Several people have asked me if there is going to be a DISClaimer review column covering this year’s seasonal records.
The answer is, “No.” The reason is that this year, there are more than 130 new holiday singles and at least 25 Christmas albums. For whatever reason, Nashville’s music makers seem to believe that we need the comfort-and-joy of Yule tunes more than ever in 2025.
This is just anecdotal, but I cannot recall a year when there was such a bonanza of holiday music. Realistically, there are not enough working hours in a day, week or month to listen and write about all of these releases.
I can offer the following guideposts. Of the classic Christmas tunes, “Winter Wonderland” and “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” were the most recorded by Nashville-associated acts in 2025. Of the new Xmas tunes, the 10 titles that intrigued me most were (1) “Santa Claus Was My Uber Driver,” (2) “Shut Up, Santa,” (3) “Trucker’s Christmas,” (4) “Ugly Sweater,” (5) “Santa Had a Rough Year,” (6) “Socks and Underwear,” (7) “How to Make Gravy,” (8) “I Hate Christmas,” (9) “Christmas In Jail” and (10) “The Wayward Turkey From Albuquerque” (leftover from Thanksgiving).
Among the albums, there is no denying the talent of Brad Paisley. And the golden voices of Trisha Yearwood, Natalie Grant and Mickey Guyton seem to be made for the season. Old Crow Medicine Show deserves a shout-out for creativity. Gabby Barrett gets a nod as the best newcomer to Christmas music making..
Anyhow, in lieu of an exhaustive column, here’s a menu of this year’s selections. Have fun creating your own playlists.
Happy holidays.
VINTAGE HOLIDAY FAVORITES:
JASON ALDEAN- “Christmas In Dixie”
GABBY BARRETT- “Where Are You Christmas”
WILLIAM BECKMANN & CARTER FAITH- “Nothin’ for Christmas”
RICHARD BENNETT & LEONA- “My Favorite Things”
LEWIS BRICE- “Frosty the Snowman”
LUKE BRYAN & ELLA LANGLEY- “Winter Wonderland”
COLBIE CAILLAT & GAVIN DEGRAW- “Let It Snow”
COLORADO COUNTRY- “Let It Snow”
KRISTY COX- “Christmas Without You”
JORDAN DAVIS- “O Come All Ye Faithful”
EXILE- “Winter Wonderland”
CARTER FAITH- “Please Come Home for Christmas”
SIERRA FERRELL- “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
FIDDLE EXPRESS- “A Christmas Medley”
SHEA FISHER- “Jingle Bell Rock”
BELA FLECK & THE FLECKTONES- “The First Noel / Joy to the World” (medley)
LARRY GATLIN & JAIMEE PAUL- “Baby It’s Cold Outside”
HADLEY JO- “Hard Candy Christmas”
HUNTER HAYES- “Run, Run Rudolph”
HOME FREE- “O Come All Ye Faithful”
ALEXANDRA KAY- “Hard Candy Christmas”
TIERRA KENNEDY- “Mary Did You Know”
LADY A- “Winter Wonderland”
LAMONT LANDERS- “This Christmas”
BRENDA LEE- “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
KAT LUNA- “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Spanglish)”
MARTINA McBRIDE- “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
PARKER McCOLLUM- “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
THE McCRARY SISTERS- “Go Tell It On the Mountain”
REBA McENTIRE- “Run, Run Rudolph”
TORI MARTIN- “Jolly Old St. Nicholas”
ALYSSA MICAELA- “Silent Night (Noche de Paz)”
MORIAH- “Someday at Christmas”
THE KODY NORRIS SHOW- “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW- “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”
NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS- “Santa Baby”
FRANK RAY- “Feliz Navidad”
LEANN RIMES- “All I Want for Christmas Is You”
RRINACO- “Angels From the Realms of Glory”
ALLISON RUSSELL- “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
SACHA- “Where Are You Christmas”
JD SHELBURNE & CRYSTAL GAYLE- “Silver Bells”
BLAKE SHELTON- “Go Tell It On the Mountain”
SIX ONE FIVE COLLECTIVE- “Little Saint Nick”
SKILLET- “O Come, O Come Emanuel”
MINDY SMITH- “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?”
