Think of this as a remix. Last year, I interviewed New Orleans bounce artist Big Freedia for an episode about his Christmas music including the EP he released last season, Smokin' Santa Christmas. In early January, I interviewed New Orleans' founder of "rap cabaret" Boyfriend about Amy Grant's A Christmas Album. We also talked about her work with Big Freedia--a part of the conversation I saved because the Amy Grant conversation was a full episode on its own. (Boyfriend has also appeared on the show to talk about her love of The Carpenters.) So this week, I've pulled the two interviews together, combining highlights of the Big Freedia interview with Boyfriend's behind the scenes point of view, and I've included a short digression into Boyfriend's first Christmas song, a version of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. This episode also includes another call-back. When I interviewed Calexico's Joey Burns, we talked about the Spanish language Christmas song, "Mi Burrito Sabanero," which they performed with singer Gabi Moreno on their Seasonal Shift. This week, I go through some of the recorded highlights of the song's history, though they really don't make it any clearer why that song has developed a seasonal following in Miami. If you have any questions, suggestions, or favorites you want to share, I'm at [email protected]. If you haven't already done so, please do what you have to do to get Twelve Songs in your podcast feed. You can find us at Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Pandora, and Spotify.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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