Latest / Austin Signal / Austin doctor spins vinyl to bring music therapy to patients

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Austin doctor spins vinyl to bring music therapy to patients · Austin Signal

0:09
An Austin doctor is using vinyl
0:11
records to help patients cope with
0:13
serious illnesses and difficult
0:15
treatments.
0:17
KUT's Olivia Aldridge has a look at
0:18
how music is helping in the healing
0:20
process.
0:21
And Texans have access to some of
0:23
the best bird-watching opportunities
0:25
in the country.
0:26
We'll go behind the scenes of an
0:27
annual census of the area's bird
0:29
population.
0:31
The Austin Signal is a production of
0:34
KUT News, hosted by Syeda
0:36
Carrillo.
0:37
You may have spotted him stopping
0:38
for photos with fans outside the
0:40
Paramount Theater or the Continental
0:42
Club.
0:43
Austin's Santa on horseback,
0:45
Samuel Gray Horse, is back in
0:46
the saddle after a difficult year.
0:49
KUT's Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Fasquez
0:51
brings us his story.
0:53
That and much more coming up today
0:55
on Austin Signal.
1:08
Merry Christmas Eve, Austin.
1:10
I'm Syeda Carrillo.
1:11
This is Austin Signal.
1:13
Great to have you with us.
1:15
The holiday season is a time
1:17
of celebration and rest for many
1:19
of us, but for those who are
1:21
struggling with an illness, it can
1:22
be particularly difficult.
1:24
KUT's Olivia Aldridge tells us about
1:26
how a doctor and a team of
1:28
volunteers at Dell Seton Medical
1:30
Center in downtown Austin are
1:32
bringing a little bit of cheer and
1:34
comfort to patients and their
1:35
families.
1:36
With the help of good old-fashioned
1:38
vinyl records.
1:40
Tyler Jorgensen started all this
1:42
a few years ago.
1:44
He had just begun his palliative
1:46
care fellowship at Dell Medical
1:47
School.
1:48
After years of working in emergency
1:50
medicine, he'd now be helping
1:52
patients manage difficult ongoing
1:54
conditions, including some
1:56
at the end of life.
1:57
And there was this one patient he
1:59
was having trouble making a
2:01
connection with.
2:02
I felt like he was really struggling
2:03
and suffering and just seemed very
2:05
isolated and one day just
2:07
had this idea to like play a little
2:09
classic rock with him.
2:10
The boys are back in town, the
2:12
boys are Back in town
2:18
Jorgensen harnessed the power of
2:20
Thin Lizzy and watched the patient
2:22
begin to change.
2:23
This guy, this patient, who was
2:25
totally walled off, completely came
2:27
out of his shell.
2:28
He started telling Jorgensen old
2:30
stories about his life, and being
2:32
honest and vulnerable about the
2:34
health challenges he was facing and
2:36
how he felt about them.
2:38
And it just struck me that all
2:40
this time I've been practicing
2:40
medicine, and there's such a
2:42
powerful tool that is almost
2:43
universal to the human experience,
2:46
which is music, and I've never
2:47
tapped into it.
2:48
He asked his supervisors if he could
2:50
make a project of it, music therapy
2:52
with a novel delivery system,
2:54
an old school record player on a
2:56
rolling cart.
2:57
Today, he keeps one in an office at
2:59
Dalceton, along with a growing
3:01
collection of 60 or so records.
3:05
A little of his handbob.
3:06
Ha ha ha
3:08
ha. Charlie Brown.
3:09
Charlie Brown?
3:12
This is home base for the ATX
3:14
vinyl program.
3:16
Volunteers check in with the nursing
3:17
staff to see who might benefit from
3:19
some music that day.
3:20
And they ask the patient or their
3:22
family what kind of music might be
3:24
special to them.
3:25
UT Austin sophomore, Daniela Vargas,
3:28
is lead volunteer.
3:30
We get.
