A Rock By the Sea Christmas Vol. 8, various artists (Hubbub)

Back once more from the Florida-Georgia coast, Rock By the Sea has released their eighth nonprofit compilation to help support various charities. The cover tells us that this year's proceeds will be directed to support the fight against pediatric cancer, and if you live close by their stomping grounds, they're always looking for support, as they also host concerts with the folks who play on their albums. As usual, the performers are indie folks in the Americana genre, straddling rock, soul, folk and country. Keaton Simons kicks things off with a snappy soulful original titled "Eyes Light Up at Christmas," FRIENDSWITHBENEFITS breaks out the laptop and rhythm boxes for a Depeche Mode-styled "Ding Dong Merrily On High," and Carly Burruss takes us to Nashville with "Red and Green," the correct colors for a holiday she perceives as trending toward blue. Pat McGee offers an original piano ballad, "No Warmer Place," and speaking of "warmer," Jeff Crosby takes the whole enterprise to California with the folky strum "Christmas in the Palms." Joel Madison Blount performs a spare, slow "O Come O Come Emanuel," The Wealthy West tries an original take rooted in "Carol of the Bells" with just the slightest hint of the original carol, and Brent Shuttleworth takes a country-folk approach to the original "The God In You." The Mrs. does a 70s rock take on Stevie Wonder's "What Christmas Means To Me," and Lang Freeman wraps it up with an electronic drone version of "Auld Lang Syne." Just 10 songs compared to previous longer editions of this compilation, but that will make it easy for them to do a vinyl version if they want to later. Click the cover to go to Amazon or visit Bandcamp.