Mistletunes

Wicked Cool is Stevie Van Zandt's record label, and this 2025 compilation is the label's second after Christmas a Go-Go from 2008. Like that collection, these songs are all previously released as singles, and nearly all of them on Wicked Cool. As they're all solid examples of what you'd hear on Sirius XM's Underground Garage channel, the rock 'n roll bonafides are not in question, although regular readers here have probably heard most or all of them before, or at least read our reviews here. Among the tunes I've previously missed are "Christmas With Me" by Jessie Wagner featuring Rocco of the Snow, a nice uptempo girl-group influenced tune; "Gimme Christmas" by Prima Donna, a cool thumper that will remind you of the Ramones; "Santa's Coming (Ho Ho Ho)" by the Woggles, a bluesy stomp straight out of the garage; "To Heck With Ole Santa Claus" by Ryan Hamilton, a rockabilly cover of the Brenda Lee tune; Steve Conte's cover of the Kinks' "Father Christmas" is a solid tribute to the original, as is Soraia's "Santa Claus," the Sonics' original; and the Chesterfield Kings' boogie take on "White Christmas." That leaves "It's Christmastime" by the Empty Hearts," "Another NY Christmas (Piss the Season)" by Wyldlife, "Christmas in the Sand" by Kurt Baker, and "Auld Lang Syne" by the Dollyrots as tunes you can search on this site for the original reviews. Streaming and downloads everywhere, no hardcopies that I can find.

This British band has only been around for a few releases, but this 2025 single is a thrashy punk ode to a disgruntled railway worker who makes the song title a reality. Flip it over for "Christmas Train," a lighter take on the holiday that's still punky and thrashy like its A-side companion. Downloads and streaming, and there's a link to a 7-inch vinyl artifact as well, but with Damaged Goods being a UK company I make no guarantees regarding shipping costs.

Guyton is nominally supposed to be country, and being Black she has had to work pretty hard to be noticed in Nashville. This 2025 collection, featuring some new songs and some old ones, isn't going to strengthen her case to be recognized as country, however; this is straight-up 2020s pop-rock with just the tiniest bit of soul added, that element being her voice. (I'll spare you an extended essay on how country is just whatever Nashville says it is on any given day.) Strong uptempo performances characterize such tunes as "Save a Little Christmas For Me," "Sugar Cookie," "It Won't Be Christmas," and the Michael Bolton duet "Christmas Isn't Christmas." "Mistletoe Kisses" is more of an old soul ballad, although the tempo is jacked up a bit compared to how this might have been approached at, say, Stax or Atlantic. The title song is more of a ballad, as is a pretty soulful take on "O Holy Night" and "Do You Want to Build a Snowman." Streaming and downloads everywhere, of course. Missing from this collection is another 2025 single, a duet with Drew Baldridge, "Joy to Your World," another midtempo pop-rocker with the kind of modern production you'll recognize instantly.

Bongo Boy Records is back again for 2025 with the 10th volume of their holiday series of compilations. Although we've found in the past that the word "Rockin'" is doing a lot of work when representing these collections, there's nevertheless been some good playlist candidates here, as always. Monique Grimme is apparently the star of this year's compilation as she's represented four times, starting with "Christmas Is Coming, the Goose is Getting Fat," a pop-rock duet; "First Snowfall Memory," a mildly funky, almost yacht-rock tune; "Silver Dust and Mistletoe," a minor-key power ballad with some solid lead guitar; and "My Favorite Part of Christmas," another ballad, this one more gentle in approach. Following on, we have "Christmas Time" by Inches From Sin, a cool midtempo tune that seems to combine 70s Top 40 with 80s synth-rock, and they return later with "Jingle Jangle Jingle," a fine uptempo 70s funk tribute. Simonne Draper gives us the orchestral instrumental "Flowertina," Boys 'n Barry offer us "It Was Santa," a poppy featuring with Sandi Kight, "Why Can't Everyday Be Christmas" by Steve Contino is an uptempo rocker with a bit of 80s drum machine propelling it, Wayne Olivieri & DJ Christ Ibe give us the synth-poppy "I Love Christmas Time," Kristin Hope punk-thrashes her way through "I Saw Three Ships," the New Bardots nod to the end of the holiday with the closing song, "New Year's Lullaby," a nice barroom rocker, and, as always, Jackie Kringle & the Elves give us the title song of the collection. Plenty of playlist candidates here, whether pop or rock. Streaming everywhere, click the cover to find it on Amazon.

