Christmas and hopefully we will ask ourselves some bigger questions .
[ WM ] And the cd packaging is just brilliant , complete with old family Christmas photos ! The cover imagery is magical . Well done !
[ Joel ] Thank you , Alex !
[ WM ] We ’ re just a couple of weeks from you taking this all on the road with the Drummer Boy Drive-In Christmas Tour ! In a year of lockdowns and shut-ins , you ’ ve put together a socially distanced and safe , nationwide tour . When I was a kid , drive-in theaters had a playground at the base of the movie screen . Kids would be playing there in their pajamas before the feature started , but you guys have reclaimed those playgrounds with stages ! Tell us about your vision for the tour and your partnership with The Salvation Army .
Joel , Dolly Parton and Luke
American spiritual , and the recent and the new , it also includes stirring spoken words . I love how you open and close with “ In the Bleak Mid-Winter ”. What can you tell us about this project ?
[ Luke ] Since the beginning of For King & Country , I think our first Christmas tour was in 2012 , we ’ ve included Christmas songs , and a lot of the renditions are actually on this project , the most notable being “ Little Drummer Boy ”, and “ Angels We ’ ve Heard on High ”. We ’ ve kind of been known as a Christmas band to some degree but we ’ ve never had a full-length Christmas album . The gift that we have had was we ’ ve had time to think on it , and I think it has made the project a little richer because I think we have a great amount of respect for these classic Christmas songs , that really formulate the soundtrack to all of our Christmas memories that we make . Understanding that this Christmas project will be similar to other people going forward . This record was made all over the world , it was partially recorded in Bath , England , LA , Boston , New York , it was mixed in London , and we obviously recorded a lot with our band here in Nashville . It was just during weird circumstances during Covid . So , we intentionally picked very spiritual songs , because I think if there ’ s ever a Christmas that needs Jesus , if there ’ s ever a Christmas that needs to reflect on the spiritual temperature of the world , it ’ s this Christmas ! Our hope is that you will hear these songs that have stood the test of time , that are rich for a reason , that it will stir on contemplation of who we are this
[ Joel ] This goes all the way back to our first Christmas in the United States . It was very “ hand to mouth ” for our family at that time : no car , no furniture , sleeping on beds made out of clothes , no insurance , and so on . Christmas has always been a very rich time as a family . We ’ ve always loved giving gifts . Mom came to us then , and we believed a lot on Santa Claus I should say . Mom came to us that Christmas and told us that Santa was not going to be able to do much this year , he was only going to be able to bring gifts from the dollar shop . I remember as a seven-year-old boy kind of scoffing at Mom thinking Santa Claus is not dictated to by our financial situation . I just had this sweet faith that Santa was going to show up and pull through . Unbeknownst to us , a first-grade school class found out that we weren ’ t going to be able to give each other gifts that year , so they quietly came to Mom and said , “ Let us help Santa Claus this year . Make a list of all the gifts your kids want , and we ’ ll collect them and provide them .” That first Christmas in America I ’ ll never forget , because we had more gifts than we ’ d ever had . And it was an oxymoron because we had nothing else , but we had these beautiful and wonderful Christmas gifts . So fast forward