In their heyday Homer and Jethro were country music’s corniest virtuosos, extremely capable musicians who were equally skilled with comedy. And of course along the way they put their talents to work at the holidays; in 1953 they released a parody single called “All I Want For Christmas Is My Upper Plate,” which replaces the two front teeth of the original novelty song with half a set of dentures (!)
By 1968, Homer and Jethro were well into their third decade as a performing act, and they may have been at their most well known, thanks to their appearances on TV variety shows and cereal commercials. They wrapped up the year with the album Cool Crazy Christmas, which includes their skewed takes on a bunch of holiday classics, plus a song where they point out that Kris Kringle “wore long hair and a fuzzy beard/Before any hippie was ever here.” Because the Sixties.
Fun fact: one of the listed producers on this album is Chet Atkins, with whom Homer and Jethro had collaborated (and performed) numerous times over the years.
