HomeEF CountryBrett Eldredge talks all about being Mr Christmas, duets with Kelly Clarkson...

Brett Eldredge talks all about being Mr Christmas, duets with Kelly Clarkson & his holiday shows

Brett Eldredge joins Trailblazers Radio with Fancy Hagood to discuss his holiday album and tour, as well as Christmas do’s and don’ts. 

Tune in and listen to the conversation anytime on-demand at apple.co/_TrailblazersRadio.

Listen to the Trailblazers curated companion playlist HERE.

Brett Eldredge Tells Apple Music About What Inspired Him To Do His First Holiday Album.

I grew up being the kid that would crank up Christmas music at 7:00 AM when everybody else is asleep, waking everybody up with Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole like, “it’s time to do this thing.” I would be the guy that would listen really early, decorate the tree with the family, kind of all the classic Christmas things. I just loved every part of it. Where some of my friends gave me crap or made fun of me for it, I was like, “I’m all Christmas.” 

I’ve just always loved it. It just reminds me of being a kid as an adult. And when I was a kid, I just felt the magic. And so yeah, I got to Nashville, did what I did and then my career started to take off and I had that going for a while and then I was like, “Man, a huge part of who I am is this big band music.” And I was talking to John Esposito at the record label and he loves big band music too. And he’s like, “If we do this, I want to make it exactly how I love big band music.” I don’t want to… I’m not going to say it’s country and put some steel in there, whatever. This is a big part of who I am is this big band music. Full on, straight at it. Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Ray Charles, all these people that I loved their Christmas music and just their music period growing up.

Brett Eldredge Tells Apple Music About His Duet With Kelly Clarkson and American Idol.

Brett Eldredge: So Kelly… I’ve always loved her voice. I remember going and remember when they toured American Idol after the season… Like they- 

Fancy Hagood: I was obsessed with American Idol. I was glued to it. I feel like that show was made for me. I auditioned every year. Never made it.

Brett Eldredge: Really?

Fancy Hagood: No but I’d love-

Brett Eldredge: I did too.

Fancy Hagood: Oh really?

Brett Eldredge: Yeah. I auditioned a couple times. I remember sleeping on… You had to sleep… I think it was in Nashville. I was 18 or something like that. Family came here. We had a couch cushion in the back of the minivan and would… Slept in line. You were like sleeping zero minutes to go sing for 20 seconds or something. You know?

Fancy Hagood: Right. They’re like, “Next.”

Brett Eldredge Tells Apple Music About His Duet With Kelly Clarkson and American Idol.

I remember seeing her do the tour after she had won, and just thinking how incredible and captivating her voice was, and I was in high school and I’ve just always loved just the person that she is and everything. And so two years ago or whatever it was, she reached out and said, “I’d love for you to be a part of this song Under the Mistletoe.” And so I was just blown away by the opportunity. So I found a studio as quick as I could and went and recorded my part to her song. And I hadn’t actually, still hadn’t met her at this point, which was wild. …So we recorded it, she wrote the song, and it just had a great energy. It kind of had the throwback feel with some modern feel to it too. So it kind of fit perfectly in what I do as well. And first time we met was when we sang it together live…Which was really cool. And then I’ve sang with her several times now since then. And it was just, it’s really cool to experience that.

Brett Eldredge Tells Apple Music About His Second Holiday Album, ‘Mr. Christmas’.

People kind of used to jokingly say Mr. Christmas or whatever. And I had this song that I kind of had from hearing, called that or being… Helping bring that out in somebody, like the magic… Like I was saying earlier, I think when I hear Christmas music, I find very few things in life that make me feel kind of like a kid again. Or magic, you know what I mean? It’s like you just grow up, you get a little bit… the real world hits you in the face. And any time I can really go back and feel that, it’s so powerful. So I think I wanted to write a song that was like, I’ll help bring that out in you. I’ll help remind you. Call me Mr. Christmas. I’ll make your spirit bright. Dry your eyes with candy skies and warm cherry delight. It’s like all these kind of things started popping in my head. And so it just ended up being a really cool thing. I just shot a video for it actually.

Brett Eldredge Tells Apple Music About the Video for Mr. Christmas.

It’s a single mom in the video and she’s basically walking through it as she’s trying to get through the holiday season. Basically. It’s not like she doesn’t love Christmas, it’s just the holidays are really tough for a lot of us. And she’s got her kid there with her and she’s watching the Mr. Christmas TV special, the old school style. And lo and behold, she’s sitting there and you can tell, you can see the wear and tear of the holidays and just life on her. And Mr. Christmas is on the TV. But then he knocks on her door and it takes her to… When she opens the door, she’s in a ball gown kind of thing and walking her through a fantastic Christmas party and her son’s there and they’re decorating the tree or playing with the tree. And it’s just a really cool energy of a song. At the end of the song, she is back on the couch in reality and she has a new smile on her face and the twinkle of the star on the tree is there. And just kind of reminded her like, “Oh, you still have that kid in you, you still have that spirit in you.”

Brett Eldredge Tells Apple Music About His “Glow” Tour.

It’s just a really special moment to see, you get to see not only in myself, which is part of why I got to love doing it. And it’s, I feel like a kid up there. You look out there and you see grownups with big smiles on their face that you can almost feel like they haven’t had a smile like that in a while. Because it does that thing, it brings that magic out. And you have the horns blaring, got a little bit of bourbon on the rocks up there….You got the warmth of it. And velvet tux. People in the crowd are now dressing up in their Christmas attire and it’s just a really special thing.

Brett Eldredge
Credit Apple Music
author avatar
James Daykin EF Country Editor

Must Read

Advertisement