Party at the North Pole, the Empty Pockets (self-issued)

This Chicago band has been around for a couple of decades, with several albums to their credit and a long touring history, including their providing backup for such classic rock veterans as Bad Company's Simon Kirke, Al Stewart and Richie Furay. Best described as rootsy rock, I discovered their Christmas album this year via one of those Facebook "hey we'll send you a free CD!" ads; turns out they've had this in the world since at least 2022, and it's not their first holiday effort, as A Holiday Staycation dropped in 2012. The current album is noteworthy for the four originals it includes, the uptempo title song, the poppy "Snow Day," the bluesy "Snow Shoes," and the ballad "The Tree That Refused to Grow," a bit on the melodramatic side for my taste. The album also includes five covers, "Let It Snow" and "O Holy Night" augmented with a little jazz chording, a perfectly fine "Run Run Rudolph," a solidly bluesy "Blue Christmas," and a smartly rocked-up "Silent Night."  The older release is an EP with five songs, two of which are "Run Run Rudolph" and "Snow Shoes"; they also do "Baby It's Cold Outside," "Holly Jolly Christmas" and "What Christmas Means To Me." Both are up for streaming although the older EP seems to be missing from Amazon, CDs are at the band's website, and you can also download Staycation there as well.  Oops, just surfed around the band's website and discovered they had another EP, Snow Day, in 2017, featuring the title song, "Silent Night" and "Tree" from the current album, plus three other songs, "One Last Kiss," "Eskimo Lady," and "All Eight Days," likely a Hanukkah tune. That's still on offer from the band's website, but only there.