3:31
To curate kind of their
3:33
playlist for the
3:35
evening and then we
3:37
get to take the vinyl and
3:39
the record player and set
3:41
it up leave it there and
3:43
kind of let the patient
3:45
just be there with the music.
3:55
Fleetwood Mac's Rumors is the most
3:57
popular album in the collection,
3:59
with Etta James, Willie Nelson,
4:01
and John Denver also getting a
4:03
lot of play.
4:04
This time of year, the Vince
4:06
Guaraldi trio's A Charlie Brown
4:07
Christmas is also a hit.
4:10
But 64-year-old patient Pamela
4:12
Mansfield had different ideas when
4:14
the record player came by her room
4:15
last week.
4:17
Don't have
4:21
What
4:23
Definitely no Christmas music.
4:25
Country all the way.
4:27
Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard,
4:29
George Jones.
4:31
I've been tasting New Year's.
4:32
Then on the other hand, ehhh.
4:35
I think my picker's broken.
4:42
Mansfield has been through a lot
4:44
this year. She had a pretty serious
4:46
fall in April, followed by six
4:48
neck surgeries.
4:49
But it hasn't diminished her sense
4:51
of humor, and though she's still
4:52
working to regain much of her
4:54
mobility after her most recent
4:56
surgery, she finds a way to
4:58
move to the music, her feet swaying
5:00
in time.
5:02
That seems to be the worst part is
5:04
the stiffness in my ankles and then
5:06
no feeling in the hands and I'd be
5:07
good to go.
5:10
My music makes everything better.
5:19
Yes
5:20
This is the music of Mansfield's
5:22
childhood.
5:23
She says it reminds her of when her
5:25
parents were alive.
5:27
Dr. Jorgensen says it's that
5:29
nostalgic quality that makes music
5:31
and particularly vinyl records
5:33
effective.
5:34
I think of this record player as a
5:36
time machine, you know, something
5:38
starts spinning an old familiar song
5:40
on a record player and now you're
5:42
back at home, you're
5:43
out of the hospital, you're with
5:45
your family, you are with your loved
5:46
ones.
5:48
Mansfield is working painstakingly
5:50
towards recovery.
5:51
On the day the record player visited
5:53
her, she had stood up for three
5:54
minutes, a milestone following
5:56
her most recent surgery.
5:59
But many of the patients Jorgensen
6:00
works with have terminal conditions.
6:03
They're close to the end of life.
6:05
For them and their families,
6:07
things can be very heavy.
6:09
The record player is a curiosity
6:11
that can break up that heaviness.
6:14
Now you're sort of looking at it
6:16
together and thinking, what are we
6:17
gonna do with this thing?
6:18
Let's play something, you know,
6:21
for mom. Let's place something for
6:22
dad.
6:23
And you are creating a new
6:25
positive shared experience
6:27
in the setting of something that can
6:29
otherwise be very sad, very heavy.
6:31
Suddenly, with the record spinning,
6:33
they've made a new memory, something
6:35
to hold onto.
6:37
I'm Olivia Aldridge in Austin.
6:48
One of the many reasons visitors
6:49
flock to Texas in the wintertime
6:51
is for the chance to see the various
6:53
birds that migrate here on their way
6:55
to warmer climates.
6:57
Residents can also get in on the
6:59
birding action while helping gather
7:00
data for scientists.
7:02
It's called the Christmas Bird
7:04
Count, and it runs until January
7:06
5th.
7:07
Host Miles Bloxson sat down with
7:08
the Texas Standard Bird enthusiast
7:10
Raul Alonzo to ask all about
7:12
it.
7:13
What exactly is a
7:15
Christmas bird count and does it
7:17
have anything to actually do with
7:19
Christmas?
7:20
So the story I was told is
7:22
that this really began out
7:24
of these hunting expeditions that
7:26
would go on around Christmas time,
7:27
around the holidays way back when,
7:29
and hunters would go out and
7:30
essentially kill as many birds as
7:32
they can.
