“Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” is a great yuletide ditty, but let’s face it, it could use a little updating. Devonne Harris (keys), Keith Askey (guitar), Andrew Randazzo (bass) and Corey Fonville (drums) answered the call and gave this song the Butcher Brown Treatment.
Just recently, this Richmond, Virginia quartet who call themselves Butcher Brown released their first, full-length album, All Purpose Music, a collection of funky, sweet/sweaty pre-hip-hop goodness. But they ain’t quite done with 2014 musicmaking just yet, as evidenced by the studio video above.
Tracked live at Jellowstone Studio, the boys construct a smooth but smokin’ groove, led by Harris’ Raydio-friendly synth leading the lyric lines and Herbie-compatible Rhodes doing the soloing. Things picks up a notch or two when just as it appears the song is coming to a close, a two-note vamp is launched and Fonville goes off beneath it for a couple of minutes.
In bringing on the holiday cheer, Butcher Brown not only put a new coat of paint on a beloved old Christmas song but also further make the case for themselves. If they can make “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” so delectably fonky, they can groove up just about any old tune.
Visit Butcher Brown’s website for more info and more music.
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