Country Queer

Lifting up LGBTQ+ voices in country and Americana.

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“Hang Your Hat on My Christmas Tree”, Cody Belew

By Denver-Rose Harmon, Contributing Writer

We believe the best holiday cheer comes wrapped in a honkytonk package and performed by queer musicians. If there’s any doubt about that, we’ve been handed the total package in Cody Belew’s new single, “Hang Your Hat On My Christmas Tree,” written for a new LGBTQ-themed holiday film, “Dashing in December.”

In “Hang Your Hat On My Christmas Tree,” Belew has created a holiday song that parties as hard as “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and lifts your spirits like “Jingle Bell Rock.” But more than those classics, this holiday party anthem will be completely at home on country radio and in honky-tonks. 

Belew, a top 8 contestant on the third season of The Voice, wrote this raucous song in one day for a scene that had not yet been filmed. With its witty lyrics and ear-worm of a melody, that may be hard to believe, but this springs from the pen of someone who has written with the likes of Deana Carter and Mike Reid.

“I received this ‘only in 2020 Instagram message from a stranger that invited me to write a demo to be pitched for a Christmas movie,” Belew told us. “The brief was to write ‘a Christmas line-dance in the vein of “Any Man of Mine” and “Pour Some Sugar on Me.”’ Ha! The next day I sat down and wrote the whole song start to finish. I was writing as fast as I could, to keep up with what my brain was churning out, and I was laughing the whole time. I just kept thinking, ‘I don’t know if they’re going to like this, but I’ll be damned if this isn’t the funnest song I’ve ever written!'”

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Every line of the song is a clever reference to your favorite Christmas jingles or stories, crooned in a smooth, southern drawl. Produced by Skylar Wilson, the joyous guitar and upbeat rhythm of this track make it a fun, toe-tapping listen.

The trailer for “Dashing in December” promises romance, humor, holiday cheer, and even line dancing – a perfect scene for Belew’s holiday party anthem. The film will broadcast simultaneously on Paramount Network, TV Land, Pop, and Logo on December 13th.