Holiday Compilation Album Full of Big Names

Isn’t releasing a holiday CD before it’s even Halloween a bit early? Apparently Starbucks’ (yes, the coffee giant) label Hear Music and Concord Music Group don’t think so. The two have compiled a list of big name artists to cover holiday songs, most of them Christmas standards. The album is titled Holidays Rule (appropriate for the promising nature of the album) and will be released October 30th (giving plenty of time for customers to buy the CD for gifts). Some of the big names on the compilation include Paul McCartney, The Shins, Rufus Wainwright and Sharon Van Etten, and Andrew Bird. You can listen to samples of each song here and the full version of Wainwright and Van Etten’s song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” here.

Here’s the full track listing for Holidays Rule:
01. fun.: “Sleigh Ride”
02. The Shins: “Wonderful Christmastime”
03. Rufus Wainwright with Sharon Van Etten: “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”
04. Paul McCartney: “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)”
05. Black Prairie: “(Everybody’s Waitin’ for) The Man With the Bag” [ft. Sallie Ford]
06. The Civil Wars: “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”
07. Calexico: “Green Grows the Holly”
08. AgesandAges: “We Need a Little Christmas”
09. Holly Golightly: “That’s What I Want For Christmas”
10. Irma Thomas with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band: “May Everyday Be Christmas”
11. Heartless Bastards: “Blue Christmas”
12. Eleanor Friedberger: “Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me”
13. Fruit Bats: “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”
14. Y La Bamba: “Señor Santa”
15. The Punch Brothers: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
16. The Head & the Heart: “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve”
17. Andrew Bird: “Auld Lang Syne”

By Garren Orr

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