THELMA & JAMES- “White Christmas”
JACOB TOLLIVER- “Here Comes Santa Claus”
ZACH TOP- “Blue Christmas”
VALERIE JUNE- “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”
BRENNA WHITAKER- “Mary Did You Know”
BRANDON WISHAM- “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town”
WARREN ZEIDERS- “How Great Thou Art”
NEW XMAS TUNES:
TRACE ADKINS- “One More Christmas”
DAN ASHLEY- “Let It Ring”
DREW BALDRIDGE- “Best Gift for Christmas”
MEGAN BARKER- “Shut Up, Santa”
GABBY BARRETTT- “Grown Up Christmas”
BIZZ BIGSBY- “What to Get You for Christmas”
LEE BRICE- “Santa Claus Was My Uber Driver”
MITCHELL BROODLEY- “Except for Christmas Day”
TREY CALLOWAY- “Christmas With You”
SCOTTY WRAY CAMPBELL- “Heaven for a Day”
LANCE COWAN- “Starting to Feel Like Christmas”
CHAPARELLE & SIERRA FERRELL- “When It Snows in Texas”
JOHNNY DAN- “Trucker’s Christmas”
DAN + SHAY- “Back to December”
DASHA- “Driving Home for Christmas”
DOCTOR COCONUT- “Silly Merry Christmas”
THE DOOHICKEYS- “Merry, Happy, Whatever”
HANNAH ELLIS & NICK WAYNE- “Christmas at 60 MPH”
MORGAN EVANS- “How to Make Gravy”
JIMMY FALLON & CARTER FAITH- “Ugly Sweater”
LARRY FLEET- “That Spirit of Christmas”
BRADLEY GASKIN- “Here Comes Christmas”
SHEYNA GEE- “Kiss This Christmas”
DEVON GILFILLIAN- “Christmas Is Love”
DANNY GOKEY- “The Moment the Whole World Changed”
HARPER GRACE- “Country Christmas”
MICKEY GUYTON- “Sugar Cookies”
MICKEY GUYTON & DREW BALDRIDGE- “Joy to Your World”
ALEX HALL- “57 Chevy Bel Air”
KELSEY HART- “Santa Had a Rough Year”
WARREN HAYNES- “Every Day Will Be Like a Holiday”
THE HEELS- “Mrs. Claus”
HIGH FIDELITY- “Christmas Time Back Home”
BRADEN HULL- “Hey Son”
HUNTERGIRL- “Christmas Again”
GRACE HUMPHRIES- “For Years”
LINDA IMPERIAL- “Christmas In the Tropics”
SARAH JAROSZ- “Peace”
KEB MO- “Better Every Day”
LIZ KENNEDY- “Snow in San Francisco”
ERICA LANE- “Secret Workshop”
BERNIE LEADON- “HoliDAZE”
LITTLE BIG TOWN- “The Innkeeper”
LOCASH- “Snow Angel”
MICHAEL LUSK- “Another Crazy Christmas at Our House”
SCOTTY McCREERY- “Feel Like the Holidays”
REBA McENTIRE- “Let There Be Peace on Earth”
GARRETT MILES- “Christmas In the South”
ALEX MILLER- “All Wrapped Up in You This Christmas”
DRAKE MILLIGAN- “Cowgirl For Christmas”
MORGXN- “Every Season”
DARYL MOSLEY- “Socks and Underwear”
WILLIE NELSON- “Christmas Love Song”
BRAD PAISLEY- “Counting Down the Days”
RAELYNN- “Let the Holiday Come On In”
LAUREN RISMILLER- “Mistletoe Won’t”
JACQUIIE ROAR- “Christmas Miss Me”
ROD & ROSE- “Mary Had a Little Lamb”
MATT ROGERS- “Margaritas for Christmas”
TORI ROSE- “Hometown Christmas”
STEPHEN ROWE- “It’s That Time of Year”
ASHLEY RYAN- “Mistletoe Missin’ You”
DYLAN SCOTT- “Two Christmas Trees”
JB SOMERS- “I Hate Christmas”
GEORGE STRAIT- “Christmas Cookies”
SUZANNE’S BAND- “Falling, Falling, Falling”
THE FAIRFIELD FOUR & THE NASHVILLE BLUEGRASS BAND- “The Last Month of the Year”
MARYNN TAYLOR- “Mistletoe”
ELLE TOWNLEY- “Perfect Christmas”
RANDY TRAVIS- “Where My Heart Is” (from the vault)
THE TURKEY TROTTERS- “The Wayward Turkey From Albuquerque”
CARRIE UNDERWOOD- “Favorite Time of the Year”
KEITH URBAN- “I’ll Be Your Santa”
GEORGINA WHITE- “It’s Christmas Time Tonight”
LAINEY WILSON- “Peace, Love and Cowboys (Holiday Edition)”
CHRISTOPHER WYZE & THE TELLERS- “Christmas in Jail”
TRISHA YEARWOOD- “Christmas Time Is Here”
TRISHA YEARWOOD & GARTH BROOKS- “Merry Christmas, Valentine”
CHRIS YOUNG- “Christmas Ain’t Christmas”
2025 XMAS ALBUMS & EPs:
GABBY BARRETT- Carols and Candlelight
CHRIS BLUE- Every Day Is Christmas
LUKE BRYAN- Luke Bryan Christmas
CARTER FAITH- A Cherry Valley Holiday
BELA FLECK & THE FLECKTONES- Jingle All the Way (reissue, with new songs)
JANIE FRICKE- A Cowgirl Country Christmas
GOLD CITY- Hope in a Manger
NATALIE GRANT- Christmas
MICKEY GUYTON- Feels Like Christmas
ALEX HALL- A Very Merry Christmas
HUNTER HAYES- Evergreen Christmas Sessions
DREW & ELLIE HOLCOMB- I’ll Be Home For Christmas
LADY A- On This Winter’s Night Volume 2
LAMONT LANDERS- Lamont Landers Sings the Holidays
LITTLE BIG TOWN- The Christmas Record (reissue)
JESSICA LYNN- A Very Merry Classic Christmas (reissue)
J.D. McPHERSON- SOCKS: A Rock & Roll Christmas (reissue)
OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW- OCMS Xmas
BRAD PAISLEY- Snow Globe Town
RAELYNN- Jingle Jangle Rock
LEANN RIMES- Greatest Hits Christmas
T.G. SHAPPARD & KELLY LANG- Tender Tennessee Christmas
CALI TUCKER- Santa Baby
LAINEY WILSON- Peace, Love & Cowboys
TRISHA YEARWOOD- Christmastime
Robert K. Oermann is a longtime contributor to MusicRow. He is a respected music critic, author and historian.
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