We've had the Christmas collections by this online Americana music magazine before, and this year they've gone overboard with a massive download equivalent to about two full CDs of songs. "Americana," of course, means just about anything you want it to, from old-school country to gut-bucket blues to folk to early rock styles, although it's best used with artists whose repertoires cut across most or all of those categories. With 44 songs on the roster, I'm only going to be able to give you the highlights, but since it's a free download, you'll be able to fill in the blanks yourselves. Mary Gauthier's "Christmas in Paradise" is a sweetly sardonic tale of being homeless for the holidays, Jimmie Bratcher's "Man! It's Christmas" is upbeat and jazzy, Dave Hogan rocks out with "Christmas Every Day," Brian Ashley Jones channels Jimmy Buffett with "Let's Get Blazed For the Holidays," and yes, that's what he's talking about. Tom Mason & the Blue Buccaneers do a Celtic Western swing on "It's Christmas Day," Mike Surber goes all talky on "Talking Christmas Time Travel Blues," Jeff Maddox gives us a little Tex-Mex, appropriately, on "Merry Margarita," Over the Rhine contributes "Here It Is" from their second Christmas disc (a third is pencilled in for 2014), Calico the Band breaks out the slide guitars for the bluesy "Santa Have Mercy," FunkyJenn also treads the blues boards for "Just Me and the Mistletoe," Deborah Holland contributes an original western folky song "Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah" that gently pokes that holiday as well as Christmas, Annie Selleck goes pop for "Let's Make a Christmas Memory," the VooDUDES rock out on "I Won't Be Home For Christmas," and BumpKin Pie rewrites the Nativity as a boot-scootin' get-together on "Party In the Stable." Grab this while the link's still live.
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