Jason and Travis Kelce sing the first release from the Eagles’ new Christmas album.

Jason and Travis Kelsey debuted as Christmas carol-singing brothers in 2023 when they personalized the Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York” by insulting each other. in the spirit of sibling rivalry in A Philadelphia Tale.

Now the siblings are back with a new duet from the Eagles’ third holiday album. Philadelphia Christmas Party Specialwith a song that keyboardist Dr. Dog Zach Miller wrote specifically for the brothers.

“It’s Christmas (in Cleveland Heights),” shouts a resident of the suburban Ohio town where the brothers grew up. Joining Kelces on “Kelces” is one of Philly’s most beloved music acts, Boyz II Men, whose lush, soaring vocals surround the brothers’ less sweet tones with a subtle sweetness.

The song, out Friday, is the first in the third volume of the Philly Specials series. which raised $3 million last year for the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and other local charities. One song from the album, which also features Stevie Nicks, Mount JoyAnd Devon Gilfillianwill be released every Friday until the full album is released on November 22nd.

“It’s Christmas Time (in Cleveland Heights)” is the second original Christmas song written by the Philly Specials since the days of the offensive linemen. Jason KelseyJordan Mailata and Lane Johnson turned on their bells for the first time with 2022 Philadelphia Christmas Special. The first was Kelsey’s “Santa’s Night,” which the now-retired Eagles center wrote for last year’s Philadelphia Christmas Special.

For the first Philly Specials album in 2022, Miller wrote piano music to accompany Eagles radio voice Merrill Reese reciting Clement Clark Moore’s poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” better known as “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

Miller did more than that. He composed a melancholic Christmas tune in the spirit of holiday songs like “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” writing lyrics for the brothers about how their hometown was transformed as they played football every day. holiday season.

“That’s one of the things I love about Christmas music. Much of it sounds very sad, but it’s also “the most wonderful time of the year,” Miller said, speaking this week from his home in West Philadelphia, singing the name of Andy Williams’ perennial holiday.

“Musicians, athletes and a lot of people can sympathize with the fact that they won’t be home for the holidays,” Jason Kelsey said in an interview. from The Inquirer in September. “So you end up thinking about it and longing for the time when you were there.”

“Travis and I have been away from home for so long, and not just for the holidays,” he said. Monday night football analyst and co-host That New Heights podcast“so it means a lot more to you when you come home for the holidays. And that’s exactly how this song feels to me. You’re home for Thanksgiving or Christmas and you think, “Oh my god, this place has changed a lot.”

“It’s not a complicated song,” he said, “but I think the sentiment behind it is universal for a lot of people. It’s like an R&B version of a Christmas song. When I first listened to it, I didn’t know what it was, but I thought, “Man, I just love this song.” It really affected me.”

Shawn Stockman, Nathan Morris and Wanya Morris of Boyz II Men add delightful vocal embellishments to the arrangement, and Stockman sings the final verse before Wanya Morris embellishes the coda.

“When I found out there was an opportunity to include them in the song, it was surreal,” Kelsey said. “We had Patti LaBelle and Amos Lee and a lot of great artists from yesteryear, but Boyz II Men are probably the biggest names I’ve ever sung with. And the song is right in their wheelhouse.”

Miller, who grew up in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, remembers being 11 years old and spending his days in the living room of his family home playing Lod Runner a computer game and listening to a cassette of the debut boy group Boyz II in 1991, CoolieHigh Harmony, on repeat.

“It’s full circle,” said Miller, who is credited with playing a drum machine, Mellotron choir, Moog synthesizer and DW6000 synthesizer on the track, which also features Philly Special regulars such as bassist Anthony Tidd, guitarist Kevin Hanson and saxophonist Immanuel . Wilkins.

Being a key player in Philly Special from the start was a blow, Miller said, “just being in the orbit” of Kelsey, Mailata, Johnson and their former Eagle executive producer Connor Barwin.

He also praises Charlie Hall…drummer and producer for War on Drugs who is “an incredibly charismatic person who can convince a group of people to do something crazy and have a great time doing it.”

“The ongoing problem” with the Philly Specials project, Miller said with a laugh, “explains what it is. It’s like, ‘We made this record of Christmas songs with football players,’ but it’s actually good.”

In addition to Kelces and Boyz II Men, “It’s Christmas Time (in Cleveland Heights)” features vocals from the Philly Specials Children’s Choir, made up of the musicians’ children and behind-the-scenes members of the project, including Miller. son Cyril, 13, and daughter Frida, 10. And since it goes without saying that Travis Kelce most likely plays the music he and his brother create for the important people in his life, Miller had a message for his daughter.

“I have to tell her that technically, Taylor Swift probably heard her sing. This is a good opportunity. And that’s cool, you know? In the choir of other children.”

According to her father, Philly Specials, she took the news in stride. “She laughed.”