Friday, December 23, 2022

Countdown to Christmas: Little Toy Trains (1967-2015)

 Ever since Natalie Cole, with the aid of modern technology, recorded a "duet" with her father, Nat King Cole, remaking "Unforgettable", there have been other "duets", using the same technology of using an original vocal track with new vocals by a "duet partner". Hank Williams, Jr. followed Cole's lead by fusing together a duet with his father, Hank, Sr., on "Tear in My Beer".

We've seen it in Christmas songs, too. One such example enables another 2nd generation singer, Dean Miller, son of Roger Miller, to remake one of his dad's ballads, "Little Toy Trains", into a duet. Roger originally wrote & recorded "Trains" in 1967. 48 years later, Dean, who was established on the country charts himself, paid tribute to his dad.

No video was produced, so we have to go with the audio that's available. I think you'll love it.

2 comments:

Chuck Miller said...

The trickiest one of those digital duets occurred in the mid-1980's, when Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline teamed up for that classic "Have You Ever Been Lonely?", despite neither of them working together during their lifetimes. And surprisingly, this track became a big country music hit at the time.

hobbyfan said...

First I knew of this, Chuck, so thanks. I just found a once-lost holiday special that now airs annually on TCM. A modern-at-the-time retelling of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, a la Rod Serling.