What's New In 2021? Hip Christmas Music (www.hipchristmas.com)

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With each passing day, Christmas gets closer and the season's new music releases swell, including reissues, new albums, a handful of singles, and my own Top 10 list. Be aware, this is a curated list of the year's best and/or most notable Christmas music - which is to say, hardly exhaustive. Most especially, I have all but resigned from following new music except for "legacy artists" that I have a personal interest in - this year, for example, Lucinda Williams. So, be sure to visit my festive friends like Mistletunes, Christmas Underground, and Christmas A Go Go! to keep up with the youngsters.

What am I missing, fellow Christmas fanatics? Drop me a line... Of course, happy holidays, stay safe, and follow me over at The Facebook!

Randy Anthony

Hip Christmas Top 10 Albums

Here's my tentative Top 10 list - in alphabetical order by artist. Many more releases are left to come - particularly in the digital realm - so the list will almost certainly evolve as the big day approaches. You may note a certain lack of star power, and there are some big names putting out Christmas albums this year but, well, yawn. They include Canadian rock goddess Lee Aaron, Broadway pixie Kristin Chenoweth, cowboy sweetheart Kelly Clarkson, former Mr. Big and Racer X guitarist Paul Gilbert, 70's soft rockers Orleans, Matchbox 20 vocalist Rob Thomas, and, of course, Pentatonix, who are rapidly becoming the musical equivalent of the fruitcake.

Tony Bennett / Snowfall
What is there left to say about Tony Bennett - singer nonpareil and all-around class act? If you haven't seen his recent 60 Minutes profile, you really ought to. At 95 years, he is struggling with Alzheimer's disease but can still swing like a champ. Anyway, Snowfall (1968) is his one-and-only full-fledged solo Christmas album, and this year it's been remixed and remastered (in vinyl only) with the original cover art restored - painted by Mr. Anthony Benedetto himself. Go gladly, Tony, into that good night. Your time on this earth has been well spent. There's a "snow white vinyl" edition, by the way, available exclusively at Barnes & Noble.

Norah Jones / I Dream Of Christmas
Ms. Jones arrived just as I was resigning from the current music scene. Her 2002 debut album, however, caught my attention, and she kept it with the intermittent reinforcement of the occasional holiday single - several of which are collected this year on Winter Jones, an EP. Her first full-fledged holiday album arrives this year, as well. I Dream Of Christmas offers a relatively even mix of originals ("Christmas Calling," "A Holiday With You") and slightly-off-the beaten-path covers (the Chipmunks' "Christmas Don't Be Late" and Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time Is Here"). Target, by the way, offers an exclusive download track with purchase of the album on CD or vinyl.

Paul Kelly / Christmas Train
If you don't know who Paul Kelly is, then you are definitely not Australian. A keen songwriter on par with, say, John Prine or Graham Parker, Kelly took a run at global domination back in the 80's, but he never achieved much more than cult status. But in his native land, Kelly's popularity and artistic stature are on par with, say, Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan. So, a Christmas album from him is big news - at least Down Under. And, Christmas Train is a big album - 22 songs spanning multiple centuries, nationalities, and religions. Happily, it also includes a new version of Kelly's own "How To Make Gravy," one of the most poignant holiday songs you'll ever hear.

Duke Pearson / Merry Ole Soul
This understated 1969 Blue Note jazz classic by underrated pianist Pearson (he's better known as an arranger and producer) was reissued in the Western world as an MP3 download in 2016. It had been available on compact disc for a while - but only as an expensive Japanese import. This year, Merry Ole Soul is finally reissued in a physical format worldwide - though on vinyl only. Other jazz classics reissued on vinyl this year include Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Christmas and Ella Fitzgerald's Swingin' Christmas.

Pistol Annies / Hell Of A Holiday
I don't listen to a lot of country music made, well, this century - or even the last decade or two of the previous one. But, even I took notice of Miranda Lambert, who took Nashville by storm around the turn of the century. The Pistol Annies are a female country supergroup of sorts, with Lambert (aka "Lonestar Annie") clearly the first among equals. Hell Of A Holiday applies the group's trademark harmonies, humor, and grit to a bunch of original Christmas songs (including the title track, which trades on the success of their debut single, "Hell On Heels") and a few well-chosen covers.

Amanda Shires / For Christmas
Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and smokin' hot badass Amanda Shires kinda broke Christmas when she announced her upcoming holiday album, For Christmas. Though perhaps not well known under her own name, she's built quite the résumé, having served as a member of husband Jason Ibell's band, a founding member of The Highwomen, and as a supporting player for John Prine, Billy Joe Shaver, Todd Snider, Gregg Allman, Justin Townes Earle, and many others. The album, happily, consists mainly of original songs. Extra kudos for that!

