The Brantley Family Band - "Jingle Bells"

The Brantley Family Band have returned with their ninth annual Christmas album. This year it's just a one song single ("Jingle Bells"), but with good reason - their twin boys Bo and Sam were born on October 11, so they have understandably had their hands a bit full this year. Amazingly, though, Bo and Sam actually play a small but very cute part in the song, which continues the band's tradition of being a diverse and eclectic take on an otherwise familiar song.

You can download "Jingle Bells" and all the rest of their songs at the Brantley Family Band website. If this is your first time hearing about the Brantley Family Band, you can also read what I wrote about them in past years: when I first discovered them, their 2010 album, and their 2011 album.

Finally, if the band happens to read this, let me take this opportunity to say congratulations, Merry Christmas, and thanks once again for all the great music!

Happy listening!

URL:

http://www.thebrantleyfamilyband.com/

Sofia Talvik - "One Last Wish for Christmas"

Longtime readers of this blog will likely know by now that one of my favourite downloads each year is Sofia Talvik's annual Christmas song. Every year since 2007 (the year this blog was started, coincidentally, although I didn't discover her first Christmas song until my second year), she has released an original, heartfelt, bittersweet, and thought provoking Christmas song. This year's song, "One Last Wish for Christmas" is "a story about love, loss, and afterthought at Christmas." It is heartbreakingly beautiful, and like many of her songs, it stays with me long after I've finished listening to it.

You can download the song using the little widget at the bottom of this post. If, for some reason, that doesn't work, you can get it directly from her website.

Sofia also has a Christmas calendar in the form of an email list, If you sign up for the list, you'll get a daily email with a little gift in it - for example, the first gift was actually this song, and today's gift is a video showing how to make a really neat looking gingerbread house, complete with a printable template. If that sounds like the kind of thing you'd be into, sign up now to get the rest of the gifts delivered straight to your inbox.

Happy listening!

URL:

http://www.sofiatalvik.com/