Zach's a confederate of singer-songwriter-surfer Jack Johnson, and for 2013 he steps out front for a mini-album of Christmas goodies. If you're a Jack fan, you're all about the relaxed, folk-pop-rock vibe that Zach brings to this collection. The eight songs include seven popular favorites and one new original, "It's Christmas Time Again (Mawmaw's Figgy Pudding)," a whimsical squeezebox holiday fantasia that fakes tapdancing on the solo and gets in a plug for Ralphie. The almost-title song "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)" is just Zach backed by piano, "Up On the Housetop" gets a nice funky treatment, Johnson stops in to help out on "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Little Drummer Boy" gets an original arrangement that deletes the martial tattoo for something that swings more, and "White Christmas" is rendered with slide guitar and ukelele to complement an arrangement that includes the not-always-used prelude about Los Angeles. In a way, this is almost Jimmy Buffett The Next Generation, but for those of you who have worn that predecessor record out, here's a great candidate for a replacement.
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