Stuck in a Dive Bar on Christmas Eve Night
Jake Speed with Ma Crow, Ed Cunningham, & Chris Werner
‘Twas Christmas Eve night in 2004, and all the Christmas drifters who’d bedded down for beer and books at Kaldi’s on Main were snowed in. These were the years when Cincinnati’s beloved Bluegrass Bardess, Katie Laur, lived Read more
‘Twas Christmas Eve night in 2004, and all the Christmas drifters who’d bedded down for beer and books at Kaldi’s on Main were snowed in. These were the years when Cincinnati’s beloved Bluegrass Bardess, Katie Laur, lived above Kaldi’s, and the odd feeling of being stuck in a bar during a huge blizzard at Christmastime just itched her with inspiration. Just like that, Katie launched into existence her epic ballad about being stuck with strangers in a bar on Christmas Eve. She came up with the chorus and a verse sung to a tune she modeled off of John Prine’s hilarious song “Christmas in Prison.” From there, she called upon a bunch of us fellow musicians and friends to write our own verses. I wrote one, Ed Cunningham wrote one, Jeff Roberts and Jay Bolotin too (RIP). Even Pester Flatt penned a hilarious verse (if you know who he is). We each wrote about different imaginary strangers in the snowed-in bar.
After a few weeks of cobbling together all of our ideas, we finally convened one night at Kaldi’s and kinda sang it for whichever drifters happened to show. A recording of that 10-minute masterpiece of disaster still exists thanks to Oakley Scot! You can even hear Chris Cusentino and Ma Crow singing backups. So, here’s the old tune with a new twist that’s been 20 years in the making. I call it “Stuck in a Dive Bar on Christmas Eve Night,” and the tune still pays homage to John Prine’s “Christmas in Prison,” just like Katie wanted it. But now it takes some new dips and dives as it covers grief, joy, loneliness, forgiveness, acceptance, patience and most of all a celebration of common decency. You’ll hear me finger-picking the guitar while Chris Werner holds down the bass. Ed adds mandolin and fiddle while Ma, Ed, and I swap verses to bring to life three different scenes of surprising grace that occur on the Eve of Christmas in the unlikeliest of places. Throughout, you’ll hear the chorus sung just as Katie wrote it, reminding us to embrace the dignity of a lonesome drifter on a cold Christmas night.
