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Our Review

Life is a box of chocolates, said Mrs. Gump. Truly, one never knows what one is going to get, especially in the Christmas review business (although one does know, in advance, that one is going to get at least 50 new versions of Silent Night, but that isn't exactly a trade secret.) Clearly, though, Detroit-based artists Whit Hill and John Latini have brought us the first contender for original singer-songwriter Christmas CD this year. Their D-e-a-r S-a-n-t-a, Sweet, Silly, Grumpy, Twisted, Funky, Lovely Songs About Christmas delivers the goods, both lyrically and musically.

Thematically, this is a collaborative mash-up, featuring original songs by Hill and Latini, played in a variety of acoustic styles, from swing to bluegrass to blues to rock. Overall, their compositions keep things on the light side. My favorite "concept" song is Mom Made Her Getaway, the story of what just might happen at the end of one excruciatingly long Christmas Day. Accomplished songwriters, both seem capable of releasing another 50 songs as good as these 12. And as if to show that their prowess is no fluke, the two go head to head in a competition to write songs about toy trains, with Ms. Hill's Lionel getting the slight nod in my judgment over Latini's Christmas Train. But Mr. Latini shouldn't feel too badly over this slight, as my bias toward female singer-songwriters is well-known.

Maintaining a withering crossfire of individual singer-songwriter efforts, the two round out the set with a beautiful duet, Mike Latini's The Waltz Of The Walnutz And Plumz . D-e-a-r S-a-n-t-a is the kind of record that motivated me to begin this site ten years ago. Its magnificent quality is what motivates us to continue.

--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2007)

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From the promotional materials:

This record features 12 original, proudly secular, sweet, silly, soulful, grumpy, funky songs about Christmas by award-winning Michigan songwriters John "Jonesy" Latini and Whit Hill. (Track 4 is a co-write by Whit Hill and her husband, Al Hill. Track 12 was written by Jonesy's brother, Mike.)

The goal of the record: to write some new Christmas classics that speak honestly to the complex emotions of the season: joy and peace and family, sure. But also loneliness, crabbiness, dissatisfaction--and the wonder of a city draped in a Christmas Eve snowfall.

Both natives of New York City who have lived in Michigan for years, both Latini and Hill are recent winners of the Great Lakes Songwriting Competition. Latini won grand prize in 2004 for his song Yesterday I Painted Your Room. Hill won first prize in 2006 for her song, Farsighted.

Whit Hill & John Latini

D-e-a-r S-a-n-t-a,
Sweet,
Silly,
Grumpy,
Twisted,
Funky,
Lovely Songs About Christmas

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Track List