This cool 2025 pop-rocker features an ex-member of 90s band Fuzzy along with the singer from Letters To Cleo. The disadvantages of Christmas, according to the band, include its inability to arrive more than once in any calendar year, and there's more in the same vein to be had while you're bopping along. Click the cover to sample at Amazon. There's a "deluxe single" in vinyl available from the band, shared with another band which I'll tell you about next.

Boston rockers The Other Girls dropped this 2025 rocking classic, which is split with Hilken and Melissa's tune, understandable since Melissa is in both bands. This one has more of that garage attitude, laying out the downside of the holiday with gusto. As with the other song, the band offers the "deluxe single" in vinyl, or you can chase it down from Amazon.

These guys from Fullerton, CA identify as Orange County Punk, which I guess is Green Day-style pop-punk rock, judging from what's on offer on this 2025 EP. If you can imagine the Darlene Love classic covered by Green Day, then you've got this down cold. Quite enjoyable to me, and if your playlists are heavy on this style, you'll want this. The other two songs are non-holiday tunes in a similar vein, "U-Haul Van" and "Better Off Dead." Rum Bar Records is on Bandcamp, or you can click the cover to get just the holiday song off Amazon.

Not too sure if these folks are a band or if they're podcasters, but for 2025 they've dropped this single with two original holiday tunes, "It's Martini Time" and "A Box of Wine For Christmas." In keeping with their name, this is old-school jazz-pop lounge music, so it's up to you how you want to play this, but these tunes work as novelties, if nothing else. Check them out on Bandcamp, doesn't seem to be available any other way.

I tend to assume readers know that Peter was the lead singer of Herman's Hermits because of my advanced age; probably more readers nowadays know he has an airshift on Little Steven's Underground Garage. At any rate, we can agree he's a legacy artist in the rock field, which more than justifies his appearance here with his 2025 single, nicely uptempo and more pop than rock, which has always been his musical style. Streaming everywhere. Oh, just noticed that way back in 1970, he dropped a bluesy take on "Do You Hear What I Hear."

ShanDaria is from Charlotte, NC, and I got a preview of this 2025 single to share with you. It's a cool slow jam that's all about missing someone on Christmas and asking Santa for help. Supposed to drop Dec. 5, but it's apparently streaming already, so go check it out.

Fresh off last year's album compilation of Tonight Show holiday novelties, Fallon returns with up-and-coming country singer Carter Faith to duet on this old-school country song about the longtime internet meme about Christmas sweaters. Looks like the above-mentioned album has been reissued to include this song. Not my cup of tea, but if you're going full Americana on this year's playlists, this should offer a little comedy relief.

Longtime readers should recognize Sofia, as she is pretty much an annual visitor to this site with her tradition of a new Christmas original going back two decades. For 2025 she's compiled some of her recent singles into an album, adding three new songs. "Let Peace Be the Song" is her official 2025 single, a fine folky major key melody contrasting a downbeat lyric about a cold, cruel world during the holiday season. There's also a baroque version of "Silent Night" and another original, "Merry Christmas, Adios, So Long," in which she critiques AI and declares she's out of ideas for Christmas songs. While we hope she's not completely serious, she's certainly earned a break from telling Christmas stories in song. Nine other tunes on this album were previous singles, and we've covered them in previous years, so pop into the search window if you need to know more. Downloads and streaming everywhere, but go to her Bandcamp page for CDs.

Haven't encountered these guys before, but they're a long-running rockabilly act. For 2025 they've dropped an EP of mostly original holiday tunes that'll get your fingers snapping. The title song is a cool ballad that will remind you of the Mavericks, "All I Want For Christmas is a Real Good Tan" will fill that spot in your playlists that yearns for sunny weather with your stocking, "Santa Let Her Go" calls out the jolly elf for trying to mack on the singer's girlfriend, and "Santa Needs a Bad Girl" covers some of the same ground. The collection wraps up with spirited covers of Elvis' "Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me" and Stevie Wonder's "What Christmas Means To Me." While calling this up I discovered this isn't the group's first holiday rodeo, they dropped an EP in 2006 called Christmas Special and a full Christmas album in 2012 called Rock This Christmas, again mixing originals and covers in a similar rockabilly vein. Whoops, just discovered some additional Christmas singles, "Count the Days (Christmas Time Is Coming" from 2018 and "Merry Christmas (I've Been Waiting So Long)" from 2014. Check them all out.

