Aimee Mann to release Christmas album, play local benefit

"I don't listen to music," she said.

The words traveled across 3,000 miles of telephone wire and singed my ears when they came out the other end.

Aimee Mann doesn't listen to music.

"There's a constellation of reasons for that," she continued, telling me stories about getting in a car wreck and her CD player literally flying out of the vehicle, and how she and husband (and musician) Michael Penn don't even have a CD player at home.

Besides, she said, "One of the last things you want to do is listen to music when you're playing or recording all day."

I guess I shouldn't ask her what's on her iPod.

These days, her mind is mostly on her own music, specifically her very first Christmas album, One More Drifter in the Snow, which will be in stores on Oct. 31.

"It's not a modern Christmas album in that I'm not trying to make Christmas songs sound like Aimee Mann songs," she said.

The track list includes a number of classics, such as "White Christmas," "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," "Winter Wonderland" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." She also tossed in one traditional song, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," for good measure.

But Mann said there's a good reason she only included one traditional tune.

"The only time the really traditional songs sound really good are when they're done by a group of people standing outside on your doorstep with snow falling on them," she joked.

Mann also teamed up with the album's producer and her bandmate Paul Bryan to write a new song, "Calling on Mary."

While Mann said she wasn't trying to make these songs fit her particular style, there was a certain vibe she was going for.

"There's an old Sinatra record called In the Wee Small Hours, and I wanted it to have a bit of that Sinatra flavor," she said. "When I thought of Christmas, Christmas to me as a kid was always that moment where you go to bed ... that middle of the night mystery."

Mann joined together with a small group of musicians in California over the summer to record the album.

"It was really fun to do a Christmas record in June, in the middle of the summer," she said. "Listening to the music you totally get that Christmas spirit but you don't have to worry about any of that family stuff or buying presents. It's all the good and none of the bad."

Mann will be making a pit stop in Cary for Carolina Hope Festival on Oct. 1 along with Indigo Girls, Roman Candle and more. Check out the amphitheater's web site for details and ticket info. Proceeds from Carolina Hope Festival will benefit Carolina Hope, a nonprofit organization based in Chapel Hill that seeks to respond to epidemics of poverty and disease. Carolina Hope primarily supports Beacon of Hope, a non-governmental organization in Nairobi, Kenya, which provides woman and orphaned children with opportunities for a future. Beacon of Hope has also developed programs to support the community in prevention and management of the HIV/AIDS virus.