Rob Thomas wrote his latest album while binge-watching Hallmark Christmas movies. (We like this guy.)
Rock musician Rob Thomas has a weakness for Hallmark movies and Christmas and he’s not afraid to admit it.
“I’m a Christmas geek, I’m a Hallmark movie geek,” the musician said during an interview with Us Weekly.
The lead singer of Matchbox Twenty was thrilled when Hallmark picked one of his songs to feature in their Countdown to Christmas film A Royal Queens Christmas, which stars Megan Park and Julian Morris.
The song comes from his latest album, Something About Christmas Time, which he wrote over the summer while watching Hallmark’s Christmas in July event.
“You know, every year it’s Christmas time, I’m sitting at the piano at some point, and I’m like, ‘Oh, I want to do a Christmas album,’” he said. “And it’s always too late because if you do a Christmas album, a lot of people don’t realize you have to do it in the summer.”
But this year, Thomas planned ahead.
“So the first thing I had to do was I had to kind of shut everything here in my studio, covering everything in Christmas lights, keep Christmas movies on at all times, [and] keep the Christmas vibe kind of, like, going and flowing,” he said.
Christmas in July
Thomas began work on the album in June and finished in August. When Christmas in July was playing on Hallmark, he simply left the TV on. But before and after the televised movie marathon, he brought out his collection of Hallmark DVDs.
“I think my favorite, it’s almost an asterisk one because it used to not be on Hallmark and then Hallmark bought it, but it’s a movie called Most Wonderful Time of the Year and it stars Henry Winkler,” he said.
Thomas, who has worked with musicians such as Mick Jagger, Willie Nelson, and Marc Anthony, released the album on November 1. Soon after he was contacted by Crown Media, Hallmark’s parent company, asking to use one of the songs in an upcoming movie. They also wanted the singer to appear on their float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
‘A New York Christmas’
A re-worked version of ‘A New York Christmas’ will appear in A Royal Queens Christmas. The movie stars Megan Park as DeeDee, a woman who has just returned home to Queens, New York, from a tour of duty in the army. While helping to organize a local Christmas fundraiser, she runs into Colin (played by Julian Morris), who is playing piano at a hotel.
She convinces him to play for the show, thinking he is a hotel employee. It turns out he is a prince, something he keeps hidden from her.
Thomas said he can’t wait to watch the movie.
“…My wife is from Queens and she is a Hallmark movie geek,” he said.
A Royal Queens Christmas will premiere on Saturday, December 11 on Hallmark Channel at 8/7c.
Recent Comments