Last year's Alternate Root collection was, hands down, the best "release" of the season--even better because it was, you know, FREE. But it would have been exceptional at any price. Well, they're doing it again this year. Voting is now underway for the tracks that will make this year's compilation. You can go and listen to the candidates at Alternate Root, now. But you'll have to register to have a vote. You get one vote per day until December 12th at noon, at which time the staff at AR will prepare the final zip file of the official collection (they're likely to toss in a few surprises, too). Alternate Root caters to the Roots Americana audience, and that covers a lot of ground--from Blues to Country to Roots Rock to Rockabilly to Folk. Go have a listen, you'll see. 36 songs have made it this far, but only 25 make the final cut. It's your duty as an American to make your wishes known. A vote is a terrible thing to waste. And this collection is going to be too good to miss.
It's almost here! The Alternate Root 2nd Annual Holiday Sampler!
Last year's Alternate Root collection was, hands down, the best "release" of the season--even better because it was, you know, FREE. But it would have been exceptional at any price. Well, they're doing it again this year. Voting is now underway for the tracks that will make this year's compilation. You can go and listen to the candidates at Alternate Root, now. But you'll have to register to have a vote. You get one vote per day until December 12th at noon, at which time the staff at AR will prepare the final zip file of the official collection (they're likely to toss in a few surprises, too). Alternate Root caters to the Roots Americana audience, and that covers a lot of ground--from Blues to Country to Roots Rock to Rockabilly to Folk. Go have a listen, you'll see. 36 songs have made it this far, but only 25 make the final cut. It's your duty as an American to make your wishes known. A vote is a terrible thing to waste. And this collection is going to be too good to miss.
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I'd have told you about this yesterday, but the Internet was broken. Seriously. Cyber Monday and my provider was not up to the task. Nobody in my neighborhood was able to get on line for any length of time and, when you did, things moved liked molasses until, a few minutes later, you weren't on line anymore. It was still like that at 3 in the morning. So anyway, here's the scoop: Pomplamoose has a download Christmas EP which you can only get by donating a book to the Richmond Book Drive. Donate a book, get the download. Let them explain it. OK, got that? Go to the Richmond Book Drive web site first. Click on one of the "View the Wish List" links. Buy the book. Make sure to select the Richmond Book Drive as your shipping destination. Be aware that you will be charged for postage as well as for the book. Copy your order number. Return to the Richmond Book Drive page (it will stay open while you deal with Amazon). Click on the Thank You link in that page. That will take you to a page where you will paste or type your order number as prompted. Hit the link to "get your Pomplamoose Christmas album" and then download the songs, one at a time.
I know I'm explaining that a little too thoroughly but I'm not a complete moron and it took me 40 minutes to figure it out. And, not to be the internet's only Scrooge on this, but I find these people to be very obtuse and annoying. Already. I wish their 15 minutes were up. I think they're overly full of themselves. And 5 songs is not an album. At best, you'll be spending $2 per song (postage, remember?) which is about twice what you'd pay for anyone else's holiday charity efforts. The least they could have done is put them in a zip file. Is that too much to ask? But it is a worthwhile cause and I actually think a couple of the songs are worth having. So a bit of a "Bah" from me on this one, but not the full "Humbug". Here's the song list: Up On The Housetop Jingle Bells Deck The Halls Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy Always In The Season Good news, Christmas music fans! Everything is well and working on the web site for The Lash LaRue Toy Drive, including the Paypal feature, and "Christmas for Pine Ridge 3: Live At The Waiting Room" is available for pre-order (the album drops officially on December 1). You can also order the previous two volumes of "Christmas For Pine Ridge" for the ridiculously low price of $10 each while supplies last. Volume 2, I believe we've mentioned, is where you'll find this wonderful track from Noah's Ark Was A Spaceship: Jesus And Mary Christmas/Noah's Ark Was A Spaceship "Christmas For Pine Ridge, Volume III: Live At The Waiting Room" features music from Matt Cox, Cass 50 & the Family Gram, Brad Thomsen, Brad Hoshaw, Filter Kings, All Young Girls Are Machine Guns, Mariachi San Juan, Noah's Ark Was a Spaceship, Platte River Rain, Dustin Clayton, Kyle Harvey, Josh Dunwoody, Vago, Korey Anderson, Son of 76 & the Hundred Miles--basically the best original bands in Omaha and surrounding areas--providing mostly original holiday tunes recorded LIVE at The Waiting Room in Omaha. "This is not your grandmother's Christmas music," cautions Larry Dunn (aka Lash), who adds that "the live recording is incredible!" It's good music for a great cause. A win-win-win scenario. Check the site to learn more or to make a donation, even if you don't want to buy the CDs. You can also check in at their Facebook site. Remember, this is ultimately about providing a better Christmas for those less fortunate. Kudos to all who have lent a hand in this effort since 2003. The new single by Hurts, due out on iTunes--supposedly as a free download--on December 14th. Here's an early listen. "All I Want For Christmas Is New Year's Day"
A little Nerd Rock for your Sunday. This was Brett Domino's Christmas single from 2009.
