They were years of change and uncertainty. For Christmas, they were years that made Christmas a whole new thing. They were the years of 1941, 1942, 1943 and 1944.

How could these war years make Christmas different?

That’s the topic of this podcast episode which features the stories and letters of real folks who experienced all that Christmas was about at that time.

What would you do, as a young man or young woman aged 19 or 20, away from home for the first time at Christmas with the knowledge that you might never return?

What would you do if you just didn’t know when you would ever be able to return home for Christmas?

What would you do if you were a parent to one of these young people now spending Christmas in harm’s way? How would you feel not knowing if they could ever spend another Christmas with you?

These were the realities for millions of people during these years.

No wonder Christmas was different during this time. And no wonder Christmas was different thereafter, too.

Everyone, it seems, is a Christmas music critic these days.

The Christmas season of 2018 has been marked with those emphasizing what they don’t like about Christmas music. 

Headlining the news has been the new debate about an old song, Baby It’s Cold Outside. Some are calling it the date rape song. 

This despite the fact the song is better than 70 Christmases old. 

Politics and movements aside, it should be pointed out that bad Christmas music is a thing. And it has always been a thing. 

In this merry episode we go down that road — and share — some awful, no good, very bad Christmas music with you. 

You’re welcome. And Merry Christmas. 

Great new Christmas music is hard to come by even though we are treated to more Christmas music each and every season.

In this merry episode we do some of the dirty work for you and serve up some new music we think you’re going to love. This episode features four great songs — just the tip of the Christmas music iceberg that is the 2018 season. Will we do another episode like this? Stay tuned!

First up is a merry little tune called Crazy for Christmas by the Cooter Boys. Get their song here.

We also feature the snazzy works of Rehya Stevens, from her new album Celebrate.

The song we feature on this episode is called A Christmas Song.

Rehya is an old soul that gives a lot of warm feels with her original stuff. In fact, that’s the charm of this album. It’s orginal Christmas stuff. The merry shines through despite the fact the songs are unknown. Or perhaps because of that fact.

Also in this episode we are thrilled to hear the vocals of Emi Sunshine in a bluegrass tune telling a story of Santa’s reindeer. EmiSunshine has been attracting national attention since she was about nine years old, appearing at music festivals throughout the world, as well as on NBC’s “The Today Show,” “Little Big Shots,” the Grand Ole Opry and elsewhere. Recently, several of her songs were used in the Elvis Presley documentary “The King.”

I won’t spoil the story. But it takes not just a song to tell the story but also an all-new award winning children’s book by Grant Maloy Smith. The book is a first release for Smith but as a recording artist his 2017 album “Dust Bowl – American Stories” was critically acclaimed and rose to the top 10 on Billboard’s Folk/Americana and Country album sales charts.

Plus, there’s a bonus in this can’t miss music-filled episode!