Category: country sort of

L&R rap over the metal of “Single Guys Need Food But Stores Are Closed“. It’s a Christmas reference for those bros who need routine to lead fulfilled lives.

Lloyd and Debby Lytton embody the existential angst of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with their blues ballad “Show Me the Light“. Does anyone know this ’98 cartoon movie?

The Christmas Cards rhyme Christmas with loneliness in their slow-mo pop “Christmas Present“. Sentimental pop leaning into easy listening.

The Eggnog Crew present a “Christmas Miracle” when brandy begins to speak to the loneliest drunk ever. Experimental blues a la Tom Waits. Funny, in a horrible way.

Promising he’s on his way home, Sanford is impelled by you being “All Alone on Christmas“. It’s country pop with just a skoosh of blues. Hope it helps.

Static Cadets make a shaggy dog out of “The (new) Christmas Song“, a slow burn of misery and distractedness. Intimate, confessional indie.

Swamp Ass and the Meat Sweats scream up a metal storm when they’re “Alone for the Holidays“. They burn out quickly (with cautious bleeping), so you can breathe after.

Cowboy country time. Dave Dudley makes maudlin with “Lonely Christmas Again“. Some overlap with last month’s without you theme, so let’s make the distinction clear. Missing you is a singular thing. Loneliness is every[one]thing.

Slowing the moodiness, “Alone For The Holidays” pits Adrian Glynn, Nat Jay against the void. More country, now with western. He’s cryin’; she’s bitchin’.

Kelly Long drawls “My First Christmas without You” with extra twang. Seems clingy even for country.

There’s some question who you is in “There’s No Christmas Without You“. Kirk Franklin and the Family might be singing about Jaysus, but what could they have done to rid themselves of His Grace?–surely not this gospel singalong.

Showing us how to mope, Flooded Cellar spiral with their folk “Without You“. Bemoaning the single set of footprints in the snow and on the floor, they don’t know what to do. Wait, is this bereavement?

John Cedrick synths the R+B with his lack of you. Apparently “Santa Didn’t Hear” that you needed to be with him. Scary, you think about it.

More rockabilly, STAT! Darrel Higham riffs out the high stepping dread of “Our Last Night” and all i can do is snap and clap along. Oh yeah.

Angry Johnny and The Killbillies get maudlin in “Winter’s Here Again“. It could be that this tinkling country ballad hides a secret: he made you go underground, with his shovel. Shivers.

Junior Walsh covers Elvis’s “It Won’t Seem Like Christmas (Without You)” with significantly more country and less throaty misery. (It’s nasal here.)

Similarly titled, “It Won’t Seem Like Christmas Without You” tasks Stan Davis and Friends with making a 1920s style bomb. They succeed.

Dissolving all the aspects of Xmas one at a time, like he was wearing the Infinity Gauntlet, Barry Keenan takes us through “It Wouldn’t Be Christmas Without You” with a powered monotone. Disaffected easy listening kinda nails it.

Brooks & Dunn do that shaggy country shinging to convince you of their woe in “It Won’t be Christmas Without You.”

Dr. BLT is antsy looking at you packing a suitcase. “What Have You Got Up Your Sleeve (This Christmas Eve)” he folk/demands. Baby, please don’t go.

Dan + Shay cry over the “Break Up On Christmas” because of all the money already spent on presents. Snide pop country with just a skoosh of reggae.

Jerry Lee Lewis is perhaps not so serious when he warbles “I Can’t Have A Merry Christmas Mary (Without You)” in his honkytonk boogie woogie way. But it’s a good time.

Using retro pop to sing the blues, Make Like Monkeys seem not to be “Getting Over Xmas Without U“. Any other holiday….

Saint Etienne covers Claudine Longet’s “I Don’t Intend to Spend Christmas Without You” with slightly less accented English. Sounds like a threat in this punchy pop.

It’s a group effort in GamjaMusic’s “Christmas Without You“. Sultry pop with an uncanny valley of emotion.

