Serena Ryder delivers her Christmas Kisses across Canada
Credit to Author: Stuart Derdeyn| Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2019 19:00:29 +0000
The Christmas Kisses Tour
When: Nov. 23
Where: The Centre in Vancouver
Tickets and info: From $45, ticketmaster.ca
Serena Ryder is “somewhere in the middle of a Jeep.” The heat is cranked, the all-wheel-drive engaged and the season’s first frosts have started. If it’s winter in Canada, it must be time to tour, and Ryder is readying to hit the road on her first holiday-themed roadshow.
The Christmas Kisses Tour takes its name from the singer’s October, 2018 release on Serenader Source Inc.
Rolling Stone named the album the fifth best seasonal release of last year. Ten tunes ranging from well-roasted chestnuts such as Let It Snow and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas are nestled beside newcomers such as the original title track penned by Ryder and co-writer Simon Wilcox (Camila Cabello, Carly Rae Jepsen).
With its accompanying dog-packed, Lisa Mann-directed video shouting out to the Ontario SPCA, the swinging track has all it requires to become a contemporary classic (and, hopefully, fuel shelter adoptions).
The Toronto-based singer admits that she loves groovy holiday songs.
“I was approached by the legendary Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Kiss, Lou Reed, Aerosmith) to do a holiday album, and I asked for us to do a jazz record,” said Ryder.
“Because that was how I started singing back when I was eight, nine, 10 years old, singing Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and others. So I was able to do my jazz trio record as well as a holiday album — double win.”
Christmas Kisses clocks in at around 40 minutes, so the question of what else from her career will suit the family-friendly vibe of the tour arises. It’s hard to imagine how she could re-arrange her thumping hit Stompa to flow in after a be-bopped up Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
“Luckily, I have quite a lot of songs to balance out the set,” she said. “I have a lot of songs that fit this vibe, such as the jazzy For You, or Fall, and a lot of other songs that work well as singalongs. And you know that Stompa could wind up in there too, depending.”
While the backing musicians on Christmas Kisses include players such as Nashville keyboard session ace John Barlow Jarvis, jazz guitarist Rob Piltch and others, Ryder is touring with her regular ensemble of in-demand drummer Sekou Lumamba, keyboardist Joelle Joseph, and bassist Bryan Kobayakawa.
“All amazing players — Brian played on the album — and we’re having so much fun with it,” Ryder said.
“For me, White Christmas is a certain live standout due to the whole swinging My Baby Just Cares For Me, Nina Simone vibe with the piano. Having the chance to perform these songs at Christmastime is going to be a completely different vibe to anything I’ve ever done before, because of the time of year, because of this being my first holiday tour of this type and because of the set list; it’s really exciting.”
Ryder played four shows last year to “test run” the idea, and those concerts were what sealed the deal when it came to taking this tour out this season.
“There is this thing that happens to people; watching adults’ faces turn into little kids with excitement,” said Ryder.
“There is this thing about seeing Christmas as something unreal and Hollywood, but it’s not. I feel like the magic that happens around this time of year is unique and really is something everyone probably needs.”
The number of holiday hits written for this time of year certainly supports her assertion. Of course, that very treasure trove of material to choose from makes deciding on which tunes to record a challenge. Do you go for the obvious, the rare, or a mix of both?
“Choosing the 10 songs was actually really easy, as I just went for the ones that I knew front to back dating back to when I was a little kid,” Ryder said.
“It was important for me to do certain ones, like Blue Christmas, because when I was 13 years old, I had to do a hillbilly yodel version of it for the Christmas play. I was dressed as a character called Loretta Poinsettia, in a really long white skirt and shirt with a big white cowboy hat with a bright red poinsettia on it, and I was around a size 16 to 18 and the costume was about a size 6. I remember being on stage, barely able to breath, killing it and being loudly laughed at by my peers.”
So she needed to “get even” with Blue Christmas on Christmas Kisses, telling Ezrin that she wanted free rein to rewrite the melody and make it her own.
Other tunes came together out of fond memories for Nat King Cole’s Christmas Song, Eartha Kitt’s Santa Baby and other holiday classics Ryder has always dreamed of interpreting. Sometimes, it was just a single turn of phrase or particular note that imprinted the song on her ears, but those sorts of impressions can become lifelong obsessions for a musician and Ryder jokes about being pleased to be able to work through them.
“My dream is to be able to do a Christmas tour every November-December period before the weather gets too intense, and then do festivals in the summer,” she said.
“It’s the best possible moments for a Canadian musician to take in the dichotomy and the beauty between those two seasons. Everyone is in it together in community in both of those scenarios, and it’s great.”
Ryder’s next record is going to be inspired by the keynote speech about mental health that she has been giving at conferences across the country over the past year. She’s writing it now, drawing upon the positive and empowering experiences she has had opening up to audiences about her lifelong challenges learning to live with depression, as well as the stories of others.
Ryder says writing honestly about both “feeling great and letting yourself not feel so great” has been a real gift to her as a songwriter.
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