Louisville Covers Christmas is a fun new compilation put together by Timothy Sauer who is the founder/owner of This Man Is Not My Father website and This Man Records. He started the website in 2008, primarily focusing on video that featured Louisville bands. As time went on and he became more entrenched in the music scene, he got into the occasional show booking, then started the label with a focus on vinyl releases.
Hi Timothy. We love the new compilation Louisville Covers Christmas. How did this come together?
The impetus for my involvement in anything related to This Man (the label or site) has been to elevate and amplify the wonderful music being made in Louisville. It has been a goal of mine to bring a broader audience to the table. I want everyone in this city to be aware of the goldmine of talent in our own backyard, playing in these tremendous venues throughout the city, each and every night. I thought that something with such broad appeal as a Christmas album would give me the chance to tap into that broader audience that you don’t see at shows every weekend. They would pick up the record, because who doesn’t love Christmas music?, spend some time with it, and maybe single out an artist or two they'd heard on the release and purchase their record, go to one of their shows, or tell a friend about this great band they discovered.
With that long-winded explanation in mind I set out right after Christmas last year to begin putting the album together. I had a wish list of artists that I wanted to feature on the record and began reaching out to gauge interest. The response was great and the final product does not deviate very much from that dream list. I left it up to each artist to choose a song, with the only caveat that it be a holiday cover and that I could obtain the necessary licensing for each song.
Where was it recorded and who produced it?
One the cool things about the album is the diversity of its sound, and I attribute some of this to the fact that no two tracks were recorded in the same studio space or using the same equipment. After the track was chosen by an artist, I left it entirely up to them to make it their own. It felt a bit like Christmas this past July when each track was submitted and I got to hear it for the first time.
There were some fun stories that I heard along the way, from Justin Paul Lewis and Anthony Tarullo knocking out their track in a single take, Fire the Saddle meeting up while band members were back in Louisville to produce their first recording in nearly a decade, to Plastic Bubbleputting the track together without being together in the same city.
The album benefits Star Duck Charities and St. Joseph Children's Home. Besides these two charities being great causes, why did you pick these to benefit?
There are so many deserving nonprofit organizations in Louisville and it was extremely difficult choosing a single benefactor. And for those that don’t know, many members of the Louisville music community are leading several of these great organizations. Carrie Neumayer and all of the musicians that lead Girls Rock Louisville, Cheyenne Mize and Strive, Alex Glasnovic and Reagan Layman and their work on the board of Squallis Puppeteers. I’m sure there are dozens of other examples. But at the end of the day when I think about Christmas, I think about being a child and waking up every hour on Christmas Eve hoping that it was morning and Santa had dropped off presents. One of the many awesome things that Star Duck Charities does is to provide that Christmas experience for the kids at St. Joseph’s Children’s Home and to me there is no cause more fitting for a Christmas album to help.
Star Duck Charities provides entertainment programming for the children of St. Joe’s- from birthday celebrations for each kid, fun nights out bowling or playing laser tag, Halloween parties, or the annual Christmas celebration. Every penny that they raise goes directly to helping those kids in need.
Where can people find out more about the record and how to purchase a copy of it?
The record can be purchased online at www.thismanrecords.com. Locally, the record can be picked up at Guestroom Records, Better Days Records East, Matt Anthony’s Record Shop, Block Party, and Revelry. This list is expanding so follow This Man Records on Facebook for the updated list.
