Although I’m not branding it as such, this is the eighth post in this year’s Advent Countdown. Adding that in would have made the title far too long! Today’s set of five includes three songs that could only be played today – so I do that most years! – plus a couple of others that I like and have played before, and didn’t want to leave out.

The first one is my usual lead off song for this day, and I’m guessing that unless you’ve been with me before this may be a new name for you:

That is so utterly beautiful and charming, and I never tire of it. Tomorrow Is Christmas Day was on Snowed In, a five track EP that Mindy Smith released in 2013, comprising a couple of self-penned songs and some Christmas/New Year standards. Anyone who has ever been a parent can relate to this so much – it certainly brings back happy memories for me of the days when my two daughters were little and Christmas was a time of magic. Mindy isn’t the most prolific of performers, but she has been playing more gigs over the past few years, has released an occasional single, and this year gave us her first full album in twelve years: Americana. If you want to hear more of her lovely voice I can recommend it, and that EP I mentioned is worth a listen too..

What could be more appropriate for today than a retelling of the nativity story? Here’s one for you, kind of – Bryan Adams with Joe And Mary:

This modern retake on the nativity story was released in November 2019. There is so much to enjoy in that video, and the tune really rocks along. Like his 2021 single, So Happy It Hurts, this was co-written by Bryan with Gretchen Peters, who you may recall is one of my favourite singer-songwriters. Both songs are typical of Bryan, less so of Gretchen, but it’s good to see her rockier tendencies coming out! Joe And Mary appeared on an EP called Christmas: as far as I can tell its only chart placing was at #80 in Bryan’s Canadian homeland. I still think it’s fun, though.

This next one is another perennial favourite of mine: I have played it most years since I started doing this and almost ran out of time for it this year. A personal disaster is hereby averted:

I couldn’t leave out one of my favourite singers, especially when this charming animation was made just for her! That is such a lovely version of While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks, which is particular to the part of Yorkshire where Kate Rusby is from. Sweet Bells is the title track of her first album of Christmas songs, which I bought in 2008 when it was released, and have played so many times since then. The animation isn’t an ‘official’ one, but it is a really good fit for the song, and the depiction of Kate is perfect. As folk music isn’t a particularly big seller here the album did well to reach #91, I think. Christmas is a big tradition for her, and she has released six albums of seasonal music, the most recent of which is Light Years, in December last year: it is her usual blend of carols and familiar songs and is, as always, utterly lovely. It even made the UK Albums chart spending a week at #76.

I’m closing today with two tunes which are very specifically about the day. Both are favourites that I have played before, and both have had fairly recent videos made for them. This is another in the ‘charming animation’ category:

As you might have guessed Blackmore’s Night is partially fronted by a certain Ritchie Blackmore. It is a British-American traditional folk rock band formed in 1997, consisting mainly of Ritchie on guitars, hurdygurdy, mandola, mandolin, and nyckelharpe, and of Candice Night on lead vocals and woodwinds. Their lineup has seen many changes over the years, but they are still releasing albums – their latest came out in March 2021, and there have since been two 25th anniversary re-releases too. Their lovely music is a million miles away from Ritchie’s days in Deep Purple and Rainbow: this is a song they wrote together, and it is typical of their repertoire. Despite the twenty-six year age difference between them (he is now 79, she is 53) the two were married in 2008, having been together for twenty years, since a year or two after they first met: she approached him for an autograph at a Rainbow gig. Christmas Eve was originally released in 2006 on their Winter Carols album, which has since undergone three reissues with various additions, culminating in a bumper 27 track version in 2022. This song was a revised version, originally issued as a single alongside the 2013 version, though this video was made especially for the most recent reissue. I think it is lovely.

Today’s closing song also has a newish video, and is so appropriate for today:

Again, this is one I play most years and this is the third time for this video, which was released just in time for Christmas 2022. Christmas Must Be Tonight was originally recorded in 1975 for inclusion on The Band’s Northern Lights – Southern Cross album, but was left off the final release. It finally appeared on their 1977 album Islands, which was a contractual obligation album of unreleased material for Capitol Records, before their Last Waltz triple album came out on Warner Bros. It was the final album with their original line up, so there is a touch of poignancy about this one, which is a lovely narration of the Nativity story from the perspective of a shepherd watching his flock. It is one of many which display Robbie Robertson’s songwriting skills to good effect. He is much missed.

That’s all of the music for today, but as always I have something else with which to leave you. I decided a couple of posts ago to close these with the four wonderful ads that Hafod Hardware made from 2017 to 2020. I’ve already gone out of sequence by first giving you their 2019 offering and then going back to the first one. This is their second, from 2018:

Part of the beauty for me of replaying these ads is to see little Arthur growing up. In the first one he was at the crawling stage but capable of unwrapping presents, whilst here he makes a timely appearance at the end with that wonderful gurgling laugh. You probably recognise the accompanying song but as a reminder this version is by Andrea Von Kampen, whose lovely voice featured on all four of the ads. She makes beautiful records of her own, too, and is well worth a further listen. Her version of White Christmas was on her AVK Christmas Project EP, which came out in 2016: the project was part of her degree course at Concordia University Nebraska, from which she graduated that year.

That brings today to a close. I hope everything is going well with your Christmas preparations, if this is an occasion you celebrate. In case you are in need of a break from the hurly burly tomorrow I’ll be back with the final part of this year’s Advent Countdown – a Christmas Day Special. See you then? I hope so ☃️