Rockabilly Jingle Bells to You
And a happy new year!
Touch the arrow above to hear a vintage Jeni & Billy recording of “Jingle Bells.”
Here’s some Christmas cheer – a rockabilly version of the holiday favorite, “Jingle Bells” which I recorded with my old friend and former duo partner Billy Kemp back in 2011. Neither of us can remember what possessed us to make it. We didn’t have a Christmas record in the works. We seem to think it may have been because Billy dragged his electric guitar out of the closet and we just thought, hey, it’s Christmas, let’s do “Jingle Bells.”
One funny note: Billy recorded all of the music for this track before I did any singing which was different from our normal way of recording. Usually when we recorded, Billy played guitar or banjo and I would sing at the same time, or we’d both play and sing just like we did in concert. But on “Jingle Bells,” Billy recorded the music for the song, then I sang with the tracks. EXCEPT, I sang it all at half-time – half of the speed a person normally would. I was completely wrong, but after we had a huge laugh over it, we agreed there was something fun and different about my quixotic approach. So, Billy re-recorded the whole song in that half-time feel. And then I sang it again in my half-time way. Here you go! Just goes to show that a goof might be a stroke of genius sometimes! :-)
Thanks to you for staying in touch this year and reading and listening along to things I’ve sent from what my great-grandmother and Jane Austen had in common, to doll repair, to completely new songs! I made a commitment here at the beginning of 2024 to share a newly written or unreleased song each month and I’m glad that I saw it through. Your enthusiasm and comments helped me to know that someone special was listening and that’s VERY important to me. So, thank you.
I share a post nearly every day on Instagram and Facebook and I often share a post here on Notes, too, if you’d like to be in touch more often with what I’m making and writing. For December, I’ve been opening a Doll & Bear Advent window on my socials each day, telling the stories of little friends, often rescued or repaired, who have found a home with me.
I’ll sign off with a story about Albee.
Albee Bear’s story is really dramatic in that he was on the precipice of going to landfill for no reason at all. I’m committed to fishing as many things out of the trash and getting them back into circulation as possible. Secondhand is a powerful and essential way of life for climate and waste activism. It’s a constant of my daily life.
Meet Albee!!! Albee flies under the radar a bit in the internet world, but he’s very much a part of the real life world in Jeniland. Albee was in serious jeopardy when I met him. He was in a dumpster under a laundry basket down a bumpy road which is home to garages, metal crushers, and car body paint services. His former owners fly-tipped (British for dumped) Albee and a bunch of other household things into an industrial dumpster. I was SO glad that I spotted him under the laundry basket. I use the laundry basket to this day and enjoy its hot pink color. I found some clothes in the same dumpster so I washed those and donated them.
But Albee!! Wow. He needed a good spa time with unstuffing and washing and a good dry in the breezes of Lancashire. He’s such a beautiful chocolate color and he has this great waffle texture to his fur. He’s soft to hug and lean on. His original tag is almost completely faded but I can just make out that he’s a Chad Valley Bear. That’s a brand with a long history in Britain. He wears his original satiny purple neckerchief and he’s just a delight. He’s generally in charge of the guest room in Carnforth, but recently he came down to London to spend time with the friends here. He loves being part of the group. Albee is the king of second chances. Someone thought he was trash, but they were so wrong. He’s a treasure.
I hope that you find something unexpectedly and quietly beautiful in the new year.
Happy Holidays from The Englishman, Stanley Bear, Odile Bunny, Albee, all of the little dolls and bears, and me, Jeni
If you’d like to hear a Christmas song I wrote with York songwriter and performer Alfred Hickling, hear and watch “The Loneliest Snowman.”
You never know what you might find. In the bottom of this auction box of bears and friends in need of repair, I found a little friend who I repaired right away. Turned out she had an entire wardrobe of hand sewn and hand knitted clothes. She’s now embarked on her own analogue photography project!
Find me on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Modern Daily Knitting.
My Shop where you can also listen to nearly every song I’ve ever released.
My Website.
Jeniland is such a happy place! The residents there are very lucky. And I love the half-time Jingle Bells rendition!
Marvelous in all the ways. Oh Albee❤️