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When Caroline Connolly was about to start recording the vocals for Blue Christmas, Billy Cowsill offered some advice.
It was 22 years ago and Connolly was a relative newcomer to recording. She and Cowsill had previously worked on a low-fi, homemade recording of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas the year before. But for Blue Christmas, they went to a professional studio in Calgary. Joni Brent, who would later join Connolly in Calgary's Lovebullies, played bass. Scene veteran Mark Sadlier-Brown played guitar. Cowsill played drums, and guitar and produced. He also sang and arranged the song's layered harmonies.
"He was fussing around getting the mic ready and I was in the booth," says Connolly. "He came up real close and said: 'Don't forget to make them cry.' "
Like many Calgary musicians, Connolly considered Cowsill a major inspiration. The musician died in 2006 but his reputation continues to loom large over the city's music community. Connolly would go on to front the Lovebullies, a band specializing in vintage-rock sounds that is set to release its fourth album in March.
But in 2000, she was taking her first cautious steps into the music scene.
"He was a mentor," she says. "He didn't really teach me to sing. There was never any kind of that mentoring. It was all just support and encouragement and time and attention and him giving me the space to do it with him safely. He just gave me a lot of affirmation and he gave me a lot of courage to continue and to go on. I'm sure he would have loved the Lovebullies had he been around for that."
Blue Christmas was recorded in 2000. By that time, Cowsill had lived the equivalent of several lives in the music industry. He had risen to fame as a member of the Rhode Island family pop band The Cowsills, becoming a teen heartthrob in the late 1960s fronting the act that would serve as the inspiration for TV's The Partridge Family. After achieving international fame, Cowsill split acrimoniously from the band and later struggled with substance abuse. He eventually ended up in Vancouver and formed The Blue Shadows in the 1980s, a band known for their lush harmonies. He later came to Calgary and fronted the Co-Dependents, which featured Tim Leacock, Steve Pineo and Ross Watson. He became a fixture on the scene but suffered from various health problems that eventually led to his death at the age of 58.
Connolly was introduced to Cowsill by Mark and Bev Sadlier-Brown, who would often host impromptu jam sessions in their living room. Cowsill was quite taken by Connolly's voice. He thought she possessed a similar vibe to some of his favourite female singers: from old-school vocalists such as Dinah Shore and Doris Day to Dusty Springfield and country artists Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline.
"He loved all those old girl singers from back in his day," she says. "I was flattered. He thought I had something authentic in my voice. So he thought it would be fun to make a recording. Billy really loved Christmas. He had a soft spot for Christmas."
In 1998, they collaborated on a four-track recording of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas in Sadlier-Brown's living room. Sadly, those master tapes have been lost. Two years later, they decided to record a professional version of Blue Christmas. It was a pleasant experience and the results were solid. Nevertheless, it sat on the shelf for two decades. In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, Connolly decided it was time the world heard Blue Christmas. She took the track to Calgary producer Lorrie Matheson and had it re-mastered. She re-recorded the lead vocals and Cowsill's backing vocals were pushed further up in the mix.
"I didn't really care that much about my main vocal, I wanted people to hear what Billy had done," Connolly says.
In December 2020, she released it as a single under the name Caroline Roberta.
It seemed the perfect time for this version of Blue Christmas, which benefits from Connolly's gorgeous vocals and Cowsill's rich backing harmonies. With lockdowns and restrictions making it difficult for people to gather with loved ones in 2020, the melancholy tune certainly seemed to fit the times.
But, for whatever reason, Blue Christmas failed to register. Connolly reckons it was spun a few times on CKUA but was otherwise ignored.
Two years later, she is hoping the song is rediscovered now that the world has returned to some semblance of normality. She says it also serves as a sturdy reminder of Cowsill's talents as a vocalist, producer and arranger.
"When he recorded with the Cowsills, they were famous for how they recorded backup vocals: putting the vocal through a Leslie speaker and then through an echo chamber and multi-tracking," Connolly says. "Their vocal production really set the bar. He brought all that wisdom and knowledge and technology and we simplified it and that's what he did on Blue Christmas."
Blue Christmas by Caroline Roberta is available on all streaming services. The Lovebullies' fourth album will be released in March.
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