Here are a few nuggets to put in your virtual Advent calendar as you await Christmas. (There's even a Hanukkah ditty for those of you celebrating this week.)
And I'm gonna update this post as more stuff floats in like a happy little snowflake.
Renee and Jeremy have offered up their sweet take on "Little Drummer Boy" on iTunes (you can download it here). No drums, but it's pretty much a perfect fit for R&J's hypnotic approach. And check out the awesome album art there. There needs to be a Christmas card, pronto.
Lucky Diaz increases his recorded family music output by releasing "Under the Tree," a slightly wistful but very tuneful track. Download it here; proceeds benefit the Pablove Foundation, which provides support to kids with cancer.
Sugar Free Allstars don't have a free Christmas song as much as they have a free Christmas card. It's called "Funky Christmas" and it is indeed funky.
I can't really describe this song better than the folks at The Rabbit Room better than they did in mentioning that pre-orders of Randall Goodgame's A Slugs and Bugs Christmas would be offered free shipping: "What could be better than that? Oh, I know–a song of the day that combines Christmas with Star Wars." Listen to it (and you know you want to now) here.
Daria is offering up a free download of her rendition of the Christmas chestnut "Feliz Navidad" here. It's off her album Songs for Merry Multicultural Mirth.
Baltimore's Milkshake announced this week that they've been working on a holiday album. It won't be released until 2011, but you can get a taste of it by listening to the song and watching the video below. It's too Baltimore-specific to enjoy it too much unless you're in crabcake range, but I particularly like the chorus when the kids join in.
Milkshake - "Christmas in Baltimore" [YouTube]
NEW: Ben Rudnick and Friends have a new holiday album (more on that soon), but if you want to hear one of the new tracks, you can stream it YouTube-style.
Not much new that's Hanukkah-related, but here's a little something sorta Hanukkah-inspired from Joanie Leeds. As with the Sugar Free Allstars track, it's really more of a card than a freestanding song, but it's not without charm.
NEW: I already mentioned this, but Dan Zanes has recorded the Hanukkah song "Ner Li" with collaborators Rob Friedman and Sonia De Los Santos. It's lovely and you can download it for free here.
NEW: Also, Lloyd Miller from the Deedle Deedle Dees offers up another couple simple but fun traditional tunes. Watch "Oh Hanukkah!" here and "The Dreidel Song" here.
NEW: If you can't decide which holiday you want to celebrate (or perhaps you celebrate both, or perhaps Kwanzaa), Aaron Nigel Smith has got you covered with "Happy Happy Holiday," streamable or downloadable for free here.
Finally, this isn't strictly family music related, but Target is offering up a free holiday music sampler. Yes, Target. Guess they're trying to rack up cool points, what with tracks from Guster, Blackalicious, Crystal Antlers, and Bishop Allen. But it's some good stuff. I particularly like the Best Coast/Wavves track, "Got Something for You," which might even ring some bells for the parents out there.
Best Coast and Wavves - "Got Something for You" [YouTube]
