Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Thanksgiving came and went, followed by lots of holiday music from past favorites on The Voice.

My Spotify release radar this week included new Christmas covers from five former Voice contestants.

Okay, the one from Chris Mann is more Covid-twist on a classic holiday tune. But I’m still including it in this blog.

Here’s the roundup of those releases. Spotify snippets appear below. The links take you to the songs on Apple Music.

* Chris Mann from Season 2 has turned “The 12 Days of Christmas” into “The 12 Days of Quarantine.” Hey, it’s a natural followup since he turned “My Sharona” into “My Corona” earlier this year and the video went viral. He followed up with a whole album of Covid-19 parodies, “Viral/Viral Vol. 1” in September.

* Dave Fenley of Season 15 went all out in the name of holiday spirit, releasing an EP called “A Dave Fenley Christmas.” It features five covers, including “Silent Night,” “White Christmas” and “I’ll Be Home by Christmas.” There’s also a video for “O Holy Night,” with more videos on the way.

* Holly Tucker from Season 4 released a pair of Christmas covers on Friday — “Mary, Did You Know” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Holly’s latest non-holiday single, “Rhythm of You,” recently cracked the Top 20 on Texas Country Radio.

* Caitlin Caporale from Season 8 released a single called “Hear Me Santa” earlier this month. Now she’s back with her cover of “O Holy Night.” She calls it “my all time favorite Christmas song” and one she’s been singing since at least 1994.

* Zan Fiskum from Season 18 recently released her cover of “White Christmas” with an assist from Alec Shaw. Writes Zan: “Every year my family watches the movie ‘White Christmas.’ It’s probably the first thing I think around the holiday season. So in the midst of a weird year, it felt fitting to cover a song that feels so close to home.” Zan also recently started a Patreon campaign.