7:33
There was an ornithologist, I
7:35
believe, who basically said one day,
7:36
you know, let's count them instead,
7:38
right? And they agreed.
7:41
And ever since then, over a year,
7:42
folks have been going out on these
7:44
Christmas bird counts and
7:46
Essentially, a good way to think
7:47
about it is kind of like a bird's
7:48
census.
7:50
What it looks like is groups of
7:52
birders will get together in what is
7:53
called a circle, which is about 15
7:55
miles in diameter, and
7:57
within that circle, it's divided
7:59
even further into smaller regions,
8:00
right? And so these groups of
8:02
birds are divided amongst, and
8:04
each group has its own kind of
8:05
leader that leads the group into
8:07
various trails, little nature
8:10
areas, and essentially What they do
8:11
is they try and count
8:13
and log as many birds and
8:15
bird species that they can in a
8:17
given area.
8:18
And that in a way kind of provides
8:20
a snapshot of what the bird
8:22
population looks like in the area.
8:24
As far as a tie to Christmas, I
8:26
mean, the only real thing I can say
8:27
is it just takes place around the
8:29
holidays.
8:30
And the story of that, it goes back,
8:32
I mean this is 126th year of
8:34
the bird count and it goes that
8:36
far. It just kind of one of those
8:38
things that, you know, happen in
8:40
this time of year.
8:41
Yeah, that's interesting that you
8:42
say that because I was actually on
8:44
a plane and the girl
8:46
next to me, she pulled out
8:48
a book of birds.
8:50
It's all about birds.
8:51
It seems as though there's a lot of
8:52
bird enthusiasts out there.
8:54
Yeah, the growing trend of birding
8:56
really catching on in recent
8:58
years is something to watch.
8:59
I mean, I'm one of those who kind of
9:01
caught on. I feel like a lot of it's
9:02
kind of tied to pandemic years.
9:03
That's whenever I really started
9:04
getting out there in the time of
9:06
social distancing of wanting to
9:08
see birds, see what I could see
9:10
in, you know, in my home
9:12
region.
9:13
And I don't know, I think people
9:15
crave these kind of cozy,
9:17
Pure hearted
9:20
Hobbies and and birding has
9:21
certainly caught on as one of those
9:23
and I think honestly part of me is
9:25
curious that it's also like The
9:26
Pokemon generation there's an aspect
9:28
of it. That's like you got to catch
9:29
them all you got a spot them all I
9:31
think there's a little bit of that.
9:32
Maybe I'm speaking of myself, but
9:33
you know
9:33
No, I can see that, I could see
9:35
that. And you went to a bird
9:37
count recently.
9:38
Can you take us through your
9:39
experience?
9:40
Like, how do you set up?
9:41
You know, what can you expect when
9:43
you arrive to this event?
9:44
Yeah, I think, you
9:46
know, you really want to approach it
9:47
like you would kind of any outdoor
9:49
event, kind of think about it as a
9:51
hike, wear some good walking
9:53
shoes, you know,
9:55
take along some binoculars if you
9:57
got them, you know,
9:59
birding manuals if you have them.
10:01
A lot of popular apps are Ebird is
10:03
what they use to log the birds that
10:05
they spot.
10:06
Merlin, if you want to get a glimpse
10:07
of bird calls.
10:09
But from my experience,
10:11
unfortunately, it was a little bit
10:12
of an outlier because
10:14
this is the 10th year that the
10:16
San Marcos bird count had been going
10:18
on, that's the one I went to.
10:21
And this year was exceptionally cold
10:22
and, you know, this is early in the
10:24
morning, so we were kind of getting
10:26
the brunt of it. We were being
10:28
battered by this like
10:30
30, 40 degree windchill.
10:32
And the birds were also
10:34
feeling as well.
10:35
We did not see as many birds as
10:38
we would have liked to.
10:40
And the person leading it, Rebecca
10:42
Rylander, a very experienced
10:44
birder herself, she was
10:46
saying that, you know, this will
10:47
kind of affect the data that they
10:49
find. It will be listed as
10:51
a factor in the final tally of birds
10:53
that they see.
