“This is my incomplete Christmas album,” singer Bryan Andrew Wilson laughs. “It’s been in progress for years. I’d do a part of a song and leave it and come back to finish it 2 years later.” Aside from running a church, studying for a master’s degree, and working as an Atlanta educator, Wilson has been caretaker to several relatives. “My mother who set the standard for our family holidays died of cancer. I took care of her those last few months. My former road manager died of COVID, and I took care of her funeral. My spiritual mother Duranice Pace died suddenly and several other people. It’s been a lot, and I wasn’t always in a Christmas spirit, but we finally finished some of the songs this year that we started years ago.” Wilson’s holiday album, Jingle Jams (Bryan’s Songs/ CE Music / The Orchard Distribution), is now available on all digital music platforms.
Jingle Jams opens with the slow jam, “The Best Gift.” Wilson wrote the song with producer Darryl Pearson whose resumé includes productions with Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige, Mya, Drake, and Sam Smith. The next track “Jingle Bell Swing” is a Chicago-styled stepper’s track produced by Judah Sealy who has enjoyed No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Smooth Jazz charts. Next up is Wilson’s Motown cover of Smokey Robinson & the Miracles’ 1963 gem, “Christmas Everyday.”
