The Making Of “Hey, It’s Christmas”

It all began 4 years ago when my husband, Greg, decided that he wanted to put his own spin on some classic Christmas carols. He teamed up with his friend, Joey and The Oceanauts was born. They spent a few days making a few well known songs their own and then they emailed the songs out to their close friends and family as a little creative Christmas gift. It was a hit! The songs circulated around our small community and before you know other musicians and bands started telling Greg how much they would enjoy doing their own Christmas jam. And so, the following year, Hey, It’s Christmas: Volume 1 entered the world.

A few crucial elements made Volume 1 an instant success. First, it was free. All you had to do was head to the site and download the album. Who doesn’t love free Christmas music? Even better, it was real good. It was a great smattering of the best of music Orlando had to offer at the time and each artist took special care to make their song a carol like you had never heard before. Volume 1 set the bar pretty high for future Hey, It’s Christmas records.

Before you know it, Christmas arrives once more and people are clamoring for when Volume 2 might make its appearance. This time, returning Orlando artists are joined with new voices who span across the United States. Musical friends in Pennsylvania and California and Texas and Oklahoma are added to the mix and Volume 2 does not disappoint. Even with the added challenge of having a 6 month old baby at home, Greg keeps it all together as he assembles all of the artists, coordinates with his best friend and returning designer, Danny Jones, on the look and feel of the artwork, and of course, adds his own musical talent to the compilation. With more artists from all over the country, the execution and organization is much more complicated than the year before but the album, once again, is met with huge success.

Another year goes by and as early as August people begin asking Greg if they can be a part of Volume 3 of Hey, It’s Christmas. Greg and I have many, many, many discussions about how feasible it even is to take on such a huge project when he is now working a full time job and no longer freelancing. Time seems to be a commodity he never seems to possess enough of and the whole idea just seems overwhelming. But two records is simply not complete. What would Star Wars be without Return of the Jedi? How would we ever survive without Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade? Clearly, a third and final record is needed to round out the Hey, It’s Christmas family. And so, Greg goes to work. Artists start recording in living rooms and studios and whatever other spaces can accommodate their creative vision for their carol and by Thanksgiving weekend all of the crucial parts are in Greg’s hands. Levi and I flee town to escape the stress that is the final stages of the making of Hey, It’s Christmas and when we return we find an exhausted but excited Greg, who is ready to release the final member of the Hey, It’s Christmas family.

And it is available to you now, free of charge, by clicking here. You will also find the first two volumes available for download in case you missed them the first time around. Having seen all of the hard work from people around the country that goes into this album first hand, I know that each member of the Hey, It’s Christmas family hopes that you consider their carol an early Christmas gift and that these songs become a permanent addition to your Christmas play lists for years to come.

Welcome to the Christmas season of 2012!