Eric Clapton is readying his first-ever full length Christmas album, Happy Xmas, on October 12th via Brushbranch/Surfdog Records. The album will be available on CD and 2 180-gram LP and feature 14 tracks standards and lesser known holiday tunes including a new original track. Clapton designed the cover illustration of Santa Claus.
Songs featured on the project include “White Christmas,” “Silent Night,” “Away In A Manager,” new track “For Love On Christmas Day” and “Jingle Bells” which Clapton dedicates to “the memory of Avicii,” due to the singer/songwriter/guitarist’s admiration for the late DJ.
“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,” Clapton states about the project. “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.’”
Clapton co-produced the project along with longtime music producer Simon Climie. Clapton previously released Christmas material on A Very Special Christmas Live from Washington D.C. in 1999, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Special Olympics.
The set will also be available in a limited edition deluxe boxed set wrapped in a custom red and white faux fur to resemble a classic Santa hat with pop up artwork derived from Clapton’s drawings. The boxed set includes a CD copy of Happy Xmas, 7″ Picture Flexi Vinyl, a custom Santa USB that doubles as an ornament and an additional original alloy metal ornament. The set is only available via Surfdog’s webstore.
Happy Xmas is Clapton’s 24th studio album and his first since 2016’s I Still Do.
