August 13, 2024
Provided image/9.14 Pictures
Some Philadelphia Eagles players are back in the studio record a third album of Christmas songs. Lane Johnson confirmed he and Jordan Mailata, along with recently retired lineman Jason Kelce, collectively known as the Philly Specials, are at work on more holiday music.
Christmas time has gotten some added cheer each of the last two years with the release of holiday-themed albums from the Eagles trio of Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata. Prepare for another round of reimagined classics this year from their musical ensemble, known as the The Philly Specials.
At Eagles training camp on Tuesday, Johnson confirmed to reporters that he and the others have been back in the studio working on a third installment.
MORE: Philly singer and hip-hop trio make it on Barack Obama's annual summer playlist
"Hopefully, we'll have something done pretty soon for this year," Johnson said.
🚨 Important nugget from Eagles-Patriots joint practice 🚨
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) August 13, 2024
Lane Johnson confirms that The Philly Specials have a third album in the works 🎄🦅🎅 pic.twitter.com/wv347vQj4e
Last week on X, formerly Twitter, a fan account for Jason and Travis Kelce posted that the Philly Specials and executive producer Connor Barwin recently reunited in the studio. A video shows Mailata singing Sam Cooke's 1962 classic "Having a Party," a song Cooke would perform to close his sets and encourage crowds to keep festivities going after shows.
Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata, Lane Johnson and Connor Baldwin reunited this past Saturday at Elm Street Studio to begin recording the new Philly Specials Christmas album!
— Kelce Brothers (@kelcebrothers) August 7, 2024
🎥: @fatimalpeters pic.twitter.com/RCAcijA5gO
The video appears to have been recorded at Conshohocken's Elm Street Studios, where the Philly Specials recorded each of their first two albums. Barwin, a former Eagles linebacker who now works in the team's front office, was executive producer on both of those albums.
"A Philly Special Christmas," the inaugural album in 2022, raised more than $1.25 million for the Children's Crisis Treatment Center, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and more than 20 other organizations in the region.
The second album, "A Philly Special Christmas Special," featured a spectrum of musical guests like Patti LaBelle, Amos Lee and Waxahatchee. Eagles general manager Howie Roseman even sings a rendition of "The Dreidel Song." Vinyl and digital sales from that album raised more than $3 million for CCTC, CHOP, Philabundance and other nonprofits in the area.
The last two albums were released in December after some tracks were made available early. When "A Philly Special Christmas" came out, demand was so great that additional vinyl pressings had to be done.
The 2023 album featured a Kelce brothers duet, "Fairytale of Philadelphia," that climbed to the top of Billboard's Rock Digital Songs Sales chart and also hit No. 1 for Holiday Digital Song Sales. Mailata visited the White House to perform for President Joe Biden and give the lifelong Eagles fan a copy of the album.
The burning question this year will be whether Taylor Swift — who has been dating Travis Kelce for about a year now and spent part of her childhood living on a Christmas tree farm in Berks County — is going to be featured anywhere on the track list.
