When Darlene Love announced that David Letterman’s retirement would also mark her retirement from televised performances of “Christmas,” a lot of people—including us—took it as a serious loss. But now it seems there will be a little something extra from the singer this year to make up for that absence. Pitchfork reports Love will be releasing a new album this fall, her first full-length record since 1998’s Unconditional Love.
Perhaps because there’s an entire generation of kids who only know her as that lady who gets wheeled out once a year to sing about Christmast, Love is returning to the studio to craft a record that will not even mention the yuletide season once, thank you very much. Not only that, but she’s recruiting some pretty big names to assist her. Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Van Zandt, Jim Webb, Linda Perry, Desmond Child, and Joan Jett are just some of the folks who will be lending their talents to the album. The album will be released via both Columbia and Wicked Cool Records, probably because no one label is enough to handle the awesomeness that is Darlene Love.