JD McPherson Is Planning a Retro Rock Christmas With Holiday Album Socks

Our mindset at Paste is currently turned squarely in the direction of Halloween, but leave it to JD McPherson to emerge from left field with tidings of comfort and joy instead. We’ve long been fans of the retro rock performer, who dazzled us with 2015’s Let the Good Times Roll and 2017’s Undivided Heart & Soul, but a Christmas album? We’ll let McPherson speak in his own defense on this one.

“Over the past few months, I’ve told a few friends and interested parties that we’re releasing an album soon, and that it’s a Christmas album,” McPherson says. “You can immediately see the disappointment or bemusement on their faces. Then I have to explain to them how incredibly proud I am of it, and how I rate it as an actual album, as opposed to some kind of stop-gap or cash-grab. It’s eleven original songs. I think it’s some of my very best lyrical work. The band played beautifully. It was the most fun we’ve ever had in a studio together. After hearing the final mix, we marveled, and none of us can stop listening to it. First and foremost, it’s a rock and roll record (fans of our first record are going to flip out) and one that I believe at least a few people will listen to in the summertime, when they get a jones for feeling good. Scout’s honor.”

Judging from the first few songs released on Socks, it does sound like we’re in good hands. First is the title track, an ode to the disappointment felt by every child who has ever received SOCKS as a Christmas gift.