The Ready Set has a Christmas EP dropping on November 30. "Regifted" includes a cover of Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime", an acoustic version of "More Than Alive" and the all new original "Wishlist" (video above). You can "ping" this one at iTunes, if you're so inclined. Nice Indie tune, I think. The Ready Set is pretty much Jordan Witzigreuter and the last Ready Set album debuted at #3 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart. Once upon a time, Curt Smith was the co-founder and lead vocalist for Tears For Fears, who had a nice little run on the pop charts in the eighties. These days, Curt's a solo act and he's about to release a Christmas single on November 29--"This Is Christmas". Well, you know, everybody wants to rule the world. Curt's song is about a kid coming home for Christmas and finally coming to terms with the fact that--good, bad or indifferent--family is family. You can catch this one on the December 15 episode of "Psych" (the song was actually written at the request of "Psych" star James Roday). But, if you don't want to wait that long, you can listen to it on Curt's web site. Downloads will be available at Amazon and the usual spots, but there's an actual CD Single of this one that you can only get from Curt at his concerts or through his web store (nope, it's not there yet). If, like me, you've been wondering whatever became of the Christmas song Coldplay previewed on 60 Minutes way back when, you'll be excited to learn that "Christmas Lights" will finally be released on December 1. Says the band "It will be on iTunes and everything." The song will be released at 8 PM (GMT). Go watch the countdown on Coldplay's site. They're making some awesome music in Utah, these days, if this single is any indication. Neon Trees has struck the holiday season with a wonderful slice of Dance-Punk-Pop. "Wish List" is not on Amazon, so far as I can tell. But you can buy it from iTunes and you can visit the group at their web site. I keep neglecting to mention this one. Maybe because I was underwhelmed. Five For Fighting have covered "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer". You can pick it up at Amazon or iTunes. Country singer Crystal Gayle has resurfaced with a fine vocal performance on her holiday single with Mishavonna, "Christmas Everywhere". I've always loved Crystal's voice, so it's nice to hear her again. Pick this one up at Amazon. There are rumors, by the way, that Crystal and her sister Loretta Lynn may be recording together soon, possibly even on Loretta's planned Christmas album which could be on next year's schedule. You can hear echoes of "Auld Lang Syne" in "This Time Next Year" by The Union, set to be released digitally in this country on December 13 in both album and acoustic versions. "This Time Next Year" will also be available on a CD single that you can buy directly from the band. This is the inaugural holiday single for ChildLineRocks--something expected to be an annual fundraising event for the charity effort. ChildLine is the UK's free and confidential helpline for vulnerable children and young people in distress. The single comes from the band's self-titled effort which was released earlier this year. Gobble Gobble, everybody. Today is Thanksgiving so, after I get this post up, I'll likely be taking the rest of the day off. But I know there are people out there who get bored on Thanksgiving and we've given you plenty to do, here. There's even a new entry on The Essentials page. If that's not sufficient to fill up your day, might I suggest stopping by the Internets home of my good friend Ernie, who has a full feast of Thanksgiving music just waiting for you at Ernienotbert.com. Best bring along a spare external hard drive; Ernie's crazy, yo. I mean that in a good way. TEXANA DAMES/THE MALL PARADE (TEXANA DAMES) For my Thanksgiving offerings, I want to start with a song I never thought of as a holiday song. Yesterday, I was perusing CD Baby's latest holiday releases