A chanteuse from LA who performs under a single name, Jeudi likes to dig deep for vocal gems of the ’30s to ’50s. Her album of Christmas and winter-themed material doesn’t disappoint. The only tracks you are likely to recognize are the final two of 14: “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” The other dozen are from great song writing teams of the era with titles like “Santa Claus Came in the Spring,” “There’s Frost on the Moon,” and “Don’t Wait ’til the Night Before Christmas.”
On Bandcamp the info tab for each title will tell you not only the credits for the song but sometimes a few sentences about who performed it and why it speaks to her. Part of her notes on the CD cover spoke to me, “This time of year, while openly expressing joys and good wishes, we may also privately reflect on disappointment and regrets. The greatest songwriters capture the range of human emotions and present them to us in gorgeous melody or tender lyric.” This really gets at why, at Christmas time, even people who listen to other music the rest of the year fall back on melodies and lyrics written long before they were born to help understand their feelings. A good Christmas song can capture joy or longing in subsequent listens.
The album focuses on just such songs, a few, like “I Know Why and So Do You “ are simply winte