10:54
But yeah, I mean, it was still fun.
10:56
Now, honestly, to be out there
10:57
traveling or walking
11:00
these trails with other folks who
11:01
are into it, and I think that's also
11:03
one of the draws of birding in a
11:04
group is it's one of those hobbies
11:06
that you often do on your own, but
11:08
when you do it in a groups, you kind
11:09
of bounce off each other.
11:10
The energy of the excitement of
11:12
seeing something,
11:14
spotting it together,
11:16
it lends itself to the experience,
11:18
I feel.
11:18
What do the people organizing these
11:20
outings, what do you feel like they
11:22
hope to achieve?
11:23
So there's actually kind of like, I
11:25
feel like a dual purpose.
11:26
For one, like I said, it provides
11:28
a snapshot of what the population
11:30
looks at a given period of time.
11:31
And it also helps
11:33
kind of chart trends that the
11:35
data that they gather helps to
11:38
add to these studies and determine,
11:40
you know, needs for conservation
11:42
and things like that.
11:43
But you know one thing I often heard
11:45
is that because it is a citizen
11:47
science project, anyone can
11:49
participate. So it
11:51
also helps bring in the community.
11:53
It helps, you know, make folks who
11:55
want to be more out
11:57
in the natural world want
11:59
to really engage with the world
12:00
around them, engage with nature.
12:03
It gives them an outlet, and I think
12:05
that's one other benefit
12:07
and one other aim that some of
12:09
the folks organizing these events
12:10
really try and achieve
12:12
with them.
12:13
And you said that anybody can
12:15
participate.
12:16
So how can they do that?
12:17
So this is, again, this is a yearly
12:19
thing.
12:20
You know, it stretches from December
12:21
14th through January 5th,
12:23
and there's multiple events in the
12:25
central Texas region.
12:27
To keep up with any that are coming
12:28
up, you can go to travisautobahn.org,
12:31
and you can find a list of some of
12:33
the events that are comin' up in the
12:35
area, and, you
12:36
know, kinda bookmark that.
12:37
If you missed out on one this year,
12:39
again, it's a yearly event.
12:40
There's gonna be another one.
12:42
Birding in general is something that
12:44
you can do at any time as well.
12:46
Just go out on your balcony and see
12:47
what you can see.
12:48
We've been speaking with the Texas
12:49
Standard's Raul Alonzo.
12:51
We'll have a link to his reporting
12:52
in today's podcast show notes.
12:54
Raul, thanks so much for being here
12:56
with us on Austin Signal.
12:57
Thank you, Miles.
13:00
Coming up, this is Austin Signal.
13:12
Christmas feels a little different
13:14
depending on where you live.
13:16
For some, it means cold nights by
13:18
the fire, carolers on every
13:19
corner, and kids playing in the
13:21
snow. Here in Austin, we do things
13:23
a little differently.
13:24
No snow, sometimes shorts
13:26
on Christmas Day, and of course,
13:29
a man dressed as Santa riding around
13:31
town on a horse or mule.
13:32
KUT's Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vasquez
13:35
has his story.
13:38
Merry Christmas!
13:42
His name is Samuel Greyhorse,
13:44
and on any December night, he can be
13:46
found at the Continental Club,
13:48
riding down the central lane of
13:49
Congress Avenue or outside the
13:51
Paramount Theater.
13:52
He's a Native American man who's
13:54
been riding his horses around Austin
13:56
since 1977,
13:58
but about a decade ago, he started
14:00
doing it dressed as Santa.
14:02
People wave at him and honk from
14:04
their cars, others ask him
14:06
for photos.
14:07
1, 2, 3!
14:09
Yes!
14:11
The horse is a natural.
14:13
Yes, yes!
14:14
You want a picture too?
14:16
While he enjoys taking photos,
14:18
his favorite part is riding his
14:20
horses and seeing the city from up
14:22
there.
