One More Drifter in the Snow is the sixth album and first Christmas album by Aimee Mann, released by SuperEgo Records in the US in October 2006. It was produced by Paul Bryan and comprises covers of “standard great Christmas classics” and two original compositions: “Christmastime”, written by Mann’s husband Michael Penn, and “Calling on Mary”. Grant-Lee Phillips sings with her on the track “You’re a Mean One Mr Grinch”.
Mann has cited the influence of Johnny Mathis’ album Merry Christmas (1958) on One More Drifter in the Snow, deciding to “go the Mel Torme, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, lounge-y, sort of Julie London record” rather than make an album in the style of “the groovy modern Christmas records”.
Another inspiration for the album was the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s soundtrack for the 1965 film A Charlie Brown Christmas, which Mann said “has a lot of dark and mysterious undertones. First, Charlie Brown is depressed by the commercialism of Christmas and then there’s Linus, who steps out to tell the story of the nativity, with this heartbreakingly moral stance. We wanted our take to be all that – mysterious, quiet, moody. And classy.” According to Mann, “it didn’t take any time to [get] into the Christmas vibe” when she began recording the album in May 2006. “Before it got really hot, it was just so nice to be in the mood, without the pressures of buying presents and stuff.”
For all its loving invocation of snow and mistletoe, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” is one of the saddest Christmas songs ever. The kicker is in the final lyric: “if only in my dreams.” Naturally, it’s the centerpiece of this forlorn album by Aimee Mann, where she kicks off with “Whatever Happened to Christmas?” and makes the notion of walking in a winter wonderland sound lonely and cold. This isn’t a cup of holiday cheer – it’s the bracing chaser.
