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
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