We've had these self-described "dad punks" from Cleveland on the site before, and though they have made non-holiday recordings before, they're probably best known for their original punk-rock Christmas tunes. This 2025 EP kicks off with "Dear Santa," in which the naughty protagonist pleads his case with the jolly elf; "Trouble at the North Pole," a thrashy story of the elves' labor disputes with Santa; "Goth Girl Christmas," a laundry list of the title character's holiday preparations; the fairly obvious "All I Want For Christmas Is a Hangover"; and the country lament "Stuck in a Truck Stop." Bandcamp customers get a bonus track, the non-holiday "Men In Blue." Downloads and streaming available in the usual places, including Amazon.

New Jerseyite Spear is a singer and songwriter who works in the old-school rock 'n roll realm, and for 2025 he's dropped a fairly cool single with a touch of swing-band horns to get your Christmas party-goers onto the dance floor. Streams everywhere, available for download as well.

Paloma's been around since about 2009 in the British pop scene with several chart-topping albums. For 2025 she dropped this EP featuring "Christmas Prayer," an upbeat duet with Gregory Porter, and backstops it with a live version of "Santa Baby" recorded for the BBC. Both of these are fairly listenable, with the latter being faithful to the original Eartha Kitt arrangement. The rest of the EP is a pair of non-holiday tunes, "Never Tear Us Apart" and "River Deep, Mountain High." Streaming and downloads available.

As previously announced, the Dutch-based Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club dropped their four singles for 2025 today, and the first one comes from this London-based husband-wife duo. The A-side is a selection from the British animated Film "The Snowman," and is well-liked in that country, with multiple versions recorded over the years. This is a folky chanteuse version with Joanna Beck's soprano front and center over finger-picked acoustic guitar. Flip it over for "Face of a Saint," a band original covering similar ground with a similar approach. The vinyl single is sold out and downloads are tied to the ownership model, and there's no streaming other than for Bandcamp users. Past experience suggests there may be alternative ways to hear these songs at some future date, however.

This group is Tim and Vanessa Vass, who have a lengthy past history in rock bands including Red Chair Fadeaway, The Melons, and Dandelion Wine. For 2025 they've dropped, via the singles club, this cool garage rock anthem about holidays in the cosmos. On the B-side we get "Winter," a cover of an original song by a group called The Loft, in which they kick off sounding like someone playing an old spinet organ with the rhythm box turned on, but real drums eventually kick in on this Velvets-feeling rendition. Vinyl copies are still available at Bandcamp with downloads conditioned on buying the vinyl, and I found it on Spotify for streaming as well. It's also on Amazon digitally, click the cover to access it there.

This Montreal band went all pancultural on us on this 2025 Christmas single, melding Middle Eastern sounds with a cool pop-rock arrangement. Flip this one over for "Jingle Bells," a nice mid-60s psychedelic arrangement with a definite influence from Beatles music of the same period. Quite enjoyable. Snowflakes Singles Club's Bandcamp site shows the vinyl's still available, and Spotify has it to stream as well. Click the cover for Amazon availability as well.

Massachusetts-based duo Alicia Jeanine and Jed Smith have been making records for almost a decade, and for 2025 they offer via Snowflakes this jangly original Christmas tune. Really cool, and then they cover Yoko Ono's "Listen, the Snow Is Falling," giving it a similar uptempo jangle-pop arrangement. Cool beans. Unfortunately, Bandcamp shows the vinyl is sold out, and I can't find any streaming other than Bandcamp's home-grown service.