14:22
It's a different energy and it's
14:24
beautiful, it's very beautiful.
14:26
Also a known musician, Sam has
14:28
become an Austin staple.
14:31
Mackenzie Mitchell works at the
14:32
Continental and is Sam's friend.
14:34
It's a sort of a symbol in
14:36
Austin.
14:39
Fickerheads.
14:40
Mitchell says some nights, when Sam
14:42
comes to play or listen to music,
14:44
he brings his horse into the bar as
14:46
well.
14:47
Yes, you heard me right.
14:48
He brings the horse into the bar.
14:52
The mule and the horse are over 21,
14:54
so...
14:55
Sam brings joy to many in Austin,
14:57
but 2025 was a bumpy
14:59
ride for him.
15:00
His house burned down, he had to
15:02
move out of Austin, one of his
15:04
horses, Big Red, died.
15:06
His eyesight is getting worse and
15:08
he's lost all hearing in his left
15:10
ear.
15:11
All of it made him ask himself.
15:13
Why do I keep doing this?
15:15
You know, nobody cares.
15:16
But people do care.
15:18
When his house burned down in early
15:20
January, the community put together
15:21
a GoFundMe and raised over $30,000
15:24
for him.
15:25
People that would never talk to me.
15:28
A woman he barely knew offered him a
15:30
place to stay in return for taking
15:32
care of 105 acres of
15:34
land in Lockhart, a perfect
15:36
place for his horses, cats,
15:38
pigs, and mule, a mule he often
15:40
rides around town.
15:42
When he lived in Austin, Sam used to
15:43
get his horse ready and hit the road
15:45
right from his backyard.
15:47
Now he has to drive an hour each
15:49
way. A friend of his gave
15:51
him an old truck so he could move
15:53
around and he sure uses
15:55
it.
15:55
And it's still going.
15:57
It's 389,000 miles.
15:59
He gave it to me with 267,000.
16:02
When Big Red, his horse, died in
16:04
November, Sam was heartbroken,
16:06
but even so he now says
16:08
Yeah, I'm kind of very happy
16:11
because I know I'll see him again,
16:13
but not now.
16:14
And I miss him very
16:16
much every day.
16:17
Sam knows he'll never replace
16:19
Big Red or anything of what he lost
16:21
in 2025.
16:23
I went from rock bottom,
16:25
and I'm still rock bottom but
16:27
to me health is wealth.
16:29
Health is everything to me now.
16:31
And so even after a hard year,
16:33
Sam is out and about on the streets
16:35
of Austin this December.
16:37
Ho, ho, ho.
16:39
He takes photos with anybody who
16:40
asks for one.
16:42
And everybody asks, even cops.
16:44
For Constable Tanya Nixon, this is
16:46
the second photo she's asked for in
16:48
two weeks.
16:49
I like to see him.
16:51
Yeah, I like it brings joy and then
16:53
even when I posted our pictures
16:54
other people in Austin knew him
16:55
because one of the girls got on the
16:56
post she said that's Samuel Greyhorses.
16:58
I say it sure is.
16:59
While seeing Santa riding a horse
17:01
might be a cultural attraction,
17:03
for Sam, it's also a way of
17:04
reminding people that at some point,
17:07
Native Americans rode around this
17:08
part of the country and that they
17:10
still do now.
17:11
Indigenous people are
17:13
the real horsemen of this country.
17:15
You know, they mastered the
17:16
horsemanship before the
17:18
cowboy world came here.
17:20
You know what I mean?
17:21
For Sam, the connection with his
17:22
horses is sacred.
17:24
The horse is our brother and
17:26
I just want to show that too to
17:28
the city of Austin.
17:29
In a time when many creatives have
17:31
been pushed out of the city, Sam's
17:32
the kind of guy that always sees the
17:34
glass half full.
17:36
Sure, he now has to drive into
17:38
Austin, but he gets to be Santa
17:39
and ride around Lockhart as well.
