Boalsburg producer creates for-charity holiday album with a little help from his friends

Tales of natural disaster do not usually an ideal honeymoon make — but fortunately there’s an exception to every rule.

A few summers ago, Gregory Mudzinski and his new wife, Alicia Starr, were enjoying the splendors of St. Lucia when they came across a basketmaker.

Like conversational dominoes, one thing led to another, which somehow eventually led to the story of one of the darker chapters in the island’s recent history, a debilitating storm that struck Saint Lucia on Christmas Eve.

The basketmaker told Mudzinski and Starr that despite the devastation, he still looked back on that holiday season as the best Christmas ever because people were given the opportunity to help one another.

It’s a sentiment that has stuck with Mudzinski, who lives with Starr in a cozy little house that sits above his recording studio in Boalsburg, where he has spent the past three years piecing together the idea that would eventually become “Happy Valley Holidays.”

An album of original and classic songs performed by some of the area’s most recognizable musicians, “Happy Valley Holidays” will be available for download on iTunes and other digital platforms in early December.

Proceeds from the release will go to Direct Relief, an organization that provides medical assistance to those in need after natural or man-made disasters.

“Almost every dollar or every penny that goes into them goes toward the cause,” Mudzinski said.

Efficiency and scope were important to Mudzinski, a reaction to the helplessness he felt watching the unfolding media coverage of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on television.

Mudzinski didn’t have the resources of Direct Relief, but he did have an address book full of musicians — one of the fringe benefits of playing bass guitar for the band LADY and co-running the theatrical company Light and Love Productions alongside Starr.

A non-denominational holiday album seemed like the perfect vehicle with which to harness the talents of his friends for a good cause.

“I thought that it would be widely accessible to people,” Mudzinski said.

Musicians were given the option of either writing an original tune or performing old-favorites that were already in the public domain.

One of the people Mudzinski reached out to was Judson Mantz, one of the members of the Bellefonte-based band, August Room.

Mantz, who has always wanted to try his hand at a Christmas song, came on board immediately.

“There’s a lot of great musicians in town and it’s something that I don’t think that anyone has done before,” Mantz said.

Still, writing the original tune wasn’t without its challenges — mainly getting into the Christmas spirit in the middle of July.

For inspiration, he pulled Santa hats and a few other decorations out of storage. When Mantz presented the finished lyrics to the rest of August Room, drummer John Lynch came up with the idea of using sleigh bells for percussion.

“As soon as you get out sleigh bells, it’s automatically a Christmas song,” Mantz said.

August Room recorded “Happy Christmas” at Mudzinski’s Demon Drive Studio.

The final album will feature a total of 16 tracks, including a solo a cappella version of “Ave Maria” performed by last year’s State College Idol winner, Rachel Moon.

Not to be outdone, Mudzinski and LADY recorded two songs, a cover of “What Child is This?” and a nearly eight-minute metal and punk rock rendition of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentleman.”

“It’s going to be the most diverse holiday album that’s ever been,” Mudzinski said.

A release date for the finished product will be announced within the next few weeks on Mudzinski’s website, www.demondrivestudio.com, where copies of the album will be available for purchase.

This story was originally published November 21, 2015 at 11:48 PM with the headline "Boalsburg producer creates for-charity holiday album with a little help from his friends."