Sing Eagles, Sing! Your Favorite New NFL-Backed Christmas Album
The Eagles offensive line joined forces with members of Philly-based rock band War on Drugs to record a special Christmas album.
The 1985 Chicago Bears had the Super Bowl Shuffle.
The ’86 Cleveland Browns gave us “Masters of the Gridiron.”
And now, in the storied history of inexplicable sports-meets-pop culture moments that can transform great teams into immortal ones, comes something really special. Something Philly special.
Ladies and gents, I’d like to tell you about A Philly Special Christmas, the Philadelphia Eagles’ own Christmas album.
Before the Eagles stormed to an NFL-best 12-1 record, Connor Barwin, a former player and current member of the front office, hatched a plan with Jason Kelce, the team’s offensive lineman. What if the team recorded some Christmas tunes to raise money for charity? There was just one problem: Barwin and Kelce were football players. They didn’t know the first thing about how to make an album.
Barwin did, however, have some friends in the Philly music scene, thanks to an annual charity concert that he organizes. That’s how he came to pick up the phone and ask for some help. Soon, Charlie Hall, the drummer of the Grammy-winning rock band War on Drugs, decided to meet up with members of the Eagles offensive line during this year’s training camp. That’s how, during the middle of the summer, Hall met Kelce, Jordan Mailata, and Lane Johnson around a campfire, where they sat, strummed a guitar, and sang their favorite Christmas songs. Hall, sufficiently convinced that these guys were serious, agreed to play maestro.
Then, Hall worked the phones himself. He enlisted a murder’s row of Philly music talent, bringing in saxophonists, guitarists, and members of bands like Dr. Dog, Sun Ra Arkestra, and the Hooters. “Everybody that we got involved in this represents something special about Philadelphia," Eliza Hardy Jones, a musician that played on the record, told Stereogum.
Working together, those musicians laid down the tracks. And then over the course of three days, Kelce, Johnson, and Mailatta—representing a combined 986 pounds—recorded vocals in the studio. Every morning, Jones ran the lineman through a series of singing warmups, all of them standing in a line working on scales. Pretty soon, she earned the nickname “Coach E.”
The best of the bunch was Mailatta, a 6’8” Australian who competed on The Masked Singer. “He would just go around with a guitar and play these beautiful, soulful songs, and then he’d sit at the piano playing this Stevie Wonder stuff, just singing his heart out,” Dr. Dog’s Zach Miller told Stereogum. “He’s a supremely talented guy.”
On those recording days, the studio was packed with musicians coming and going, as well as a lot of Woodford’s Reserve. The whiskey kept the atmosphere—and the singing—loose. “Jason Kelce is well-known as being a major heart-on-his-sleeve personality,” said Robbie Bennett of the War on Drugs. “At one point, he wanted to talk to me about what Christmas meant to me, just off the cuff in the kitchen.”
They recorded classics, like Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), White Christmas, and Silent Night. For Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, the lineman brought some mics into Eagles camp for some extra backup vocals from players like quarterback Jalen Hurts and defensive lineman Jordan Davis. “What do you want for Christmas?” Kelce asked Hurts.
“A Super Bowl!” said the quarterback.
The record is due out on December 23, and you can already hear a few singles. If you’re looking for a last minute Christmas gift for the Eagles fan in your life, the vinyl is now on sale once again…on its third printing.
“Once in a lifetime,” said Mailatta of the experience. “Well, hopefully not once in a lifetime.”
See you next Christmas?
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