Lucinda Williams / Have Yourself A Rockin' Little Christmas
Lucinda Williams' self-titled 1988 album impressed me mightily, and the follow-up, Sweet Old World (1992), convinced me she was a genius. It's been thrilling ever since to watch her build her audience and burnish her reputation. So, you can imagine how I reacted when I learned she was releasing a Christmas album! Actually, Have Yourself A Rockin' Little Christmas is the fifth volume of William's "Lu's Jukebox" series of covers albums, which sprang from a series of live-in-the-studio concerts she gave last year during the pandemic to benefit Save Our Stages, a coalition of independent music venues. All were recorded at Ray Kennedy's Room & Board Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, and previous volumes covered Tom Petty, southern soul, Bob Dylan, and country classics. Early next year, the final volume will fête the Rolling Stones.

various artists / A Damaged Christmas Gift For You
First released as a digital album in 2009, A Damaged Christmas Gift For You compiled roughly a decade's worth of raucous holiday merriment from Damaged Goods, a longstanding and beloved English indie punk label. The artists will be mostly obscure to American ears, but they include the ubiquitous Billy Childish, TV Smith (Adverts), Holly Golightly, and Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex). This new edition features one new track, the Courettes' 2019 single "Christmas (I Can Hardly Wait)," and it's finally available in a physical format - vinyl, but no CD.

various artists / Here Comes Santa Claus: 29 Swinging Chestnuts
Germany's Bear Family Records continues their annual tradition of compiling an album of vintage Christmas tracks - some from their deep catalog, some from the public domain - and I continue my annual tradition of picking it for my Top 10. This year, in fact, they've given us two - actually, more like two-and-a-half. Here Comes Santa Claus is a compact disc packed (as advertised) with 29 swingin' chestnuts, but its companion LP is less than half that length - which is why it's called Here Comes Santa Claus: 14 Swingin' Chestnuts. And then, Bear Family offers a completely different album called There's Trouble Brewin', but only on vinyl.

various artists / Merry Christmas, Baby: Intimate Christmas Music For Young Lovers
So, in many ways, the release of this album is a dream come true for me. Originally released in 1956 by Hollywood Records, and including tracks first released by the Swing Time, Exclusive, and Supreme labels, it was one of the very first rhythm and blues Christmas records - and it's still one of the very best. Nearly all of its 12 tracks are classics, including immortal titles by Charles Brown ("Merry Christmas, Baby"), Mabel Scott ("Boogie Woogie Santa Claus"), and Lowell Fulson ("Lonesome Christmas"). And yet, it's never been reissued in its original format, and it's always been reissued with terrible sound and shabby packaging (read more). Sadly, this long-overdue new edition from Real Gone Records is not the major sonic upgrade I'd hoped for. While the sound is considerably better than previous versions issued through Gusto Records, the album was clearly not mastered original tapes - which I think we can now conclude no longer exist, if they ever did (some of these songs were cut before tape recording was widespread, especially for independent labels like Hollywood). That said, Real Gone did the best they could with what they had, and my only other complaint is that they opted to not include any bonus material - particularly from King Records, which ended up under the same corporate umbrella as Hollywood. All the same, it's about freakin' time, and I'd imagine that this is the best rendering of Merry Christmas, Baby we'll ever get.

Hip Christmas Top 25 Singles

Well, Christmas is almost here, and I think I have a final list of the year's best singles. I started out with 10, but the end it was tough paring it down to 25 - in part by skipping fine reissues by Blondie, Krayolas, and Smithereen guitarist Jim Babjak. Anyway, here it is - in alphabetical order by artist.

Album Reissues

New Albums

Singles & Tracks

Previous Years. We've been compiling this "what's new?" list for awhile, going back to 2003 (Gary Hoey, Jackson 5), 2004 (Chris Isaak, Dwight Twilley), 2005 (Diana Krall, Brian Setzer), 2006 (Aimee Mann, Bootsy Collins), 2007 (Smithereens, Darlene Love), 2008 (Weezer, Pretenders), 2009 (Bob Dylan, Los Straitjackets), 2010 (James Brown, Shelby Lynne), 2011 (Killers, Carole King), 2012 (Rod Stewart, Polyphonic Spree), 2013 (Salsoul Orchestra, Nick Lowe), 2014 (Blue Rodeo, Earth Wind & Fire), 2015 (Sharon Jones, Brian Setzer), 2016 (Loretta Lynn, Frankie Valli), 2017 (Gwen Stefani, Beatles), 2018 (Eric Clapton, Old 97's), 2019 (Los Lobos, Ramsey Lewis), and 2020 (Goo Goo Dolls, Buck Owens).

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