Despite the scorching heat outside, stepping into the publishing house of Big Yellow Dog Music on Music Row in Nashville was like walking into a winter wonderland in the middle of July. A Christmas tree is the first sight to greet you as you walk in the door of the old house, with lights adorning the walls and garland along the fireplaces.
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If the decorations weren’t enough of a tip-off of the style of music being created, then the sound of someone singing the words “holly jolly” was. It’s all part of Big Yellow Dog’s Christmas in July songwriting camp, comprised of a team of 15 songwriters, who set up shop at the cozy house in the heart of Music Row, writing nearly as many holiday songs over the course of three days. Two of those writers are Daniel Tashian, the Grammy-winning writer and producer behind Kacey Musgraves’ acclaimed Golden Hour, and Jeremy Lister, who’s written songs cut by Alison Krauss and featured in such shows as Modern Family.
For Tashian, his fascination with Christmas music began during childhood when he heard “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” for the first time. His grandfather played chess with Johnny Marks, the songwriter of “Rudolph,” at a Rotary Club in his native Connecticut. Describing it as a “punk rock” song, Tashian was drawn to the story of a “misfit reindeer” who was ostracized from his community for not fitting in, similar to how he views himself as a songwriter.
“Every kid that’s an underdog in some way sees that as a song as, ‘This is about me,’” Tashian shares with American Songwriter in one of the Christmas-decorated offices. “It was the first moment that it occurred to me that someone writes songs. And then I thought, ‘If I could ever make my grandparents proud, it would be if I got a Christmas song on the radio.’”
Tashian achieved that dream when the first Christmas song he wrote with Troy Verges, “Christmas All Over the World,” was recorded by Tim McGraw and released in 2011 and re-issued in 2021, reaching the Top 30 on the country charts. “We got lucky the very first time we did that with getting a cut, which is pretty unusual,” Tashian says.
He also teamed up with Musgraves to pen “Glittery,” her collaboration with Troye Sivan which was featured in her 2019 Amazon Prime Video special, The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show, that’s earned millions of streams on Spotify. He’s now made it a tradition to write Christmas music every year, leading to this camp organized by Big Yellow Dog Co-owner Carla Wallace.
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The songwriters went into the camp with specific instructions: No love songs, no romantic songs. “So what are we doing? We’re writing a love song, it’s very romantic,” Tashian quips, referring to himself as an “iconoclast.” “As soon as anybody says, ‘Here’s where the line is,’ I immediately want to try to tip my toe over it a little bit.”
The song he’s referring to is one he was writing with Lister and up-and-coming artist Christine Jamra. Categorizing it as a holiday song, it’s set at a New Year’s Eve party where two people are meeting for the first time, wondering if the budding feelings they have are mutual. Tashian calls it a “toe-tapper” pop song, with imagery of champagne toasts and midnight kisses, accompanied by lyrics like I think I’m seeing stars and my heart is so alive.
“It felt like a sweet, romantic thing going on,” Lister observes of the song. “We fought it for a while and we were like, ‘Let’s just quit fighting this, let the song do what needs to do.’ That’s the way I like to write music is I’m just an instrument for the subconscious to do its thing, make the magic.”
Dressed in a Star Wars-themed Christmas sweater, Lister is living up to his title of “Mr. Christmas” around the office. He and Tashian have been writing songs together since Lister moved to Nashville 20 years ago. “The cool thing about Christmas music is it’s recycled through the years,” Lister explains, having released his own Christmas album, Happy Holidays, Everyone, in 2021. “It’s like a different universe. It’s almost like a fantasy book.”
Jamra is likely going to record the holiday song they wrote. It’s a song Tashian says has the “euphoria” akin to a pop song by Katy Perry or Carly Rae Jepsen. But if she decides to pass, then Lister says he’ll cut it.
Tashian has his sights set on writing a song that one day becomes a Christmas classic like “Rudolph,” Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song” and Mariah Carey’s surprise blockbuster, “All I Want For Christmas is You.” Tashian doesn’t believe he’s found that classic yet but knows what the key ingredient is: nostalgia.
“It’s always good to fail because people really want the nostalgia. In some ways, it becomes, ‘How do you give that feeling?’” he ponders. Yet his definition of how he’ll know a song is a classic is simple. “It’s just a big hit, it’s on the radio every time it’s Christmas,” he asserts. “They’re classics for a reason.”
Though he’s still determined to write that timeless song, the prolific songwriter also keeps his expectations manageable, revealing that he never goes into a session with “grand dreams” for the song’s outcome, rather letting the song find its own lane.
“That’s basically what getting a Christmas hit is, it’s the sword in the stone. It’s not something to be approached, ‘I got this.’ It’s harder than it looks,” he says, comparing Christmas music to the whimsy of Disney. “Another wonderful thing about Christmas music is there’s not the same limitations on the music. There’s more room for magic.”
Photo Courtesy of Shore Fire Media/Big Yellow Dog Music
