''A Philly Special Christmas'' is the debut studio album by The Philly Specials – a vocal trio composed of

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

offensive linemen

Lane Johnson David Lane Johnson (born May 8, 1990) is an American football offensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Eagles fourth overall in the 2013 NFL Draft. He played college football at Ok ...

Jason Kelce Jason Daniel Kelce (; born November 5, 1987) is an American football center for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Eagles in the sixth round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He played college football at ...

, and

Jordan Mailata Lafoga Jordan Mailata (; born 31 March 1997) is an Australian professional American football offensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He previously played rugby league for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bull ...

. It was released on December 23, 2022, by Vera Y Records. The

Christmas album Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...

is produced by Charlie Hall, drummer for the band The War on Drugs. Former Eagles linebacker

Connor Barwin Connor Alfred Barwin (born October 15, 1986) is an American football executive and former outside linebacker, currently serving as the director of player development for the Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football at Cincinnati, and was ...

served as executive producer. The title of the album is inspired by the

Philly Special The Philly Special (also known as Philly Philly) was an American football trick play between Philadelphia Eagles players Corey Clement, Trey Burton and Nick Foles on fourth- down-and-goal toward the end of the second quarter of Super Bowl LII on ...

, a

trick play A trick play, also known as a gadget play, gimmick play or trickeration, is a play in gridiron football that uses deception and unorthodox tactics to fool the opposing team. A trick play is often risky, offering the potential for a large gain or ...

run by the Eagles in

Super Bowl LII Super Bowl LII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2017 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles defeated the American Football Conferen ...

. Johnson, Kelce and Mailata returned to record their second studio album, ''A Philly Special Christmas Special'', which was released on December 1, 2023. The initial album consists of covers of classic Christmas songs and features duets with Eagles play-by-play announcer

Merrill Reese Merrill Alan Reese (born September 2, 1942) is an American sports radio announcer best known for his role as the play-by-play radio announcer for the Philadelphia Eagles on SportsRadio 94.1 WIP-FM. He has been the voice of the Eagles since 1977. ...

and other players, including

Jalen Hurts Jalen Alexander Hurts (born August 7, 1998) is an American football quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played his first three seasons of college football at Alabama, where he was part of the team t ...

, A. J. Brown,

Brandon Graham Brandon Lee Graham (born April 3, 1988) is an American football defensive end for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Eagles in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft with the thirteenth selection ...

Haason Reddick Haason Samir Reddick (born September 22, 1994) is an American football outside linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Temple, and was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the ...

, and Jordan Davis. All proceeds from the album go towards the Children's Crisis Treatment Center in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Background

Kelce said that the group of offensive linemen first considered writing the album in 2021. Both Mailata and Kelce have had a background in singing. In 2015, Kelce performed a cover of ''

Cover Me Up "Cover Me Up" is a song written and originally recorded by American country music singer Jason Isbell. It is the first track on his 2013 studio album ''Southeastern''. In 2017, country music group Zac Brown Band covered the song for Spotify on Spo ...

'' by

Jason Isbell Michael Jason Isbell (; born February 1, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is known for his solo career, his work with the band The 400 Unit, and as a member of Drive-By Truckers for six years, from 2001 to 2007. Isbell h ...

and his original song ''Homes Change'' on

WXPN WXPN (88.5 FM) is a non-commercial, public radio station licensed to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that broadcasts an adult album alternative (AAA) radio format, along with many other format shows ...

. In 2022, Mailata appeared on the television series ''

The Masked Singer ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. Mailata has been described as "evoking

Frankie Valli Francesco Stephen Castelluccio (born May 3, 1934), better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer, known as the frontman of the Four Seasons beginning in 1960. He is known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice. ...

in his singing." Kelce and Barwin reached out to Charlie Hall, the drummer for The War on Drugs and the leader of the indie rock male chorus The Silver Ages, for direction on the creation of the album. Hall stated that he first met with the offensive linemen and "wanted to suss out what they were after. Was this a goof, or was it a sincere thing? I saw right away that it’s truly sincere. They just wanted to make something that’s a love letter to Philly." The album was recorded during summer 2022 and was finished in July, prior to the start of training camp.

Commercial performance

According to ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'', the album sold 3,000 copies between December 1, 2022 and December 22. In the week ending December 29, the album sold 11,000 copies. It entered the ''Billboard'' 200 chart at No. 80.

Track listing

Personnel

Production * Producer: Charlie Hall * Recorded, mixed and additional production: Nick Krill * Mastered: Alex DeTurk * Executive Producer:

* Additional engineering and assistant engineer at Elm St. Studios: Brendan McGeehan * Assistant engineer at Rittenhouse Soundworks: Mike Richelle * Additional engineering for Lady Alma at Worship Recordings: Rob Paine * Album artwork: Hannah Westerman at Avenue West Recorded and engineered at *

Germantown, Philadelphia Germantown (Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Deitscheschteddel'') is an area in Northwest Philadelphia. Founded by German, Quaker, and Mennonite families in 1683 as an independent borough, it was absorbed into Philadelphia in 1854. The area, which is about ...

(Rittenhouse Soundworks and Silent Partners Studios) *

Conshohocken, Pennsylvania Conshohocken ( ; Lenape: ''Kanshihàkink'') is a borough on the Schuylkill River in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in suburban Philadelphia. Historically a large mill town and industrial and manufacturing center, after the decline of industry i ...

(Elm Street Studios) Performance credits from NFL figures * A. J. Brown – featured vocals * Jordan Davis – featured vocals *

– featured vocals *

– all vocals *

Travis Kelce Travis Michael Kelce (; born October 5, 1989) is an American football tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Chiefs in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft and later won Super Bowl LIV ...

– featured vocals *

– all vocals *

– featured vocals *

Howie Roseman Howard Roseman (born June 23, 1975) is the executive vice president and general manager for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He was hired by the team in 2000 and served in various administrative and executive roles ...

– featured vocals Other performance credits * The Silver Ages *

Marshall Allen Marshall Belford Allen (born May 25, 1924) is an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz alto saxophone player. He also performs on flute, oboe, piccolo, and EWI (an electronic valve instrument made by Steiner, Crumar company). Allen is best ...

* Lady Alma *

Eric Bazilian Eric M. Bazilian (born July 21, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. Bazilian is a founding member of the rock band The Hooters. He wrote " One of Us", a song first recorded by Joan Osborne in 19 ...

* Brandon Beaver * Robbie Bennett * Mike Brenner * Dave Wayne Daniels * Nasir Dickerson * Heyward Howkins * Eliza Hardy Jones * Thomas Hughes * Randy Huth *

Rob Hyman Robert Andrew Hyman (born April 24, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, keyboard and accordion player, producer, arranger and recording studio owner, best known for being a founding member of the rock band The Hooters. Early life Hyman st ...

* Nick Krill *

Patti LaBelle Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer, actress and businesswoman. LaBelle is referred to as the " Godmother of Soul". She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singe ...

Amos Lee Amos Lee (born Ryan Anthony Massaro, June 20, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter whose musical style encompasses folk, rock, and soul. He was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in English ...

* Zach Miller * Josh Newman * Todd Starlin * Kaila Vandever *

Waxahatchee Waxahatchee is an American indie music project, formed in 2010 by American singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield (born 4 January 1989), previously a member of P.S. Eliot. The band is named after Waxahatchee Creek, in Alabama, where Crutchfield gr ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Philly Special Christmas 2022 Christmas albums Christmas albums by American artists Christmas albums by Australian artists Culture of Philadelphia 2022 National Football League season Covers albums

Background

Commercial performance

Track listing

Personnel

See also

References

External links