BONUS TRACKS: The No. 1 Hit You’ve Been Hearing for 65 Years

Before there was Mariah Carey, before there was Wham!, there was Brenda Lee for the holidays: Her “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” has been a staple on holiday radio playlists and store soundtracks pretty much constantly for decades. But as ubiquitous as that song has been, it had never quite reached the top of the charts — until now. Sixty-five years after its release, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. All it took was a little push, including the release of a new holiday EP from Lee, a TikTok account, and a new music video for the song featuring cameos from Trisha Yearwood and Tanya Tucker. Amid all that hype, the song was streamed 35 million times in the space of the week following Thanksgiving Day, according to Billboard. Lee, who is 78, is now the oldest artist to ever top the Hot 100. Learn more about this song and its long journey to the top of the charts in this article from CBS News.

The intersection of music and the internet is a wild, wild place. Spotify hit 226 million paying customers (and growing) this year, most of whom pay $10.99 a month or more for the service. (More than 360 million additional monthly users pay nothing, but are monetized through advertising.) But somehow the company also lost $462 million (as of September) this year. Where does all the money go? According to the company, much of it is paid to record labels and music publishers for licensing, and there have also been some high-dollar expansions into podcasts and audiobooks in recent years. We know, of course, that very little Spotify money finds its way to (most) artists, and it’s apparently not enough to cover all of its employees, either. The Sweden-based company this week announced layoffs of 1,500 people, about 17% of its staff. Read more in this story from The New York Times.

For my birthday last month, a generous friend gifted me Dolly Parton’s Behind the Seams, a new book co-written with music journalist Holly George-Warren and Rebecca Seaver, Parton’s archive director (and niece), that focuses on Parton’s fashion through her career. If you think that’s frivolous, you’re in for a surprise. Parton writes with a lot of depth about her visual choices and how hard she had to fight for them. Through the text and gorgeous photos, including some stunning closeups of her garments, you learn about how she and her team fancied up her clothes and hair before she had a big budget for either, and how she steered her look as her resources grew. Hudson Valley magazine The Chronogram recently published an interview with George-Warren about the book and her research for it, and what she learned about Dolly and determination along the way.

Retro roots band Bill and the Belles have announced the end of their journey as a band after a decade together. “We know in our hearts that it’s time to move on,” they said in an announcement Thursday. They thanked fans for their support of “the band with the catchy jingles, shimmering harmonies, and questionable humor,” adding “our love and respect for each other has only deepened through the years, and we look forward to seeing where our paths will lead.” Their last album of original songs was 2021’s Happy Again (ND review), and in September they released a tribute album to Willie Nelson titled To Willie From Billy.

 

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He had one of the coolest nicknames in bluegrass and the skills to back it up: Terry Baucom, “The Duke of Drive,” passed away this week at the age of 71 after a battle with Lewy body dementia. Baucom pioneered an aggressive right-hand style on banjo that drove bluegrass into a harder, faster era. That was first on display in the 1970s with Boone Creek, which also featured Ricky Skaggs on mandolin and fiddle and Jerry Douglas on dobro. Baucom later joined Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, then IIIrd Tyme Out. He started his own band, Terry Baucom’s Dukes of Drive, in 2013. He performed until May of this year, and in September received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association. Read more about Baucom and his impact on the banjo in this obituary from Bluegrass Today.

WHAT WE’RE LISTENING TO

Here’s a sampling of the songs, albums, bands, and sounds No Depression staffers have been into this week:

Valerie June – “Ordinary World” (Duran Duran cover)
Raye Zaragoza – “On Your Way Home”
Britti ­– “Keep Running,” from her new album, Hello, I’m Britti, coming in February

Thee Sinseers – “For You”
Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors – “Way Back When”
Cat Power and Iggy Pop – “Working Class Hero” (from tribute album The Faithful: A Tribute to Marianne Faithfull, out today)
Fantastic Cat – “Band on the Run” (50th anniversary Wings cover)

Ray Bull – “The New Thing Dies”
Emily Frembgen – ‘Fentanyl”
Leyla McCalla – “Crown” (Kendrick Lamar cover)