17:42
He's also closer to family and he
17:44
has new horses he's training.
17:46
Oh absolutely, yes,
17:48
I'm what's left of what's weird.
17:50
After all that he's been through,
17:51
when he asks himself, why
17:53
do this?
17:54
Why be Santa?
17:56
I do have an answer, because that's
17:58
what I'm supposed to be doing.
18:00
Sam says he's just happy that Austin
18:02
allows him to be who he really
18:03
is. I'd saddle every evening
18:06
and ride my fateful mounts.
18:08
I'm Greta Diaz-Gonzalez Vazquez
18:10
in Austin.
18:12
I don't know where I'm going and
18:14
I don't know who I'll see But
18:16
I know I'll a see a smile that's
18:18
good enough for me I'm
18:20
the 6th Street cowboy on Congress
18:22
Albee Sometimes at
18:24
the White Horse Continental Gallery
18:27
I live in Austin, Texas,
18:29
that's where I got my name
18:32
Arrested on horseback
18:35
my life has changed.
18:38
The holidays are a time for
18:39
celebration and music for a lot of
18:41
people. You can't escape Mariah
18:43
Carey this time of year, not that
18:45
I'd want to.
18:46
KUT's Jimmy Moss asked the KUT
18:48
news team what their favorite
18:50
holiday songs are and why.
19:03
It is the most wonderful time of the
19:05
year, at least for Andy Williams and
19:07
me. And why not?
19:09
With the kids jingle-belling and
19:11
everyone telling you be of good
19:12
cheer.
19:13
We spent 11 months working as
19:15
hard as
19:17
we could and now we sit back
19:19
and listen to some of our favorite
19:21
songs that remind us of days
19:23
of yore.
19:24
This is the only period of year
19:25
where we use the word yore,
19:27
so we asked the KUT staff What
19:30
they like to listen to during this
19:31
time of year And we started with
19:33
a familiar voice.
19:34
My name is Jerry Quijano, and I'm
19:37
the All Things Considered and Austin
19:38
Signal host.
19:39
When I mention holiday songs, what's
19:41
the first thing that comes to mind?
19:42
Yeah, yeah.
19:43
Well, you know, the first things
19:44
that come to mind are a lot of sad
19:46
songs, about it being white and
19:48
it being snowy, and so a
19:50
lot songs that I grew up in
19:52
South Central Texas, so most of the
19:53
time we're wearing like shorts,
19:55
you now, and in the daytime it's
19:57
like 75 degrees on a Christmas day.
19:59
And so for that reason, one of my
20:01
favorite Christmas songs is Little
20:03
Saint Nick by The Beach Boys.
20:04
The music sounds like, you know,
20:06
the sun is shining and the
20:08
sky is blue.
20:10
One of my favorite things about the
20:11
Beach Boys is the harmonies, you
20:12
know, and I think like that reminds
20:14
me of spending time with my family
20:15
as well, you know, singing the
20:17
songs together or humming them
20:18
along, but...
20:23
You know that part, you know, so
20:25
it's not just the one person
20:27
singing. It's the whole group is in
20:28
on it
20:30
Hi, my name is Kristen Cabrera.
20:31
I am the managing producer for
20:33
Austin Signal.
20:34
And my favorite
20:36
holiday song is
20:39
Christmas, Baby
20:41
Please Come Home, by
20:43
U2.
20:44
I love the song because I
20:46
remember visiting my grandparents
20:48
in Dallas and it
20:51
was always on the radio.
20:53
But I really love every version
20:55
of the song.
20:56
I've heard it.
20:57
But YouTube specifically has
20:59
this just like this 90s
21:02
grip on that song.
21:04
Here's KUT Arts Desk Editor
21:05
Stephanie Federico.
21:07
Father Christmas, give us some
21:09
money We've got no
21:11
use for your silly toys
21:13
We'll beat you up in
21:15
No, no, no
21:17
We want your breath So don't make us
21:19
alone Give all the
21:21
time
21:22
Yeah, The Kinks, Father Christmas,
21:25
best Christmas song at Barra.
