A new music video recorded this fall in Nashville to boost Brenda Lee’s 1958 recording of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” has a Hopkinsville connection.
Five-year-old Saylor Jessup, a preschool student at University Heights Academy, appears in the video with Lee and two other country music icons — Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood. Saylor is the daughter of Clay Jessup and Kristen Boxley. She has a brother, Cannon, who is 6.
The video was released on Nov. 3, and one month later the song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with 34.9 million streams and 20.9 million radio airplay impressions, Forbes magazine reported on Dec. 4.
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Boxley learned about the opportunity for child actors to appear in the Lee video because of work she did as an extra on “Nashville,” the TV show that ran from 2012 to 2018. She still receives notices about acting parts in the region.
“I sent in her picture, and she was picked,” Boxley said, adding that Saylor’s red hair might have given her an advantage in the selection.
The video shows Saylor dancing with Lee. Each one twirled the other. This was made possible by the fact that Lee stands just 4-foot-9, although Saylor did almost pull off Lee’s wig in one twirl.
“Brenda was really sweet,” Boxley said. “If Saylor got nervous, she helped her. She was absolutely hands-on.”
Saylor’s family wasn’t sure if the dance scene would make the final cut, so Boxley was checking the internet daily until it came out.
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Lee, now 79 years old, was 13 when she recorded “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” at a Nashville studio. Her voice sounds much older. In the new video, she lip syncs to the original recording.
“I would’ve never thought in my wildest dreams that ‘Rockin’’ would be my signature song,” Lee told the New York Times in a recent interview at her Nashville home.
The song was not very popular when it was released in 1958. But after Lee had her first No. 1 song with “I’m Sorry” in 1960, the holiday tune written by Johnny Marks got more attention and rose to No. 14. Marks also wrote “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Holly Jolly Christmas.”
“Rockin’” gained favor again in 1990 when the song was featured in the movie “Home Alone.” It’s part of a memorable scene where young Kevin McAllister cranks up the song while making it appear a lively party is underway in the house that two burglars are watching.
But Boxley is taken with the new Lee video and her daughter’s role in it.
“I still watch it every day,” she said.
Another Hopkinsville connection
Early in her career, Lee recorded a jingle for Hopkinsville Milling Co. The song promoted the company’s Sunflour products for “mighty fine baking, good cooks know.”
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
