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Written by Lori Donovan
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 Santa Brought Me Cats makes the purrfect edition to traditional holiday tales.
Animals have never been much of a focus in the traditional tales of
Christmas. Cartoon tales of Nestor the Long-Eared Donkey and Jingle
Bell barking dogs aside, our four-legged friends haven’t really been
given more to do than bray in manger scenes or be scolded for getting
too close to the holiday tree.
Cat fancier, Debra Hoagland, was keenly aware of the absence of felines
from the seasonal merriment, which brought about an idea she shared
with her friend, author and songwriter, Robert Fugo. The concept was
simple. A holiday tale, told musically, where animals—in this case cats
—would be a focus of the tale.
After a conversation over New Year’s merriment in 2000, Hoagland
and Fugo parted with visions of catnip dancing in their heads. Fugo
went to work shortly thereafter on the lyrics of what would become the
theme song to Santa Brought Me Cats.
“After that we sort of gradually picked up an idea of how we wanted
to proceed in creating something special,” says Fugo. “We thought of
the idea of having a song and also a story with a cat theme. In
essence, to offer a traditional Christmas story, but from a cat’s point
of view.”
The album/story Santa Brought Me Cats, is a musical narration,
but can be easily enjoyed without following along in the accompanying
book. “It tells the story, but unlike the standard narration one might
think of going into a holiday story, this is actually meant to be
entertaining in and of itself.”
Though it might be thought of initially as a children’s offering, Fugo
suggests that most of the CD’s fans have been adults, with a love of
cats, a love of Christmas, or both. The audio was produced in two
different segments. Once the theme song was written and recorded, Fugo
called on his friend, Grammy winning producer, Phil Nicolo. The pair
then began to gather a stellar list of award-winning musicians.
“We went and looked for certain players we thought might be
appropriate,” says Fugo. “The first we found was fiddle player, Alex de
Pue, one of the ten best in the world.” De Pue’s parents were classical
musicians, raising three boys all whom play at an industry or
orchestral level. De Pue’s two brothers both play in the Philadelphia
Orchestra.
De Pue had just wrapped up a project with country artist Chris
Cagle and had returned to the area from Nashville, when his brother
brought him to the attention of producer Nicolo. Once he was on board,
pedal steel guitar player Jim Cohen was also added and the production
moved south to Nashville for the next phase.
“My top choice of any engineer in the world would be Clarke Schleicher,
so we approached him right away,” says Fugo. Schleicher, who has gained
recognition for his productions with Sara Evans, Martina McBride and
the Dixie Chicks, was just the man to provide the “country flavor” Fugo
was looking for on Cats. Fortunately, the Warner Brother’s recording
engineer was available and interested in the project.
Once under Warner Brother’s wing, the
rest of the band came together, with Fugo sitting in on both rhythm and
lead guitar.
It was a painstaking process, but after many years in planning and
development the finished product, Santa Brought Me Cats was ready
for packaging.
While the engineers and musicians were hard at work on the soundtrack,
Montgomery artist, Frances Castor, was developing twenty-four full
color pages of accompanying images. “Frances is a great artist and a
friend of Deborah’s. She teaches art and just did a fantastic job
telling the story with her illustrations.”
The finished product is a welcome addition to the familiar holiday
traditions for both music lovers and feline fans. Santa Brought Me Cats
is available for purchase at www.catsforchristmas.com or at www.cdbaby.com.
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