Winter Music for the Masses

It's cold out there, folks!  When it's cold, I like to listen to music.  I also like to listen to music when it's hot, or when the temperature is not significant in any way.

I've tried half a dozen different ways to preface this list, but I'm just going to have to go with a lame: here are some nice cold-weather and Christmas tunes, some of them just songs that I like, some new releases.


Chase Holfelder has been one of my favorite YouTube dudes for a while (he also happens to be from NC), and he just made a cover of Winter Song, originally by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson.  Pretty simple production, beautiful song, and nice vocals as always.

Josh Groban's got his February Song.  That man can sing.

For those with winter depression, listen to Grey by Cody Jinks.  It's not strictly a winter song, but I feel like it applies.

I don't even know how to describe Avalanches by A Fine Frenzy.  Alison Sudol always leaves me a little unsettled.  Her approach to music perfectly balances the lyrics and the production, and both are strong, yet understated.  Definitely worth a listen.

Over You by Miranda Lambert covers grieving someone through the holiday season and beyond.  It sounds really sad, and it is, but that's probably why it's so good.  It was written by Blake Shelton and Lambert, and is about Shelton's brother.  Obviously, this was before Blake and Miranda divorced.  So now there's another thing to mourn.

Being unable to think of anymore simple winter songs that I want to recommend to you, let's move on to the Christmas music.

Citizen Shade, also from NC, and also some of my favorite YouTube dudes, just put out a cover of This Christmas with Kierre.  If you haven't heard anything of theirs, it's worth listening to just to hear Will's voice.

A few years ago, Chase Holfelder and Kurt Hugo Schneider collaborated on a minor key cover of All I Want For Christmas.  Minor key covers are kind of what Chase is known for, and KHS is a music producer and filmmaker who routinely produces YouTube covers of popular songs with YouTube artists.  He's also worked with people like Rachel Platten, Natasha Bedingfield, Hunter Hayes, and others.  Pretty brilliant dude, actually.  He went to Yale and majored in Mathematics.

In October, Aaron Watson released An Aaron Watson Family Christmas, which is a great country album.  Funnily enough, earlier on the day that I listened to this album, I had been trying to find a really good cover of A Christmas Waltz, and I hadn't been able to find anything that really tickled my fancy.  Then I had this album playing in the background, and I heard that song!  And it was perfect!  It was a joy to find an old 50's song translated so well into the country language.  Another treasure of a song is She Stared at Him All Night, which sounds really creepy, but actually its only flaw is historical inaccuracy and some vaguely off theology.  Aaron Watson didn't write it, but he really does it justice.  As the title suggests, his family is heavily featured on this album, and it's very fun to listen to.

I haven't listened to Blake Shelton's Cheers, It's Christmas album all the way through, but Kelly Clarkson helps him on a great rendition of There's a New Kid in Town, which was originally written by Keith Whitley, and has become a country Christmas classic (look at all that alliteration).  Blake Shelton, despite some of his 2014 and 2016 song choices, can really sing.  And, as a bonus that I just discovered, this album includes a duet, with Michael Buble, of Home, with more Christmas-y lyrics.

If you're in the mood for some bluegrass, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver have a great a capella medley: The First Noel/It Came Upon a Midnight Clear/Joy to the World.  The harmonies in The First Noel alone make this a great song.  Seriously, they're gorgeous.

Speaking of a capella, Pentatonix's That's Christmas to Me has some good picks, including a very peaceful, late-night suitable cover of Silent Night.  PTX has FOUR Christmas albums.  I have listened to only one.  I assume they have some other good Christmas songs though.  I mean, with four albums, they've got to...

I love Auld Lang Syne.  Unfortunately, I haven't found any version of it that I feel a desperate need to recommend.  I'm always on the lookout for one, though, so if you find it, please tell me.

So long, and Merry Christmas.
Anna

Some Music for the Masses

So, it's been a while, eh?  I've been busy with school, and friends, and writing.  Plus, and I'm not really going to go into detail on this, due to people things, I've kind of gone into an emotional withdrawal, and I haven't really felt any desire to talk to anyone.  Ever.  For any length of time.*

*EDITOR'S NOTE:  This is hyperbole.  She is not a complete hermit.  Yet.

But all this emotional recovery time builds up some stuff that needs to be said.  Deep, emotional stuff.   Stuff that would change your perception of me as a person.  Stuff so dramatic and life-changing that I can say, quite seriously, that I will literally never be the same.  Stuff that you have to chew on for a little bit in order to fully understand the effects of it.

Naturally, I've opted out of talking about any of that stuff, and am instead choosing to share some songs with y'all.

Some of these songs you will probably know.  Hopefully at least a few will be new and likable additions to your listening list.

Desperado - Rihanna

I found this song while looking for songs about running away, for the book I'm currently writing about a girl who runs away.  I liked the song because it's got a fairly distinctive feel that pulls you into its dark and moody, yet rhythmic, atmosphere.  It ain't the Eagles.

Love is a Wild Thing - Kacey Musgraves

What really caught my attention about this song is not the pretty singing, and the mild tempo, but the fact that in the chorus the melody really gives a voice to the wildness this song talks about.  Not in an out of control, chaotic way, but in a natural, beautiful way.  Like wildflowers.  That's what this song reminds me of.

Runnin' Just in Case - Miranda Lambert

It's another song about running, only in this case, she's tired of running, but she'll keep doing it anyway.  I'm a fan of that kind of raw, painful honesty.  I like how the sound of the song echoes the words, but what really sold me on this song are the closing lines: I carried him around with me, I don't mind having scars / Happiness ain't prison, but there's freedom in a broken heart.  

There is.

Teach Me How to Dance with You - Causes

The first song I heard by this band was Sinking Ship, which I liked a lot, but is much more of a downer.  I'm okay with downers.  Sad music is good for the soul.  But I find "Teach Me How to Dance with You" very interesting, if a little repetitive.  It's sung from the perspective of someone who's not fantastically great at love, and doesn't really know how to feel.  But they'd like to learn.  Just listen to the song, I'm terrible at explaining this.

Alcohol - Shannon LaBrie

It's pretty dark.  It's about a woman whose husband is an alcoholic, and he just slowly drags them both down.  But as far as composition and music quality go, this song is pretty up there.

Take What I Can Get - Matthew Mayfield

The songwriting is good.  It's creative, and it conveys a lot of depth and character.  But what I absolutely love is how Mayfield's singing carries with it both a loneliness and a grit, and just makes the words that much more effective.  It's a fairly short, simple song, but it's definitely worth a few listens.

Just my Soul Responding - Amber Run

I love Amber Run.  I think the lead singer's hair is cool, and I like his voice too.  Also, he has pretty eyes.  This song is a little complicated for me.  It shows a lot of conflict.  His want to be there, and to love her; and the problem that for some reason they're just not working out.  But he can't stop reacting to the fact that he loves her.  Also, the song is kind of upbeat and fun to listen to.  

Corners - Dalton Domino

Now look, I'm not going to say that this song is totally correct in everything that it may say or imply.  But it's an honest insight from a man who's made a lot of mistakes.  I have a hard time describing the effect "Corners" has on me.  It  reminds me of me a little bit.  It leaves the mistakes in the past, but doesn't deny that they happened, and that bridges were burned.  Overall, it makes me...content, which is the purest form of happiness that I know.

Have a listen to these, and please, tell me what you liked and didn't like, which songs you knew before reading this and which you didn't, and just how terrible I was at describing them.

So long,

Anna