21:28
Luz Moreno Lozano, I am the
21:30
city hall reporter.
21:32
I think my favorite one is
21:34
Feliz Navidad.
21:36
Growing up, you know, we made
21:38
the males and we
21:40
would do the posadas and just like
21:42
our family tradition on Christmas
21:44
Eve always included
21:46
Christmas music and Feliz navidad
21:47
was probably the one that we played
21:48
the most.
21:50
Hi, my name is Andy Yeho.
21:52
I'm on the web team here at KUT.
21:54
My favorite holiday song
21:56
is Joy to the World by Mariah
21:58
Carey because it's great
22:00
to sing along with in the car.
22:03
No.
22:07
I'm Chelsea Zhu.
22:08
I'm the digital producer at KUT.
22:10
My favorite Christmas song is Frosty
22:11
the Snowman.
22:14
The snowman was a cowl-
22:16
I was really scared of Frosty
22:18
when I was a kid, the animated
22:19
cartoon version, and the song made
22:21
it better.
22:22
Mose Buchele, longtime reporter here
22:24
at KUT.
22:26
What is your favorite Christmas
22:28
or holiday music, and
22:30
why?
22:31
I can't decide, Jimmy.
22:32
I just can't decided.
22:34
When I was growing up, we listened
22:35
to Willie Nelson's Pretty Paper
22:37
all the time. And that still just
22:39
evokes such great childhood memory
22:41
for me.
22:41
It's usually the first song I give.
22:43
Pretty paper, pretty ribbon,
22:45
the way I watch
22:48
the blue. When that song comes on,
22:50
I am a kid again.
22:51
You know i grew up in uh...
22:53
In in the northeast in a colder part
22:54
of the country and it's cold outside
22:57
would fire is going
22:59
and uh...
23:00
It's but it's warm inside and
23:03
uh and that and that music from the
23:04
lp and that means that start playing
23:06
and it it takes me right back to
23:08
that christmas feeling those
23:09
childhood memories but you might
23:11
have more oh yeah i mean ever
23:13
since idea i'm a huge christmas
23:15
that you know so is so my life
23:17
is just been Gathering up more and
23:19
more Christmas Music
23:20
to throw on the other
23:22
year. I was going through going
23:23
through a bin at Goodwill And I
23:25
found someone's old collection tons
23:26
of old Christmas disco albums
23:28
There's a band called
23:31
The Sal Sol orchestra
23:33
It was a studio band and they
23:35
came out with an album and I think
23:36
was in 76 called Christmas Jollies
23:38
And it's got this disco rhythm
23:40
this party sound that
23:42
now I put that on I find myself
23:44
putting that on almost More than
23:45
anything else decorating the tree
23:47
Having a little eggnog
23:50
Uh, it's great.
23:51
I love it.
23:52
S-uh, Sol Sol like to strut.
23:53
Oh, nah!
24:08
Andrew Weber from KUT here,
24:11
my favorite Christmas,
24:13
not Carol, song,
24:15
uh, cause it's more of a hymn, is Oh
24:17
Holy Night, specifically the
24:20
Nat King Cole version of it.
24:21
My granddad, Mr. England, always
24:23
listened, and my grandmother still
24:25
does, listen to Nat King Cole on
24:27
Christmas Eve, and I have
24:29
very fond memories of that,
24:31
celebrating the holiday, and just
24:33
the sound of that song.
24:34
It just, you can hear the room.
24:36
It just has this like reverberation
24:38
to it. And it's obviously Nat King
24:40
Cole's voice.
24:41
So it's, it gets me.
24:42
It gets me every time.
24:53
My name is Jennifer Staten and my
24:54
favorite holiday song, Oh Holy
24:56
Night, a more traditional Christmas
24:59
song, the notes,
25:01
the chords, the dynamics, I just
25:03
find it calming and
25:05
inspiring all at once.
