Sheldon Mashugana is the comic alter ego of Dallas performer Dean Morgan, who has already made eighteen slapstick comedy films for YouTube under that name and is booked for TV appearances in Santa Fe this October and November. Morgan says the point of the character is simple: there is plenty of gloom in the world, and Sheldon is there to make things feel lighter. His new single "It's Turkey Day," out on October 13, is a Thanksgiving song about Sheldon and singer Crystal Carr chasing a turkey around on the holiday, with a stop at a Dallas Cowboys game and a generous helping of fart jokes. Sheldon handles the comic lines while Crystal sings the melody. Morgan and Carr wrote it together, and the music is by Carr and Justin Pierce, who also produced and mixed it at his studio in Dallas.

But all the slapstick sensibility and fart jokes aside, the music here is brilliant. The melodies are feather-light but super effective and catchy — easily hummable by kids and adults alike, yet bearing the stamp of solid songwriting tradition (think '50s novelty music, Disney cartoon comic numbers and even folk standards). And what are holidays without traditions?

The production leaves a lot of space for the magic of the melodies to happen, the rhythms are steady but danceable, and the guitars add a touch of '60s charm to the song. Give it a few Novembers, and "It's Turkey Day" might just become a holiday tradition of its own.