John DeNicola spreads some holiday cheer with a little help from some musical friends on the new seasonal celebration Make A Joyful Noise — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Academy Award-winning songwriter DeNicola’s latest release is collection of new and classic holiday tunes by artists on his boutique label, OMAD Records. From traditional charm to dreamy folk, rollicking indie pop and irresistible sing-alongs, the album celebrates all aspects of this special season.
“The holidays evoke different feelings in different people — love, wonder and joy, yet also sometimes sadness, longing or loneliness,” DeNicola says. “Reflecting on this, I invited the OMAD family to express in song what the season stirs in them, and what I got in response truly touched me.”
The resulting record features music by artists DeNicola has championed for years, including:
• Peter Lewis | Best known as co-founder of legendary ’60s group Moby Grape, he composed the delicate Baby So Beautiful, sung by his daughter Arwen Lewis, who is also an OMAD artist.
• The Sighs | The power-pop veterans offer up the Beatlesque ear candy of Almost Christmastime, while frontman Robert LaRoche appears again with alt-country gem On This Christmas Day.
• Zonder Kennedy | The danceable, sweetly sung soul of Joyful Noise is something of a surprise, coming as it does from this blues-rock guitar phenom.
• The Medics | Their hyper-catchy indie / alternative contribution Parade — written and sung by Ray Weiss — is blissful yet bratty with crunchy guitars and punchy drums.
• John DeNicola | His own original At Christmastime — a spirit-lifting duet with Cassidy Ladden — is the sonic equivalent of a sparkling snow globe.
• Rust Dust | Sincere yet experimental, the album sendoff The Greatest Gift delivers uniquely chiming sound and a simple heartfelt and hopeful incantation.
Of course, no holiday record is complete without a few familiar tunes, and OMAD artists naturally add their own spin: The duo Elizabeth and Jake deliver a hushed, jazzy, folky medley of the Robert Wells / Mel Torme classic The Christmas Song and The Christmas Waltz, written by Sammy Cahn / Jules Styne. Arwen Lewis brings her signature dusky sweetness to the lo-fi Let It Snow, also a Cahn / Styne collaboration. And those nursing an inner drunken Grinch can revel in Fovea’s What’s Christmas?
And if you dig what you hear on Make A Joyful Noise, check out more from the featured artists. Peter Lewis’s current full-length is entitled Imagination, while daughter Arwen’s newest release is Under the Stars. Peter is also the subject of an in-progress documentary being produced by DeNicola. LaRoche’s latest LP Forevermore features his longtime Sighs sidemen as well as musicians he’s met more recently in his adopted city of Austin, Texas.
DeNicola, who rose to fame as the Oscar-winning co-writer of (I Had The) Time Of My Life and Hungry Eyes from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, has been releasing solo material on OMAD since 2019’s The Why Because. The followup She Said came out last year and fans can now hear King of His Own World, the first single from DeNicola’s upcoming album, due out in early 2025.
Good cheer, great music, unique style and loving spirit — that’s what Make A Joyful Noise is all about. “This collection represents more than the eclectic scope of OMAD: It brings to heart and mind many of the emotions we experience this time of year,” DeNicola says. “I hope it warms you, soothes you and sparks a smile; above all I hope that Make A Joyful Noise inspires you to do just that!”
Listen to the album below and check out more from OMAD Records at the label website.