Bri Kaye ASMRs “At the Same Time” about the contradictions of a world without you. New Age indie with dynamite vocals.

I enjoyed the hell out of Mark Arnett’s “I Miss You Most at Christmas (Now That You Are Dead)” without sharing the whole skit. It’s not as asskicking as the slow country ballad, but there’s a punk outro i love.

I Don’t Know How But they Found Me lean into the heavy alt rock of “Christmas Drag” missing you. Take it or leave it. But, miserable. Seriously. Oh well.

“Christmas Just Ain’t Christmas (Without You Baby)” is rock elongated by New Age mystic alt by Tod Got Overexcited! It’s the brass that does it for me.

Vince Vance & The Valiants has some sultry dame singing the boogie woogie blues in “Christmas Just Ain’t Christmas Without You“. It’s a powerhouse of emotional vulnerability.

When she purrs “Miss You At Christmas“, Loren Schaffer appears to weigh her options. The bouncing about octaves does not mark this pop as desultory.

Charming ragtime-influenced indie, “Together Again” celebrates the imminent reunion for We Love Christmas (Patrick MacManus). Ahh, hope. I knew ye.

“Kiss Me Arse (And Go Away For Christmas)” by Ol Billy Bob Boy is not exactly blue alert, but the guy has a weak country point: you’re not a jet ski.

Rob From Amersfoort has a bone to pick with Christmas. Rather than force gratitude for crappy gifts, he rock-pops about how he’s like to “Smash the Elves” instead. It’s what he’d really rather do. Frolicsome sociopathy.

He then uses choice descriptors like wretched, forced, and cheap to excuse his excuse: “Christmas No Thanx (Hallelujah)“. Twisty pop with loads of synth that points out the spike in suicide for the season. Ouch.

Bird Mancini thinks he needs a pill, “Because It’s December“. You know, when all those headaches happen. Folksy blues.

Maybe “Merry Christmas to You… Anyway” qualifies Miss Jackie and the Sass. Much more bluesy, as uncertain a genre as could be.

Zoe Imperium has had several troubles during “Another Messed Up Holiday“. Take your cheer and go away. Rocking long list of woes.

Tagged as a Spoof Song, DrScythe’s “Like Christmas” is a Western strummer that asks for your pretense more than your presents. Exciting inertia.

Jim Bob thrashes rock intentionally when he faces his own mortality in “The Ghost of Christmas Boring“. And then he woke up. Or did he? (Spooky!)

In the rearview, Ben Coleman (welcome back!) has “Boxing Day Blues“. Not connected to the loss of the holy day, but instead a glum epiphany of how pointless it all was. Bit more jazz than blues.

In “Holidays to See” Cassie McMullin fusses over YOU, but dismisses this holiday as a poor excuse to show her affection. A rhythm machine, a girl, and a message. What more does homegrown pop need?

Ben Folds is “Sleepwalking Through Christmas” without you around. Big band indie with toilet paper stuck to its shoe. Why, oh why?

“Christmas Without Them (Unmixed, Unmastered & Unloved)” has Confused celebrating love and joy at home, while HE is somewhere else keeping the world safe. The dueling genres of indie and pop seem to whisper Why bother?

Bobby Goldsboro has something he needs to get off his chest: You’re doing it wrong. “Look Around You (It’s Christmas Time)” he pleads to the miserly and the miserable both with his trademark country middle of the road rock. Love it.

Paul Kelly’s “Behind the Bowler’s Arm” waiting for the day after Xmas to hit the lanes. Gentle and thoughtful folk rock, surprisingly.

For Laura Dern and the Dinosaurs, bowling is just something else to do with their “Christmas Friend“. Cautious garage.

Joel Kopischke enlarges the parody universe with “Bowling Wonderland“. It strikes.

Dr. BLT (feat. Roxie FT) hollers about Santa in his country pop “Candy Cane Lanes“. Ol’ Nick’s a baller.