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Brian Setzer Orchestra, Diggin' a Crazy Christmas

Brian Setzer, far right, with some members of his orchestra.
Brian Setzer, far right, with some members of his orchestra.

The Brian Setzer Orchestra has recorded a new Christmas album: Dig That Crazy Christmas. It's a rocking combination of traditional Christmas carols -- and a few other spirited rock, swing and blues tunes.

After rising to prominence with his retro-50s group the Stray Cats, Brian Setzer has continued to explore some of the most exciting music in America's past -- and find a way to bring it into the present. From rockabilly he moved further back in time, to a sound that recalls the big-band era.

But far from the genteel, sanitized sound that has come to define Big Band, the Brian Setzer Orchestra plumbs the sound's roots with raucous horns and improvised breaks, leading it the way he always has: with an incisive voice and a hollow-body Gretsch guitar.

Copyright 2005 XPN

David Dye is a longtime Philadelphia radio personality whose music enthusiasm has captivated listeners of World Cafe® since 1991. World Cafe is produced by WXPN, the public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania.