A Dualtone Christmas, various artists (Dualtone)

The venerable Americana label marshaled artists from its roster for this 2019 album (eight songs, either a short LP or a long EP). The Lone Bellow opens the album with a rootsy take on "Marshmallow World," Delta Spirit goes power pop on "Santa Claus is Coming To Town," Langhorne Slim's "Deck the Halls" is the same garage-rock cover that was previously offered on an Amazon download collection, and Wild Child do "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" as a folky strum. There are some originals here too, led by one of the first new tunes by Kathleen Edwards in several years, the topical, warm and slightly snarky "It's Christmastime (Let's Just Survive)," Mt. Joy's folky ballad "Every Holiday," Ivan & Alyosha's "Being Home For Christmas," which threads the needle between roots music and Phil Spector, and Amos Lee's acoustic guitar holler "Holiday Song." You don't have to be a roots purist to like this, so check it out.