The Philadelphia Eagles linemen whose Christmas album proved to be one of the hottest gifts last holiday season have teamed up on a follow-up release. This time, they recruited Patti LaBelle and some other Philadelphia-area musicians to join them.
"A Philly Special Christmas Special" includes 11 holiday songs featuring Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata. Its goal is simple: to eclipse the $1.25 million in vinyl record sales that "A Philly Special Christmas" made last year for local charities.
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A online preorder for vinyl copies of the album takes place Nov. 3. A pressing on red vinyl will cost $75. A double album on gold vinyl, which includes both LPs, is priced at $125. The albums will ship after Thanksgiving.
The new album will be released on streaming services at the holidays.
This year's album includes 11 tracks, including a cover of Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You," and an original song, "Santa's Night," written and sung by Kelce. And it features LaBelle, a two-time Grammy Award winner and and R&B legend. Other performers include singer Amos Lee and members of The Hooters, The War on Drugs, Dr. Dog, Mewithoutyou, Huffamoose, Sun Ra Arkestra and The Silver Ages Choir.
Just like last year, the Eagles linemen recruited some of their teammates to appear on the album. Defensive tackle Jordan Davis is among them; the others will be revealed in the months to come.
Here's the track listing:
- The Christmas Song
- This Christmas
- Dominick, the Donkey
- Santa's Night
- Christmas Time Is Here
- All I Want for Christmas Is You
- Pretty Paper
- The Dreidel Song
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
- Fairytale of Philadelphia
- Auld Lang Syne
The first single, which has not been revealed, will be released Nov. 3.
"It's so much fun and an honor to be working with this incredible group of people, watching old friends and new friends all come together to make something really special," said ex-Eagle Connor Barwin, the album's executive producer.
"A Philly Special Christmas Special" was produced by Charlie Hall of The War on Drugs. It was recorded in Elm Street Studios in Conshohocken and mixed by Nick Krill. The album is being released by Vera Y Records, a label named after Kelce's daughter Wyatt and Barwin's daughter Vera.
Last year, the first two vinyl pressings of "A Philly Special Christmas," which each included 6,000 copies, sold out immediately. That prompted a third pressing of 20,000 copies.
The Eagles players originally hoped to raise $250,000 for The Children's Crisis Treatment Center, but after earning more than $1 million, they expanded the benefactors to 23 charities, including the Boys & Girls Club Camden, Center for Black Educator Development, Food Bank of Delaware, Germantown Friends School, Philly Goat Project and the Women's Coalition for Empowerment.
In January, the Eagles players dispersed the proceeds, including $250,000 to fund the requests of 400 Philly-area teachers for school supplies, sporting equipment and technology upgrades.
The album reached No.1 on the Billboard compilation albums chart, with the equivalent of 11,000 albums sold, mainly from digital streams.
"It never occurred to me that this gang would make another record, and yet it never occurred to me that we WOULDN'T make another record," Hall said. "By any measure, the experience of what materialized last year was such a profound success … it seemed like a no-brainer that we would at least get together and make some more music for fun, if not to actually produce a whole new record. What ensued surpassed all expectations – musically and spiritually. We dug in and have put together a wide-ranging romp through some classics, some deep cuts, and even an original tune written by Kelce."