(Move Over, Purple People Eater)
Let me start the whole month with the thought that made me write this album in the first place.
Think about the songs that come on every single October. Monster Mash, which came out in 1962. The Purple People Eater, 1958. Add a couple of movie hits from the 1980s, a Disney parade tune, and maybe one spell-casting classic, and you have basically the entire Halloween playlist that most families reach for year after year. I love those songs. I grew up on them. But here is the strange part. We have been playing the same handful of records for more than sixty years.
Now compare that to Christmas. Every year brings a fresh crop of new Christmas songs, new arrangements, new voices, whole new albums. Christmas music is a living, growing thing. Halloween music mostly stopped growing around the time your grandparents were kids. Somewhere along the way we decided Halloween only gets novelty songs, one per generation, and then we just keep them on a loop.
I do not think that is good enough. Kids today deserve Halloween music made for them, right now, the way they get fresh everything else. So I made a whole album of it. Nineteen brand new original songs, built for the whole family, that treat Halloween as seriously and as joyfully as we treat Christmas. That is what Midnight Masquerade is. Move over, Purple People Eater. There is room at the party for something new.
And this is not a pile of one-off novelty tracks. It is a real album with a real shape, a single night that gets stranger the longer it goes on, told in four acts.
Act one is Dusk on the Street. The sun is still up. Kids carve pumpkins, fill pillowcases, and a headless horseman rides by who only wants your candy. Bright, silly, and built for the youngest listeners.
Act two is The Crowd Gathers. We head indoors and the creatures arrive. A haunted carnival, a witches waltz, a potion that goes very wrong. The whimsy stays, but the shadows are getting longer.
Act three is The Ball. The masquerade itself, the heart of the record. A skeleton takes the floor, the title track brings the whole company in, and something at the party is hunting.
Act four is After Midnight. The party pours back out onto the street. The neighbors take over, the sun comes up, and a dad in a costume t-shirt closes the whole thing out.
You can put it on start to finish and feel the night turn. That is the difference between a novelty single and an album you can live inside. All month I am walking you through it, one song a day. Come back tomorrow for the very first track.
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While you are here, pre-save my upcoming album A Folklore Christmas on Spotify.
Why Pre-Saving an Ablum Means the World (And How It Helps You!)
If you’ve ever wondered why artists are always asking you to pre-save their upcoming albums on Spotify, here’s the secret: it’s the single best way to make sure you don’t miss a beat, while giving independent music a massive boost!
Here is what pre-saving actually does for you—and for the album:
- It drops right into your library on launch day: The moment A Christmas Folklore goes live, Spotify will automatically add it straight to your Liked Songs and library. You won’t have to search for it, set a reminder, or worry about missing release day.
- It feeds the Spotify algorithm: Algorithms pay close attention to pre-save numbers. A high pre-save count signals to Spotify that people are excited about the record, which helps push our spooky tracks onto official curated playlists, radio feeds, and recommendation charts for brand new listeners.
- It helps independent music thrive: Every single pre-save gives independent artists a louder voice on major streaming platforms, helping us share these fun, family-friendly Halloween tunes far and wide.
It only takes one click, but it makes a huge difference!
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