I have these wonderful memories of visiting my great-grandmother Opal with my mom around the holidays. They would sit at the old wooden table, the one I have vague recollections of my great-grandfather always sitting at and playing solitaire, and talk. Well, my mom would talk; Grandma would cuss. And smoke. (She was a wonderful and hilarious woman and I miss her.) And while they were talking and cussing and smoking, I’d be sitting in front of Grandma’s record player, listening to Christmas with The Chipmunks. I don’t know how many copies of that record she went through, as vinyl only stands up for so long against generations of children. I do know that before she passed, she was on to CD versions of the very same album and that kids of my cousins would hurry over to the stereo to play it just like I had when I was their age.

I’ll cut myself off before I go any further down memory lane, but I think you’ve already read enough to understand why I was so pleased to see that “Christmas Don’t Be Late” was included as a track on the recent holiday sampler offered up by XO Publicity. Making things even better, the track has been recorded by Jessie Torrisi, an artist who has already made quite an impression at CD HQ. Her personalization of the lyrics, as well as the languid poutiness of her vocals (especially at the end, when she works in an “I Saw Momma Kissin’ Santa Claus reference), have only cemented her as my latest and greatest indie rock crush, and the subtle brilliance she pulls off instumentally between the stanzas certifies her (again, as if Brûler Brûler hadn’t already done so) as an indie rock force with which to be reckoned.

Jessie Torrisi – Christmas Don’t Be Late