Find Your Ho-Ho-Holiday Spirit With These Festive New Local Tunes

Thank God for Dolly Parton.

Not only did Tennessee’s Queen help fund vital COVID-19 vaccine research (which is really just another bullet point on her staggering list of philanthropy at this point), but the too-good-for-our-world country singer also managed to release a new Christmas record this year. A Holly Dolly Christmas — check out a playlist built around it above and buy or stream it via this handy link — is a warm and familiar hug in this historically dismal season, with appearances from Willie Nelson, Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jimmy Fallon and (sigh) Michael Bublé*.

Parton isn't the only local (we can call her a local, right?) musician to gift us some festive new music. Here are a few more releases to add to your (Safer At) Home for the Holidays playlist. Top off your mug of hot cocoa and turn it up.

Margo Price, "River"

I've spent many Decembers singing Joni Mitchell's "River" to myself in my car and I can confirm that this is not an easy song to sing. (I can also confirm that I am a terrible singer.) Price nails every note, bringing her own beauty to the wistful classic. Watch the video, which was recorded at Pulse Studios, above.

Nicole Atkins, "Every Single Christmas"

"Every Single Christmas" is Atkins' fresh take on the Brenda Lee and Ronnie Spector-inspired song she co-wrote with JD McPherson that appeared on his 2018 holiday record Socks. The frisky and fuzzy rock ’n' roll jam was recorded at Muscle Shoals: "You know, the legendary place where they made albums from the Stones, Staples Singers, Paul Simon, and little ol’ me with this year’s Italian Ice," Atkins writes on Bandcamp. Then the tracks were sent to Sweden, where Nicholaus Arson of The Hives added guitar and organ. Atkins finished it up by adding her vocals from a closet in her house. That's art in quarantine, baby! 

Jimmie Allen and Louis York featuring The Shindellas, "What Does Christmas Mean?"

Before coming together as an R&B duo, Louis York's Claude Kelly and Chuck Harmony wrote and produced songs for Rhianna, John Legend, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears and more. They first released this sparkling doo-wop-inspired track, featuring backing vocals from Nashville's best girl group The Shindellas, in 2018. To make it new this year, Louis York and The Shindellas invited local country star Jimmie Allen to take over the lead vocals. It gives me Stevie Wonder "What Christmas Means to Me" vibes. Love it.

Liz Longley, A Little Magic EP

Liz Longley was the first artist to play the Scene's No-Contact Shows livestream series back in April. Christmas felt like a million months away, Trump was promising COVID-19 would be gone by Easter and surely we all at least hoped this pandemic would be only a memory once it was time to deck the halls. Alas. For her six-song Christmas EP A Little Magic, Longley once again partnered up with Paul Moak, who also produced her recent full-length Funeral For My Past, and filled the songs with a small symphony of sounds, from a Wurlitzer and toy piano (played by Charlie Lowell) to a trumpet and cello (by Tyler James and Cara Fox, respectively). 

Creature Comfort, “Christmas in Quarantine”

Well, someone was gonna do it. Someone was going to write a holiday tune inspired by the current state of the world. I was worried that we were going to be pummeled with 100 different versions of "Christmas Wrapping" rewritten to be about falling in love in the toilet paper aisle, but thankfully Nashville's Creature Comfort didn't fall prey to the low-hanging fruit. As music editor Stephen Trageser wrote when premiering this song earlier this month, "With a wry smile, the wistful 'Christmas in Quarantine' catalogs how some of the changes we’ve been going through are percolating into the holiday season, and how the loved ones we’re able to hold onto will help us make it through."

*I forever resent Michael Bublé for his wretched version of "Santa Baby," in which he attempts to broify the Etta James classic by referring to Santa as "buddy," "dude," "pally" and "poppy." Because he's a MAN, you see, and a MAN would never FLIRT with Santa to get presents. Oh, the HORROR! Get over yourself, Bublé.