25:08
I'm Olivia Aldridge.
25:09
I'm a reporter here at KUT,
25:12
and my favorite Christmas song is
25:14
Oh Holy Night, because
25:16
the drama is simply
25:18
unmatched.
25:19
I have performed it in the church.
25:22
I would not like to perform it now.
25:25
Ha ha ha!
25:27
It's a big song, Jimmy.
25:31
I'm well aware.
25:34
Oh
25:34
Holy night
25:39
The stars are brightly
25:41
shining
25:43
It
25:45
is the light of
25:48
our dear Savior's
25:50
birth
25:58
I'm Trey Scharr, an editor with
26:00
KUT News and Jack of
26:02
all trades.
26:03
My favorite is Vince Guaraldi Trio's
26:05
Christmas Time is Here, the
26:07
instrumental, which everyone
26:08
instantly recognizes from a Charlie
26:10
Brown Christmas.
26:11
My name is Nathan Bernier and I'm
26:13
the transportation reporter at KUT
26:14
and my favorite holiday
26:17
song is Christmastime
26:19
is Here.
26:20
It's happy and sad at the same time.
26:22
It's warm but it's also
26:25
melancholy.
26:27
It's like uplifting and
26:30
kind of cute, especially when they
26:32
bring in the Charlie Brown.
26:33
Chorus.
26:34
It's laid back, peaceful, and those
26:36
brushes on the snare drum are
26:38
suggestive of walking across new
26:40
fallen snow on a quiet winter day.
26:42
It is like lonely.
26:45
Like you're walking
26:47
through a snowstorm
26:49
by yourself.
26:51
I don't know. It's just the perfect
26:53
Christmas song because Christmas is
26:55
both happy and sad.
26:57
Oh, this is Moe's again.
26:58
I love Christmas music
27:00
so much, I taught myself that, you
27:02
know, Christmas time is
27:04
here. That piano, that
27:06
piano kind of version.
27:08
Just so poignant,
27:10
so heartbreakingly beautiful.
27:13
A little...
27:14
Tend to lean toward the melancholy
27:15
outside of the disco.
27:16
Absolutely, you know, it's a weird
27:18
thing, like, if you think about
27:19
classic Christmas music, a lot of it
27:21
is, like joyful, but then also
27:23
deeply sad and depressing.
27:25
Have yourself a merry little
27:27
Christmas. I mean, that it's...
27:29
It's sad.
27:30
It's just sad.
27:31
Right, pining for something that may
27:33
or may not actually occur.
27:35
Yes. Yeah, I mean, that is really,
27:37
that's part of the essence of
27:39
Christmas. It's like, yeah, there's
27:40
a nostalgia to it that's almost
27:42
baked in that is
27:44
part of the magic.
27:45
You're thinking about when
27:47
you were younger, you're thinking
27:48
about family, and it's
27:50
a time to celebrate but also kind of
27:52
maybe recognize loss and
27:54
all that too.
27:55
But then you've got the Salsall
27:56
Orchestra coming in and lifting
27:58
it back up.
27:59
Coming in hot, yeah.
28:00
Hehehehehehe
28:07
Happy holidays to all from the KUT
28:09
team, but before we
28:11
go, Syeda, what is
28:13
yours?
28:14
Well, thanks for asking, Jimmy.
28:15
I'm gonna go with a classic.
28:17
Mariah Carey's All I Want for
28:19
Christmas Is You.
28:20
You truly can't escape it this
28:21
season, but why would you want to?
28:23
It's great.
28:24
It's gonna stick in your head
28:25
forever. It is just so
28:27
fun. And there's only a certain time
28:29
of year you can enjoy it.
28:30
So I'm all for it.
28:32
That's it for us today on Austin
28:34
Signal. Rayna Sevilla is our
28:35
technical director.
28:37
Kristen Cabrera is our managing
28:39
producer.
28:40
I am Syeda Carrillo.
28:41
Happy Holidays and thanks for
28:43
listening to Austin Signal.