ROUTES & BRANCHES
featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
December 21, 2025
Scott Foley, purveyor of a dusting of snow
Nov 30: Favorite Covers
Dec 7: State of Americana
Dec 14: Favorite Songs
Dec 21: Christmas Christmas
Dec 28: Favorite Albums
We're so ready to put certain songs on the way-back burner for a few years. We're okay if it's awhile before we hear new roots-adjacent covers of songs like "Blue Christmas", "River", or "Run Run Rudolph". Nobody has really ever made a worthy cover of "Fairytale of New York". But it's a season of hope, so we live in perpetual anticipation of finding new seasonal classics from year-to-year.
For 2025, Leon Bridges has participated in two (2) of our favorite new originals. Morgan Wade delivered a very good new EP, and Melissa Carper did her Melissa Carper thing for a new full-length of originals. While there are a handful of entries below called "Christmas Song", turns out only one features chestnuts roasting. Curiously, the soundtrack for a seemingly forgettable movie provided a couple of the year's most listenable covers.
So once again, we do this sans apology, recognizing that good holiday music is just good music. It's our yearly tradition to pull together a ROUTES-cast bursting with (recyclable) giftwrap, tacky sentiment dripping with tinsel, and so-so bleak seasonal wrist-slashers about how it's not really Christmas if you're not here (Ron Pope wins this year in that category). Since what's below is all new to 2025, if you're looking for something more classic, you might want to try our holiday favorites ROUTES-cast we assembled last year.
For the rest of us, dim the lights, shut out the world's din, and give this thing a spin. Here's hoping you'll drag some of these into your for keeps folder, that you'll join us in our quest for music discovery, even during these bleak holiday weeks.
ROUTES-cast CHRiSTMAS CHRiSTMAS 2025
- Chaparelle & Sierra Ferrell, "When It Snows In Texas" single (Mom+Pop, 25)
- Molly Tuttle & Ketch Secor, "Fairytale of New York" single (Nonesuch, 25)
- Melissa Carper, "Just One Stocking" A Very Carper Christmas (Mae Music, 25)
- Glass Hours, "Christmas Song" single (Cornelius Chapel, 25)
- Leon Bridges, "A Merry Black Christmas" single (Columbia, 25)
- Willie Nelson, "Christmas Love Song" single (Sony, 25)
- Shootouts, "Christmas Eve Without You" single (Transoceanic, 25)
- Shannon Lay, "I'll Be Home For Christmas" Slow Xmas 5 (Bone Sound, 25)
- Tanner Usrey, "Run Run Rudolph" single (Atlantic, 25)
- Jeff Tweedy, "Christmas Must Be Tonight" Oh What Fun (Amazon, 25)
- Norah Jones & Leon Bridges, "This Christmas I'm Coming Home" single (Columbia, 25)
- Morgan Wade, "Christmas In My Dreams" Christmas In My Dreams EP (Pub Crawl, 25)
- Angus & Julia Stone, "Christmas Song" single (Nettwerk, 25)
- Deer Tick, "Light Up Reindeer" single (ATO, 25)
- Kelly Finnigan, "Snowy Night In Ohio" single (Colemine, 25)
- Autumn Defense, "Please Come Back to Me" single (Yep Roc, 25)
- Sharon Van Etten, "2000 Miles" Oh What Fun (Amazon, 25)
- Ron Pope, "It Ain't Christmas" single (Brooklyn Basement, 25)
- Shovels & Rope, "River (ft Wesley Schultz)" single (Dualtone, 25)
- Judy Blank, "Merry Christmas Baby" Season's Beatings EP (Rounder, 25)
- Zack Keim, "Blue Christmas" single (Keim, 25)
- Country Side of Harmonica Sam, "Christmas Bungalow" single (Sleazy, 25)
- Old Crow Medicine Show, "Store-Brought Christmas" OCMS XMAS (Hartland, 25)
- Andy Shauf & Madi Diaz, "Christmas Eve Can Kill You" Oh What Fun (Amazon, 25)
- Larry Fleet, "That Spirit Of Christmas" single (Stellar Way, 25)
- Milk Carton Kids, "Christmas Song" single (Far Cry, 25)
- Olivia Ellen Lloyd, "Let It Snow" Slow Xmas 5 (Bone Sound, 25)
- Doohickeys, "Merry Happy Whatever" Merry Happy Whatever EP (Forty Below, 25)
- Parlor Greens, "Every Day Will Be Like a Holiday" single (Colemine, 25)
- Palmyra, "Auld Lang Syne" single (Oh Boy, 25)
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To enjoy any Spotify ROUTES-cast, just open Spotify and search for "routesandbranches" to access this most recent playlist, as well as many others from past months. Or click here for a preview:
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