidOldiesCollector (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alligator Records' Genuine Houserockin' Christmas (MP3 Download)

... then your guests are either Chamber Music enthusiasts ... or they're dead.

Here are 16 tunes performed by artists currently employed by Alligator Records, an independent blues label started up in Chicago in 1971 by one Bruce Iglauer, who began what is now one of the top indie operations on a shoe-strong in 1971. Over the years he has gathered together some of the best contemporary blues artists on the planet, and in this 2003 release they lend their talents to one of the liveliest Christmas-themed albums currently available.

Leading off with her own Have You Heard The News? is the Queen Of The Blues, Ko Ko Taylor (born Cora Walton on September 28, 1935 in Memphis), delivered with her patented rough and powerful voice. She's followed by Carey Bell (born Carey Bell Harrington on November 14, 1936 in Macon, Mississippi) performing his own composition as well, Christmas Train. In addition to the vocals, Carey blows a mean harmonica in the Chicago Blues style he was so famous for before tragically passing away on May 6, 2007. Arkansas-born guitarist/vocalist Michael Burks, a W.C. Handy Award nominee for Best New Artist in 2000, does a nice job on Christmas Snow, while Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials give us a driving rendition of Christmas Time. Born in Chicago on April 4, 1955, vocalist/slide guitarist Ed Williams co-wrote the tune with his bassist James "Pookie" Young and Iglauer.

Next up are Shemekia Copeland (born in New York City on April 10, 1979 and the daughter of vocalist/blues guitarist Johnny Copeland) with her sultry Stay A Little Longer, Santa which she wrote in conjunction with several others, and The Holmes Brothers from Tidewater, Virginia doing the Clarence Carter classic Back Door Santa. Lead vocalist Wendell Holmes, also on guitar and organ and vocalist/bassist Sherman Holmes, are joined by drummer Popsy Dixon and vocalist/tambourine player Catherine Russell. W. C. Clark (born Wesley Curley Clark on November 15, 1939 in Austin, Texas) is a former member of the Joe Tex band and known, as you will quicky discern from Christmas Party, as the "Godfather of Austin Blues."

The pace picks up considerably with Zydeco Christmas, written and performed by Clayton Joseph Chenier, son of the legendary Clifton Chenier, alternately described as "the crown prince of zydeco" and "the best living zydeco singer and accordionist," and then slows back down with Christmas Day Blues, composed by vocalist/guitarist John Cephas, one half the duo of Cephas & Wiggins along with harmonica player Phil Wiggins, who both hail from Washington, D.C. It then picks up again with one of my favourites on the album, Christmas Fais Do Do, done by the writer, and vocalist/pianist extraordinaire Marcia Ball (born March 20, 1949 in Orange, Texas)

Santa Clause (Do You Ever Get The Blues?), written by guitarist Chris Vachon, comes from the large horn-driven band known as Roomful Of Blues, first formed in 1967 in Westerly, Rhode Island by guitarist Duke Robillard and pianist Al Copley. Then comes the driving Really Been Good This Year, written by pianist/vocalist Ann Rabson, one-third of the delightful trio Saffire-The Uppity Blues Women from Washington, D.C. that also includes guitarist/vocalist Gaye Adegbalolo and vocalist.mandolin player Andra Faye.


Guitarist/vocalist Lonnie Brooks (born Lee Baker Jr. in Dubuisson, Louisiana on December 18, 1933) performs his own composition, All I Want For Christmas, and on A Bluesman's Christmas, written by Dave Steen we hear the former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Coco Montoya (born Henry Montoya in 1951 in Santa Monica, California). The jump tune, It's Christmas Time Again, written by harmonica player/lead vocalist Rick Estrin, comes to us from Little Charlie & the Nightcats, a four-piece combo that includes Estrin, guitarist Little Charlie Baty, drummer Jay Hansen, and bassist Lorenzo Farrell. Closing out the album is guitarist/vocalist Dave Hole, originally from Heswall, Cheshire, England, who performs the self-penned Fattening Up The Turkey.

The sound is excellent and in the fold-out insert you get 8 pages with photos of each artist/group and a list of their back-up musicians.