Bigbandtacularswingaganza - December 18

[Tannerman]

In the Introduction to this year's Steve's 25 Days of Christmas Music, I mentioned an emphasis on "foot tappin', dancing tunes." Sometimes, that doesn't strictly mean Big Band/Swing-oriented music. Today's song is a perfect example of that.

When Amy and I were on vacation a few months ago, we stopped off in Nashville at a fun "hole in the wall" place to hear some good tunes. It just so happens that we were there for a CD release party with a group that specialized in a odd combination of traditional Cajun, western swing, blues, and jazz. Today's "Bigbandtacularswingaganza" song is not from that group, but was rather inspired by the happy feeling we got during that evening.

It's Joy to the World, Cajun-style, performed by Daniel Newton and his band. You won't find trumpets or other brass instruments being played. Rather, open your ears to accordion, guitar, fiddles, bass, and various types of percussion. I know it's a little different, but I just love the upbeat nature of this song and really wanted to include it in this year's celebration!

We've got a lot to share today with updates to our contests below, but I also wanted to call your attention to a free download we're offering via our blog at SteveandAmySly.com. It's the audio from a 1966 LP that featured the story of A Charlie Brown Christmas. The record has long been out of print, but you can download the MP3s until December 25. After that, it's gone! OK, now onto the contests...

Caption Contest Update! It's time to announce the second round winner of the Comment Contest. Out of the 24 comments posted in the December 9-15 timeframe, one was randomly selected.

That comment was posted by captcrouton on 12/10 and can be found here. ("This is alot of fun, will definitely be on my party playlists this year"). captcrouton has been awarded an exclusive Bonus Track that is not part of our core 25 Days celebration of music. A link has been Private Messaged to him with the song. (Want to know what it is? You'll have to ask him!) He's also been given a special avatar to celebrate his wonderful accomplishment:

Enjoy the music over there in the Ukraine! As for the rest of you, there is still one more round of the Comment Contest to go, so you too can still win! Remember that all posts you make to songs in the December 16-25 timeframe will enter you in final round of the contest. So get posting, as you still have time before Christmas. You may win our final Comment Contest!

Blog and Win! Contest Update! Our Blog and Win! Contest has concluded. You will recall that the site that generated the most traffic to the 25 Days between December 1-15 would receive 5 unreleased Christmas songs to share with their audience. The results have been tabulated, using the percentage of traffic assigned to each participant as the ranking. The winner is... Dr. Ray Pritchard, Crosswalk.com

Here were the final numbers in order of finish (percentages are rounded):

1. 33.0% - Dr. Ray Pritchard, crosswalk.com (View Post)
2. 25.4% - Karl Bastian, kidologist.com (View Post)
3. 23.0% - Dr. Ray Pritchard, keepbelieving.com (View Post)
4. 9.7% - Alan Phillips, pastoralan.gaccblogs.com (View Post)
5. 6.7% - Henry Zonio, henryjz.blogspot.com (View Post)
6. 1.9% - Dave Truitt, mcbickids.org (View Post)
7. 0.9% - Henry Zonio, redwoodkids.org (View Post)
8. 0.9% - Timothy O'Neill, thoughtsbytimotheous.blogspot.com (View Post)

Dr. Pritchard has been sent an e-mail with links to 5 exclusive download tracks to share with his blog audience (which he then blogged about here and here.) Thanks to everyone who participated and spread the word about Steve's 25 Days of Christmas Music! I sure do appreciate you going along with this fun little game.

Download This Song
Daniel Newton - Joy To The World (Recorded 1999, 4:14, 4.0 MB)
(Right-click on link and Save)

Flashback: December 18
Today's song from: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006

Elsewhere at TannerWorld Junction
Your weekend in 3 bullet points (12/14-12/16)
Teaser & Trailer #1: The Dark Knight

Rate This Song
Use the "Rating" feature at the top of the page!

Enter The Comment Contest
The final round of our comment contest runs from December 16-25. Remember that any comment posted about this song during that timeframe will automatically enter you to win the official "Bigbandtacularswingaganza Bonus Tracks"... Full contest rules.

Don't Miss The Music
Be notified about each new song... Learn how!. Miss a day? Take a look at the complete list of songs for December 2007.

What's This All About?
New to Steve's 25 Days of Christmas Music? Take some time to read the explanation and introduction!

[Egg]

Congratulations captcrouton. Enjoy your bonus track.

[Egg]

This reminds me of a instrumental 12 days of Christmas I have at home, that a different instrument sound plays each day of the week. This is very upbeat and fun. I will get a 4 out of 5.

[henryjz]

Congratulations captcrouton.

This was a fun twist to Christmas. I do enjoy that Cajun sound, and it does get you moving!

[captcrouton]

Cool, thanks for the bonus song. I was going to say, "Thanks for the free song..." but really everything has been free. Even the songs on the blogs. As my friend Michael Scott would say, "It's a win-win-win situation."

Regarding this song, I like it. Is this considered Zaidego? (Don't know how to spell that, just gave it a shot.) It reminds me of a Zaidego project I heard before.