IT'LL BE A CHRISTMAS IN PARIS...

“Now boarding, flight #98, departing Detroit 5:55pm, nonstop to Paris”…AHHHHHHH! the words I have been longing for! So, I finally made it back to France, after rescheduling this flight and my studio sessions 3 different times since the Covid lockdown first happened in 2020. As I’m writing this blog, I’m in the cutest, most historical French medieval village of Dourdan (just outside of Paris) on a day off from the studio, after recording 12 of the 15 Christmas album songs in the last 11 days.

“Why France”?…so many have asked me! So many reasons, but the (sort-of) short answer is that #1—I love the work and talents of the producers and musicians that I’m working with, #2—I thoroughly enjoy their process and approach (soooo NOT stressful or impatient), #3—I am a travel junkie and kind-of obsessed with French food and culture, and #4—there are new upcoming music projects and connections I have here in France. So, I say, “Pourquoi pas”? (Why not?)

In 2019, I was asked by French Pop singer, Fab’M to sing on one his songs, “You Say, You Say” for his 2020 album “Vers un autre matin”. Being in France in January 2020 I completed pre-production for a christmas album with Clément Ducasse near Bordeaux in the south of France. Afterwards, I headed to Paris for a few days to connect with Fab’M to write a Christmas song together. The next day we did pre-production for the song with Bertrand Poncet (Chunk, No Captain Chunk) of Alias Studio. We planned to record and complete the Christmas album a few months later, but…obviously that was not to be - a few weeks after I got home, Covid happened. So, of course, everything had to be put on hold.

Now that things are open again, I have returned to France to finish recording the entire Christmas album, which will be now be released in the Holiday season of 2022. BUT, we’ve managed to be able to release one single this year, “Christmas in Paris with you”, with a release date of November 19th, 2021. The single is a cute, romantic holiday love story, along the lines of movies like “Love Actually” or “The Holiday” :). While I’m here in France, Fab’M and I are playing the song live together in several online shows and also in venues around the Paris vicinity. There is also a music video being filmed in Paris for the song, by Julien Metter, which will be available on Youtube in early December 2021.

There’s so much more I will write about in regards to the upcoming Christmas album in the next year…like how it’s been a dream since I was a kid, and the meaning behind each of the original songs, the kid’s book that goes with one of the songs, and yada yada yada…but that’s for another time. Right now I’m drinking my Saint Emilion Grand Cru wine and eating my Chou à la crème (cliché, I know but there it is) and enjoying a “Christmas in Paris….”