Check Out My Latest Special Extra Holiday Mix of 21st Century Aspiring Classics

I've just posted a new extra mix of holiday tunes to my holiday music website to help begin laying the groundwork for the upcoming holiday season. It's called "21st Century Holiday Classics," and it features 22 first-rate original tracks released after the turn of the current century by a host of diverse acts ranging from iconic singer/songwriter Carole King to Boston's Celtic punk rock band the Dropkick Murphys.

I put this one together to prove a point. You see, I've been complaining for years that we're being cheated each Christmas by the stubborn refusal of the entertainment industry. particularly American radio, to expand their holiday music offerings beyond a small list of played-to-death holiday classics. I mean I love "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Feliz Navidad" as much as the next guy, but both of them wear a little thin after hearing them 35 or 40 times each December. I'm not sure if it's just laziness or the impression that people want to hear only familiar songs during the holidays, but we've been hearing the same bunch of tunes for years now with only one addition — Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas" — in the past 30 years. (Sorry, but I've never been a fan of hers and I flip the station whenever that one is played.) The real shame of it is that there have been a surprising number of first-rate holiday tracks released since 2000, which, of course, is the main reason I put this mix together.

Nearly all of the 22 tracks on "21st Century Holiday Classics" have been featured on my previous annual mixes. Those that haven't are marked with an asterisk on the following track list, and I'll probably have a few words to say about each of them in the coming weeks. 

1. The Season's Upon Us, Dropkick Murphys (2013)
2. Wish List, Neon Trees (2010)
3. Mrs. Claus Ain't Got Nothin' On Me, Little Jackie (2010)
4. We're Going Caroling, Dick Van Dyke and Jane Lynch (2017)
5. Xmas in New York, The Rosebuds (2012)*
6. My Gift for You This Christmas, Mass Amigos (2005)
7. Ain't No Chimneys in the Projects, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings (2011)
8. A Christmas Song for You, The Kik (2014)
9. Christmas Everyday, BoDeans (2016)
10. Change at Christmas (Say It Isn't So), The Flaming Lips (2003)
11. Chanukah Prayer, Carole King (2011)
12. Christmas at the Airport, Nick Lowe (2013)
13. The Christmas Song, The Raveonettes (2004)
14. Sha La Da La La, The She La Das (2013)
15. Holiday-ish, The Regrette, featuring Dylan Minnette (2019)
16. I Like Christmas (But I Can't Stand the Cold), Tangarine (2013)
17. My Favourite Time of the Year, The Flourin Street Band (2010)
18. What's That Sound?, J.D. McPherson (2018)*
19. Eight Candles, by Yo La Tengo (2019)*
20. I Feel It In My Bones, The Killers (2016)
21. Christmas Stars, Dwight Twilley (2004)
22. Christmas Day, 1923, Future Clouds and Radar (2007)

As I noted earlier, I've got a second new extra mix completed and my regular annual mix for 2023 is also ready to go. It's a new feeling for me to be ahead of schedule, and I'm really liking it!