and came across this vintage (1990) track from Texana Dames. The name sounded familiar and, sure enough, I had the (now out of print) CD in my collection (you can see the original CD cover art at Amazon). I'm not sure what compelled me to buy it at the time, though I do recall listening to it more than once, way back when. Don't know why I never made the connection to the holidays with "The Mall Parade" (not that the connection is all that strong), but it's kind of neat to discover that you have something you didn't know you had. Texana Dames appear to be still active in Texas. Stop by their web site to learn more. BRAVE COMBO/THANKSGIVING DAY (HOLIDAYS!) Whenever I'm looking for a holiday song, I know to check in with Brave Combo. They've got a song for pretty much every occasion. I'm not kidding. This 2005 CD from the eclectic group puts the spotlight on everything from Christmas to Father's Day. It's a great, and very much under appreciated record. You can still get hard copies of "Holidays!" direct from the group. And, as it's nearly Christmas, you can pick up last year's live Christmas CD, "Christmas Present", for the sale price of $10. GEORGE WINSTON/THANKSGIVING (DECEMBER) To the extent that there's any "Traditional" Thanksgiving song that I listen to at my house each year, this would be it. George Winston's "Thanksgiving" has always been my favorite song from what remains a pretty terrific record. I might even call it an Essential, except I've already updated that page today. You can still get this at Amazon and just about any place else. The classics never go out of style. George's latest is an album of Vince Guaraldi music, including "Christmas Time Is Here". Check it out on his web site. Last, but not least, here's a new Christmas song from an Iowa Jazz singer who wasn't all that thrilled with the new TSA pat-down screenings as she traveled for Thanksgiving. We leave you, today, with Roxi Copland. Happy Thanksgiving everybody. I'm not usually big on the Black Friday sales. The only Black Friday I can really get behind is by Steely Dan. But when there's music involved (including Christmas music), well, that merits a mention. And when the seller is an independent record label, I'm sold. Independent record labels produce some of the best music out there and generally do so as a labor of love more than money. You have no idea how hard it is to keep an independent record label from sinking into red ink. Recently, the folks at Not Lame (a Power Pop label) announced that they're shutting down and I feel like I've lost a friend. Please, support independent music if you like it or it won't be there for you in the future. So enough with the Special Comments, Olbermann. What's Double Crown got on tap for Turkey Day and beyond? From November 25 through November 29--that's Thursday through Monday, kiddies--save....whoa! Hey, now. Is that a misprint? It says here "Save 33% off any size order". 33%!?! That's like almost a third, ain't it? And this is good for anything in the mail order catalog--CDs, DVDs, 7", LPs, books, magazines, Continental Magazine subscriptions, and the new multi-CD bundles. So if you were going to get "Seasonal Favorites" anyway, you can get it 33% cheaper if you order between November 25 and November 29. What the heck, you might as well get the whole set, right? And, yes, there's a bundle for that. But don't forget to say the secret word. Make sure to enter the coupon code BLACKFRI to take advantage of these savings. Music makes a great gift, you know, so stock up. It's a win-win-win for everybody involved. So head over to Double Crown Records and peruse the catalog a bit. Place your order between Thursday the 25th and Monday the 29th, enter the special coupon code BLACKFRI, and, voila, 33% savings. How cool is that? A brand new Christmas song for Colbie, this one done in conjunction with ABC Family's annual Christmas fest. Bout time for a Colbie Christmas album, doncha think?
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