

Now comes word that The Band Perry has recorded a Christmas song for ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas. The song is a Band Perry original and will air on ABC Family on November 20 during the airing of Holiday In Handcuffs. Immediately thereafter, the video for the 60 second spot and the full song "The 25 Days of Christmas" will be posted on the 25 Days of Christmas web site.

I believe the last time we heard a Christmas song from Sara Bareilles was when she recorded the duet with Ingrid Michaelson for Hotel Cafe's "Winter Songs". And that wasn't really a Christmas song so much as a Winter song. Sara has an all new Christmas single due November 21 called "Love Is Christmas". Sara says the song is about what she believes really matters about Christmas: Love.



How can you pass on a Christmas song with the title "I'm Not A Dang Polar Bear, I'm A Human Being"? How could you? It's some mighty fine Indie Pop Rock besides, but it's just such a great title for a new millennium Christmas song. Rocky & Emily's Christmas single arrives November 21. Find it at Amazon and wherever fine digital downloads are sold.

The Hip Hop Boy Band Mindless Behavior is releasing a Christmas song Tuesday. "Christmas With My Girl" is said to feature a mid-tempo beat, sleigh bells, and some soulful singing and rapping...plus a little xylophone (can't hurt, right?). Look for it on Amazon MP3 and iTunes. I'm not crazy about their other stuff, but then I'm not exactly the target demographic.

Two to avoid. Or at least two that I'll be avoiding. Natasha Bedingfield has covered Train's "Shake Up Christmas" from last year. But, no matter how you shake it, it's still a Coke commercial. And not a very good one at that. Natasha does it better than Train, imho, but that doesn't change what it is.
Then there's "Santa's Goin' South", from Sammy Hagar and Toby Keith. This one is so bad, in my opinion, I'd rather listen to the Coke commercial. It's never a good sign when you're cover art is a stock photo that also turns up on generic no name reggae discs.

Greg Sczebel is a singer/songwriter from Canada and he's gotten into the habit of doing Christmas songs on a fairly regular basis. OK, the bow tie throws me a bit. The latest Doctor Who may think "bowties are cool", but the rest of the world knows better. Even George Will gave up the bowtie thing. But, other than that, it's pretty clear that Greg knows how to make infectious pop tunes. This year's Christmas ditty is "Perfect (Merry Little Christmas)". Last year's was even better--"A Little More Time With You". And a few years before that, Greg graced us with "One Starry Night". He kind of reminds me of Elton John, eh? Well, if nothing else, I think you should take Greg Sczebel's Christmas singles for a test drive, kick the tires, look under the hood. You might just drive him off the lot. Here's the video for this year's single to wrap up today's single set.