An Exotica Christmas with Slowey and the Boats

Philadelphia's Slowey and the Boats revisit the late 1950s and early 1960s when a body of music emerged that celebrated Polynesia and tiki culture, even if the sounds had more to do with movies and the American imagination than the actual sounds of the islands. Isaac Stanford is Slowey, and with his lap steel, he and the band explore that body of music as well as songs inspired by Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman, two of the American exotica heroes. 

Slowey and the Boats released Merry Christmas from Slowey and The Boats, Vol. 1 & 2 in 2020, and it's still on sale in digital and vinyl forms. Isaac and I talk about the band, the album, and we hear music from their most recent album, Slowey After Dark, which is also on sale now in digital and vinyl forms.

If you liked this episode or the body of exotica that it draws on, you may enjoy my 2013 episode on Christmas Cocktails, the series of lounge Christmas albums from Capitol Records' "Ultra-Lounge" series.