It's mid-November, and with COVID numbers trending in the right direction, Mannheim Steamroller will return to the road soon. One of the Monsters of Christmas Rock, the group will start on Tuesday, November 16 in Loveland, Colorado, and it will have two companies on the road until December 30, when they'll finish up in Dallas and San Diego. The tour schedule is online, and tickets are on sale now. The tour will take place as it has since 2008 without founder/composer/arranger Chip Davis, who talks about why in today's episode, along with his journey from a series of albums with "Fresh Aire" in the title blending classical music, electronic music, and prog rock to 1984, Christmas, and Christmas music. Davis talks about his electronic music influences, as well as how he found an audience for an act that didn't fall neatly in any musical camp. He also talks about managing his success and dealing with the reality that Christmas music had become central to the Steamroller's identity, even if Davis didn't see it that way. Also in today's episode, host Alex Rawls and singer Alexandra Scott discuss two Australian Christmas songs, Paul Kelly's "How to Make Gravy" and Tim Minchin's "White Wine in the Sun." We're still giving away our 2021 listeners-only Christmas mix. Write [email protected] and request a copy. This episode is sponsored by Car-Floats.com, purveyors of removable, reusable fabric stickers for your car. 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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