Kevin Morby’s ‘Blue Christmas’ Is The Psychedelic Holiday Ballad You Didn’t Realize You Needed

Getty Image

Every year is a struggle to add new material into the canon of immortal Christmas music. Don’t get me wrong, I love Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas,” and Mariah Carey’s force of nature pop smash “All I Want For Christmas Is You” as much as the next person, but you’ve also got to spice things up a bit. Take this new entry from indie-rock stalwart Kevin Morby, who decided to tackle no less than Elvis Presley with a sprawling psychedelic version of the mournful ballad “Blue Christmas.”

In a note that he shared with Noisey, Morby said, “Christmas in LA is a funny thing, it’s usually about 65 degrees and sunny out so it always feels a little psychedelic that’s it’s actually Christmas day, after growing up in the Midwest where it usually snows, or at the very least is very cold.” Adding, “There’s something special about celebrating the Holidays in the sun. Anyways Kyle [Thomas, King Tuff] and I chose “Blue Christmas” because I wanted to pretend I was Elvis for an afternoon, and we had a great time making it. Truth be told, the whole thing was a Christmas Miracle.”

You can jam out Morby’s sunny Christmas entry in the Soundcloud player above, and check for more offbeat holiday entries from the likes of Robert Pollard, Charly Bliss, and The Melvins on Amazon’s Indie For The Holidays playlist.

×