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Christmas music in July? What, what, WHAT are you even thinking?!
Well, I’m thinking that the world is a dumpster fire of climate change and fascistic chaos and listening to music that is dedicated to conjuring up a warm-and-fuzzy winter wonderland of loveliness is no bad thing (and here in Australia, it is winter so the timing is sublime).
So, here are five Christmas songs that are making the hellmouth of world events feel a little more dealable and who knows maybe we can even roast some chestnuts should the mood seize us?
Keep up on all the 2024 Christmas releases with Christmas Music News
It may feel like this song has been around for FOREVER but the truth is “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” is a relative newcomer to the Christmas music classics roster. Penned in 1963 by Edward Pola and George Wyle, the warm and cosy track first got an outing on Andy Williams’s first festive release, The Andy Williams Christmas Album, with countless people recording and releasing it since including founding member of hard rock bands, Alter Bridge, Creed and Tremonti who absolutely nails the whole Christmas crooner sound. As performed by him, it is a genuine rich and lovely delight, and yes, I have to agree with Christmas Music News on how talented he is. Read more about his 2023 album.
Discovering Kate Rusby via her 2023 Christmas album, Light Years, was undoubtedly one of the great highlights of last year’s festive releases. The English folk singer-songwriter absolutely nails the sound of Christmas as a great big restorative seasonal hug. It seems entirely fitting that we feature her take on “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, not necessarily to start a Christmas song comparathon with Mark Tremonti but because it shows how endlessly versatile this beautifully evocative song is and why it’s included on so many festive albums … and speaking of Christmas albums, Light Years in festive release #6 for an artist who clearly knows her way around the music of the season and how to make it sparkle and glow.
Oh my lord but Samara Joy, an Anerican jazz singer, adds a whole new smooth sound to music that is already not short of atmosphere. Her 2023 Christmas release, A Joyful Holiday, is all things relaxed and chilled, and given how unchilled the festive season often is, that is a miracle of truly Christmas proportions. One track in particular, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, is the perfect distillation of her approach which captures the melancholic flavour of the 1943 Martin & Blane track (lifted of course from the 1944 MGM classic, Meet Me in St. Louis) giving it the requisite space and room to breathe. It’s a quiet breathy joy that gives you a moment to sit back and soak in the spirit of the season … yes, even in July.
“Carol of the Bells”, based on the Ukrainian New Year’s song “Shchedryk” – English lyrics were added in 1936 by Peter Wilhousky – is a song of stunningly arresting beauty and atmosphere. Improving on the hundreds of renditions that have gone before isn’t easy but American composer-writer-producer-classical pianist Chloe Flower finds a way to add a while new lustre to this extraordinarily evocative track. The music is subtle but impactful, the singing richly melodic and emotionally meaningful, and it delivers as a piece of seasonally powerful music. A classic almost instantly on release, the song is drawn from her 2023 album, Chloe Hearts Christmas.
By a whole host of standards, Harry Lillis “Bing” Crosby Jr. was a legend. He acted, he sang, he was dominant one TV and radio and so it stands to reason that when he turned his attention to Christmas music, that he knocked that out of the park too. Leaving aside his star turn with Danny Kaye in 1954’s A White Christmas, Crosby also shone on his festive tunes, including “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” and “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” which both feature on the 2023 release, Bing Crosby’s Bing Crosby’s Christmas Gems, a compilation of a host of earlier festive releases. His voice is just the right side of Christmassy and it adds a beautiful seasonal vibe to what are already cosy and toasty Christmas numbers.
CHRISTMAS IN JULY MUSIC EXTRA!
Flavour of the moment, and justifiably so, artist, Billie Eilish gives us a nuanced, gorgeously rendered take on “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” that makes the track come beautifully and quietly alive …