Austin duo Black Pumas are sharing today their rendition Lou Rawls’ 1967 track “Christmas Will Really Be Christmas.”
Frontman Eric Burton shared via the press release about the Spotify Holiday Single:
We were really attracted to the message, the lyrics, the arrangement, the feeling… It’s a message that needs to be heard right now. I was a little nervous about singing in Lou Rawls’ low register, so I sang it an octave higher and it was nice to arrange vocals with the ladies [backup singers Lauren Cervantes and Angela Miller] as well to put our own spin on it.
Listen to Black Pumas covering “Christmas Will Really Be Christmas” below.
Producer/bandleader Adrian Quesada added
A Christmas song isn’t exactly something that we set out to do, but this Lou Rawls song is amazing. It was produced by one of my favorite arrangers and producers, David Axelrod. On that side of it I was drawn to it initially and I confirmed with Eric. I think we were both attracted to the message too, it touches on a message that I think is poignant to today’s times, that Christmas isn’t really Christmas until everyone has peace and happiness.