This French/American duo has a huge number of singles and albums out in the market, but I'm just hearing about them now. For 2025, they dropped this single, a wordless vocal instrumental of a song from the "Edward Scissorhands" soundtrack in a style often associated with French pop music, and as with most original instrumentals it's not immediately apparent that it's intended to be holiday music. Nevertheless, it's a lovely little piece and will fit well in your playlists, especially if you lean toward pop. While chasing this down I discovered they have an EP called Holiday Soundtrack from 2017 that's on Spotify but nowhere else I can find, more of the same style applied to such songs as "What Child Is This," "Silent Night," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "Merry Christmas" and "Next Christmas." Their website mentions there's CD and vinyl versions of this collection available this year but the link to order is dead and there's no mention of it anywhere else.

Back in the 90s, Hoey started down the Christmas road with the original Ho Ho Hoey, offering old-school hard rock instrumental takes of popular carols, and he followed through with second and third albums offering more of the same. Needless to say there have been multiple repackagings of this material as well as Hoey's Christmas concert tours, and if you visit his website there's plenty of swag to go with it. For 2025 he's back with another collection, which I believe is all new recordings, though there may be a couple repeats of previous selections in the playist. The musical style is more hard rock of the kind that filled classic rock airwaves through the years, but given that a tour through the best-sellers lists will expose you to everything from bluegrass to countrypolitan, synth-pop to singer-songwriter sounds, Great American Songbook to garage rock, or 70s top 40 to 90s grunge, there's no reason that you should avoid putting a little of this in your holiday playlists. The title song from the "Peanuts" soundtrack is a gentle ballad treatment featuring a bit of violin, and "O Holy Night" and "Silent Night" are straight 4/4 slow dance takes, but Hoey's versions of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," "Up On the Rooftop," "Angels We Have Heard on High," "The Nutcracker (Sugar Plum Fairy)," "Jingle Bells," and "Christmas Miracle" feature plenty of uptempo guitar shredding. "Still Got the Blues For Christmas" is a slow blues, but it's the outlier here in that he sings this one. Downloads and streaming everywhere.

This long-running singer/songwriter commandeers Richard Thompson's classic tune as the "Santa Version" for the 2025 holidays. A nice cover, only lightly adapted for the holiday, so maybe not for everyone's playlists, but I like it.

This Norwegian singer/songwriter is better known behind the scenes over the past couple of decades, having written songs for everyone from Britney Spears to Leona Lewis, but she's probably more famous in her native land as a judge for that country's version of talent show "Idol." Nevertheless, she's got a couple of decades of experience in the business, and for 2025 she's dropped a full album of original tunes to celebrate the winter holidays. I wouldn't judge this collection by the title song, which suggests some sort of fourth-wall-breaking music biz memoir but is just a generic nod to holiday traditions. For that sort of thing, skip over to the uptempo "All You Want For Christmas Is Me," nodding to the Mariah Carey anthem without mentioning it or lifting from it. "A Good Year" is a smart promise that next year will be the milestone to look forward to, because this year su-diddly-ucked. "Christmas '94" is a nostalgic tour of a past holiday, "Christmas Chaos" pokes fun at the preparation rituals, "Desember" (correct spelling) and "Winter Blaze" provide some ballad action, "Jamaica" is a warm-weather holiday tune that lifts a bit from "Mele Kalikimaka," "Happy New Year" rewrites "Auld Lang Syne," and "The Jingle" similarly steals from "Jingle Bells." Almost forgot to note Vetle Røsten is the duet partner on "Jamaica" and the title song. Ina's got a good voice and she can evoke everybody from Abba to Alanis Morissette, and there's a lot of craft involved in what is essentially a contemporary pop outing with a little bit of rock incorporated. Definitely a choice for folks of Scandinavian pop-rock. 

Modern R'nb, hip-hop, Latin music and of course reggaeton have all helped to push old-school reggae into the background, but folks are still playing it in the modern age and rightly so; it's joyful and swingy in ways that reggaeton doesn't quite approach. I haven't encountered Ras Dave before, but this extended EP/mini-LP should remind you of the joys of this musical style. Dig into  "Rudolph a Rasta," reimagining the holiday mascot lighting a spliff on his nose; "Joy to the World" is rendered in a "Reggae Version," in which he replaces the melody with a more minor-key approach that surprises; "Lion Inna Di Manger" imagines the manger scene with a warm-weather lilt; the album's title song is a smooth holiday ballad; and "Santa Smoke Di Herb" is self-explanatory. Opening and closing the collection is "Jingle Bells -- Island Style" and an instrumental "Silent Night -- Christmas Reggae Dub." Streaming and downloads everywhere.

