Whether or not you are anxiously awaiting Christmas or already wishing the vacations can be over, this is a collection of music that allows you to know you are not alone.
TERRY GROSS, HOST:
That is FRESH AIR. It is the time of 12 months when pop stars launch vacation music, and rock critic Ken Tucker has been listening to a variety of the latest releases. He is received a roundup that features Christmas songs from Brad Paisley, Mickey Guyton, Leon Bridges and Outdated Crow Drugs Present. Let’s begin with nation singer guitarist Brad Paisley.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS”)
BRAD PAISLEY: (Singing) Strolling down the road, wanting on the faces, seeing just some extra smiles. Storefront home windows getting embellished, no, it will not be lengthy now. All of the cafes making peppermint lattes. You can also make mine a double ‘trigger it has been a grind, however I see Christmas lights on the finish of the tunnel. And we’re counting down the times until the world…
KEN TUCKER: Brad Paisley is counting down the times till Christmas. Are you? Paisley, an excellent nation guitarist with a puckish humorousness, has made what is definitely the most effective new assortment of Christmas music. It is known as “Snow Globe City.”
Paisley is aware of find out how to layer a correct Christmas album. It is received some pretty ballads infused with snow and sentiment. It is received a few novelty tunes, reminiscent of one a few naughty elf on a shelf. He covers conventional songs reminiscent of “Santa Claus Is Coming To City” and Christmas carols like, “O Holy Evening.” My favourite new music on this album is that this heat, fairly composition known as “Falling Simply Like The Snow.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “FALLING JUST LIKE THE SNOW”)
PAISLEY: (Singing) I’m melting similar to the ice on our boots by the door. And similar to the hearth, I really feel heat ‘trigger once I take a look at you together with your eyes all abloom, woman, I am falling similar to the snow.
TUCKER: One other nation vocalist, Mickey Guyton, has an album known as “Feels Like Christmas.” It is a cheerful bunch of songs. You possibly can hear Guyton smile as she sings them. One standout is the music “Sugar Cookie,” which is organized to sound like a candy little bit of Motown pop from a long time previous. “Sugar Cookie” is a brand new music that arrives with built-in nostalgia.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SUGAR COOKIE”)
MICKEY GUYTON: (Singing) I received to say, I have been having this craving. Each day, I have been wishing and praying for the style. I am unable to wait. It has been maintaining me up all night time. You are the one I would like essentially the most. You are all the time melting my coronary heart. Flip me to marshmallow when all of the snowflakes begin. I have been dying for December to drop ‘trigger child, you are the icing on high. You are my sugar, sugar cookie. Sugar, that goodie goodie. Sweetness, recent out the oven. Your kiss, I will take a dozen. You retain me heat when it is chilly exterior. You make it really feel like Christmastime. My sugar…
TUCKER: The R&B singer Leon Bridges has launched an enigmatic vacation monitor, a tune known as “A Merry Black Christmas.” It is a rueful variation on the Irving Berlin traditional “White Christmas.” Keep in mind the road a few white Christmas similar to those I used to know? Right here, it turns into a Black Christmas similar to the one I’ve by no means had earlier than. His gravelly croon lends a sure melancholy to the sweetness that Leon Bridges summons up right here.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “A MERRY BLACK CHRISTMAS”)
LEON BRIDGES: (Singing) I am pondering, I am fascinated by a merry Black Christmas, similar to the one I by no means had earlier than. Like youngsters out on the street with no sneakers on their ft, they’re blissful, oh, they’re blissful, cannot you see? I am pondering, oh, I am pondering, fascinated by a merry Black Christmas.
TUCKER: We started with Brad Paisley counting the times till Christmas arrives. We are going to finish with Outdated Crow Drugs Present, fascinated by the day after Christmas. This jaunty Nashville-based string band has a intelligent unique music known as “December 26.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “DECEMBER 26”)
OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW: (Singing) Nicely, one other 12 months has come and gone. We sang songs and drunk the nog. The twinkle lights are staying on all day, fa, la, la. The fridge is filled with Christmas goose and needles dropping off the spruce. The ornaments are getting unfastened and falling, fa, la, la. It is time to throw away the tree, filter out the opening particles. It is too quickly, do not you agree? Grasp on, fa, la, la. The family members pack up the automobile and comply with again the night star with heavy luggage and heavy hearts as a result of it is the day after Christmas and we received to attend an entire dang 12 months for the holly and garland and elves on cabinets, the sleigh and the bells and the pine tree smells. Do not need to take heed to the fading sounds of reindeer ‘trigger it is the day after Christmas, and we ain’t out of cheer.
TUCKER: Whether or not you are anxiously awaiting Christmas or already wishing the vacations can be over, this is a variety of music that allows you to know you are not alone.
GROSS: Rock critic Ken Tucker reviewed Christmas music from Brad Paisley, Mickey Guyton, Leon Bridges and Outdated Crow Drugs Present. Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, is the U.S. headed towards one other monetary meltdown? We’ll hear from New York Instances enterprise author Andrew Ross Sorkin, who says historical past has classes to supply. Creator of a bestselling ebook on the 2008 monetary disaster, his newest is a gripping account of the inventory market crash that led to the Nice Melancholy. It is known as 1929. I hope you may be part of us.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “A MARSHMALLOW WORLD”)
PAISLEY: (Singing) It is a marshmallow world within the winter when the snow involves cowl the bottom. It is a time for play. It is a whipped cream day. I look forward to it the entire 12 months spherical. These marshmallow clouds being pleasant within the arms of the evergreen bushes. And the solar is purple like a pumpkin head. He is shining so your nostril do not freeze. The world is your snowball, see the way it grows. That is the way it goes every time it snows. The world is your snowball only for a music. Get out and roll it alongside. It is a yum, yummy world made for sweethearts. Take a stroll together with your favourite woman. It is a sugar date, and what if spring is late? In winter, it is a marshmallow world.
GROSS: To maintain up with what’s on the present and get highlights of our interviews, comply with us on Instagram, @nprfreshair. Recent Air’s government producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our managing producer is Sam Briger. Our interviews and critiques are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi, Anna Bauman and Nico Gonzalez-Wisler. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Our consulting visible producer is Hope Wilson. Roberta Shorrock directs the present. Our co-host is Tonya Mosley. I am Terry Gross.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “A MARSHMALLOW WORLD”)
PAISLEY: (Singing) Oh, the world is your snowball, see the way it grows. That is the way it goes every time it snows. The world is your snowball only for a music. Get out and roll it alongside. It is a yum, yummy world made for sweethearts.
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts might range. Transcript textual content could also be revised to appropriate errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org could also be edited after its unique broadcast or publication. The authoritative report of NPR’s programming is the audio report.
