The Holiday Music Fest

This is "All I Want for Christmas is  You."  But no, not that version, not the one by Mariah Carey.  This is a totally different song that I might like even more.  It's performed by Vince Vance and the Valiants, and was a big hit in its own right, though mostly on country music radio, so not as many people likely know it.

(How big a country hit was it?  The recording had been sitting around for a few years before it was finally discovered and began to be played on country music radio.  And it exploded SO much that I recall listening to the local station and they would literally announce when they would next be playing it!  And it was usually some time during the next hour.)

What I particularly like about the recording, done in 1989, is not just that it's such a terrific song, but that the vocals performed by Lisa Layne are just so powerful and guttural.  Just to be clear, that's not her seeming to sing on the video, but a model they got in to lip-sync.  Still, the song remains wonderful.

But yes, the goofy guy with the hair is Vince Vance.

​And hang around because there's a bonus.

Okay, that was the official video.  But just because you're so special, and since it's the holiday season of good cheer, here's the bonus I mentioned.  This is the original singer, Lisa Layne -- just because she's so wonderful and deserves her place n the spotlight -- performing the song on stage in Texas in 2010.  It's missing the wailing saxophone in the arrangement, but most importantly it has her.