Haven't encountered these folks before, they're from LA by way of Portland OR, and this 2025 holiday entry is lo-fi indie rock and synth-pop, entertaining and a bit snarky. Most of this album is original, though they've sprinkled it with Christmas classics that they dispense with in less than two minutes, sometimes less than one. These include "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," "Deck the Halls," a nicely rocked-up "Silent Night," and "Joy to the World." Among the originals are the Cars-like "Santa Bring Me Some Toys," a garage-band-like "What Do You Want For Christmas," the almost soulful ballad "Egg Nog," the medium shuffle "Christmas Time Once Again," an almost punky "Give It To Me Santa," the hip-hop-adjacent "Naughty List," and two Velvets-like tunes, the ballad "Winter's Joy," and the uptempo "Puttin' the Tinsel Up." This is cool stuff, and at least for now is only available at Bandcamp.

This is a band led by Chi McClean and for 2025 they dropped this EP of familiar holiday favorites done surf-instrumental style. I get that there's a lot of this out there, but if you haven't encountered any music in this style lately, these guys will make you happy you took a chance on them. Upbeat swinging takes on "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town," "Frosty the Snowman," "Sleigh Ride," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "What Child Is This" will brighten your holiday playlists and take them over entirely if you want to.

We covered Vol. 1 when it dropped three years ago, so I'll leave you to follow the link to get most of the background. Once again, this is a group of Pittsburgh-based musicians doing holiday music to raise money for Band Together Pittsburgh, a charity that supports autistic musicians. Scott Blasey of Pittsburgh favorites The Clarks opens the show with "Happy Holiday" in an old-school jazz-pop arrangement, followed by a blast of 60s and 70s rock classics, Jon Belan with Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody," Clinton Clegg's "Everyday Will Be Like a Holiday," Joe Wodarek's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," and Bill Deasy's faithful arrangement of Greg Lake's "I Believe in Father Christmas." Stevee Wellons offers a highly syncopated take on "Little Drummer Boy," and you know I like it when folks deviate from the martial paradiddles of the original arrangement. Billy Price and Bill Toms duet on the bluesy "Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'," Nieds Hotel Band offers Cordell Jackson's "Rock 'n Roll Christmas," Megan Paullet takes on Stevie Wonder's "Someday at Christmas," and Pete Hewlett performs a jazzy "O Come Emmanuel." Joey and Emma Wodarek reenact the Gwen Stefani-Blake Shelton duet on "You Make It Feel Like Christmas," Jeff Jimerson also goes old-school pop on "Sleigh Ride," Kelsey Friday takes "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" out to the country, although the sax solo brings it back, but Frank Viera pushes farther back into country with Brad Paisley's "Penguin, James Penguin." Joe Grusheky and the Houserockers offer "Christmas Everyday," although this cool rocker doesn't resemble any of the songs I remember with this title; couldn't confirm if it's their own original tune. The collection wraps up with "Married and Bright" by Bailey Taylor, "It's Almost Christmas" by Mark Zucco and a countrified "Run Run Rudolph" by Morgan Gruber. All told, these folks acquit themselves well and you won't regret listening to this or plucking tunes for your playlist.

Bring together indie artists Caillat and DeGraw with a Christmas cover for 2025 and you get ... American songbook jazz-pop. Nothing against either of them, but this isn't what you come here for.

OK, the previous item about this album appears to be inoperative, it's streaming everywhere, though hardcopies must be procured through the band's website as described earlier. Anyway, these Scottish power-poppers have come through in 2025, as expected, with a solid rocking holiday entry, mostly covers, except for their previous single release "Christmas Was Better in the 80s." Their choice of covers is not particularly innovative, with old school classics "Twelve Days of Christmas," "Carol of the Bells" and "In the Bleak Midwinter" jostling with rock-era favorites "Wonderful Christmastime," "2000 Miles," and "Stop the Cavalry" and pop favorite "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." But they did reach far enough afield to include "What's This" from "The Nightmare Before Christmas," and to debut a new song, "The Coldest Winter For a Hundred Years." Plenty of playlist candidates here, and some might enjoy this just for hearing them sing in their pronounced Scottish accents.