A Christmas Package, Carey Ziegler (Yodelin' Pig)

Near as I can tell, this CD single from this Maryland act is from 1996 but a fair number of Maryland-area record stores still seem to have copies, at least around Christmas time, anyway. Nobody else does, it doesn't even show up on Amazon, though a couple of Ziegler's other releases do. "That's What Christmas Used To Be" is a nostalgic mid-tempo rocker. "Country Fryed (sic) Christmas" leads in with a bunch of deliberately bad banjo picking and faux-sincere narration before launching into a rap tune about the holiday. The futzing around at the beginning detracts from the song, in my opinion. But then, sound editors can help you mix-disc makers with that problem. The final track, "Heavy Metal Christmas," is as advertised. UPDATE: Bob Bailey notes that two members of Crack the Sky, Rick Witkowski and Joey D'Amico, played on this record. And as Carey's website noted he joined that group in 2010, not a big surprise.