Eric Clapton Announces New Christmas Album

(hennemusic) Eric Clapton will release his first full-length Christmas album, "Happy Xmas", on October 12th. Clapton co-produced the festive effort with Simon Climie, as well as providing an illustration of Santa Claus for the record's cover.

Billboard reports the project's 14 tracks are a mix of standards - including "White Christmas," "Silent Night," and "Away In A Manger" - and lesser known holiday tunes alongside a new original song, "For Love On Christmas Day."

The legendary guitarist dedicated his take on "Jingle Bells" to the "memory of Avicii," the Swedish DJ who was found dead in Muscat, Oman from an apparent suicide in April.

"I had in my head that these holiday songs could be done with a slight blues tinge, and I started to figure out how to play the blues lines in between the vocals," says Clapton. "I got it down and one of the most identifiable songs on the album, the one that became the foundational style, is 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.'" Read more and see the tracklisting here.

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