by Moe Zilla

Created on: December 15, 2008

'Twas the week before Christmas, and what did I see?

A Helium user had sent a CD!

I got a holiday greeting from a friend of Jd Webb, who sent me his new Christmas single, "Everything I Need This Christmas." And it opens with a cheery everything: violins, cymbals, kettle drums, and of course - chimes. But then the drums kick in, and Webb's smooth voice croons that "It's looking like it's about to snow..." before dancing through a list of...yes, everything Christmas. (Carollers, sleigh bells, mistletoe, Santa...and the woman he loves.) Its melody resembles "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)," but the celebrating couple is joyously together already, so Jd Webb's happy voice just trills out his sentimentss. "I'm so glad it's Christmas."

The CD even came with a red-and white label with festive cursive letters, and Santa peeks out on the insert inside. But the warmest moment is the song's ending, when Jd just gives a friendly laugh like he's playing with his friends. "I wanted to write a Christmas song," Webb says on the liner notes, "because I felt like there weren't many R&B-soul songs out there during this time of year." But he acknowledges that Christmas is really about "having the people you love around during the holidays.

"To me, that's what Christmas is all about - the simple things like loved ones getting together."

Ultimately it's Webb's earnest voice that really delivers the Christmas cheer. ("Santa don't you worry about me," he sings. "I've got everything I need this Christmas.") If the voice sounds familiar, maybe you've heard Jd singing on "Days of Our Lives." (When Max and Stephanie first confessed they loved each other, it was Jd's songs playing in the background - first "If Only" and then "I'll Never Let Go.") And Jd was that fresh-faced blonde in the "best friends forever" video for the song "Always and Forever (BFF) by the Christian pop group Raze. It's nice to think that in a way the song is observing another holiday tradition - checking in on an old friend.

But Webb doesn't want to be just a pretty face. "I feel strongly about the absence of musicality in today's music," Webb adds seriously, complaining that most music today is "so manufactured... It doesn't matter if you can sing or write or produce, as long as you're hot!"
Judging by the liner notes, for Webb it honestly is about the music. "I'm really trying to change that."

"Making great music is all about the magic," Webb says on the liner notes, and on the chorus you can hear him sprinkling in lots of glitter. "Santa, don't you worry about me," he sings. "I've got everything I need this Christmas! Whoa-oh-oh-oh. Yeah, yeah. Oh-oh... Yeah, yeah."

And then that laugh.

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