Christmas Lullaby

Christmas Lullaby Story

The Christmas Lullaby story is a bit like the America My Home story except we did not have to record it again. When Lloyd Schwartz and I were planning the America My Home project, he called me and said he had gotten a call from Marsha, the wife of his late writing partner and our great friend John Lenox. She was cleaning out the garage and asked if Lloyd would like the tapes from our recording sessions in 1978. Lloyd called me and asked me if I thought we should retrieve them and of course I said yes. When he got the tapes, he called me and said I should come have a look. I went over to Lloyd's house and he showed me the tapes. To my surprise, among the tapes were the original 2" multi-track Ampex tapes. Lloyd asked if I wanted them. I said absolutely, having no idea if we could restore them and convert them to a digital format.

After that, Lloyd and I had a discussion about putting out Christmas Lullaby, and I said it would be great if we could put out the original recording with John on keyboards. I then began trying to find someone to try to restore the multi-tracks and get them converted to a digital format. Having worked on a lot of restoration projects in the past, I knew there was a chance we might be successful. As luck would have it, I found Tal Miller. He had to clean up the mold, etc. and bake the tapes for 64 hours. The transfers were successful and other than some print through issues the recordings sound great. We then went into the studio, remixed Christmas Lullaby, and it sounds like it was recorded yesterday. I am very happy with the result!

It seems like a simple recording, a Fender Rhodes, a piano, and my vocal. However, when you listen to the performance of John Lenox you very quickly hear that this is something very special. John did an incredible job of surrounding the vocal in a way that is brilliant. I know that this song could be produced with a big orchestra; but honestly, the way it was originally recorded has an intimacy that is fantastic. Thanks John for your musicianship. It stands the test of time. It has been 35 years since we recorded this song and it still sounds great.