The festive season wouldn’t be complete without a host of new musical offerings. Thankfully 2024 brings us enough traditional favourites and self-penned delights to fill any stocking, festive playlist or family road trip.
We’ve rounded them up for you here, complete with shopping links and associated Tradfolk articles, interviews and reviews. And just in time for Bandcamp Friday too (6 December)!
Jackie Oates and John Spiers – A Winter’s Night
Folk stalwarts Jackie Oates and John Spiers bring us their second album A Winter’s Night, described as a beautiful and heart-warming antidote to the materiality that can be a feature of the Christmas season and a joyous celebration of midwinter and all its shades.
Tradfolk thoughts: This is a glorious collection of songs and tunes bound together by Jackie and John’s exquisite musicianship. Familiar and lesser known festive English songs are sprinkled with French, Norwegian and Welsh numbers, showcasing the artists’ breadth of influence.
Tradfolk’s favourite track: The Halsway Carol
Read our interview with Jackie Oates.
The Unthanks – In Winter
The Unthanks need no introduction. Their festive offering, In Winter, is billed by the band as a dream-like winter fantasia, embracing both the dark and the light in the most ritualistic of seasons.
Tradfolk thoughts: Eery and ethereal. Mckenzie Crook should write a Christmas episode of either Worzel Gummidge or the Detectorists (or preferably, both), just to use these songs.
Tradfolk’s favourite track: Gower Wassail
Read our inside story of the album.
Janice Burns and Jon Doran – Great Joy to the New
Since Glaswegian/West Country duo Janice and John first met, they’ve come together each December to find and share festive songs, blending their respective Hogmanay and Wassail traditions. Now at last, after seven years in the making, Great Joy to the New is available for your listening pleasure. The duo describe this album as a collection of folk songs, not just about Christmas, but about looking forward with optimism for the new year ahead.
Tradfolk thoughts: A beautiful, soul soaring album with a star studded list of collaborators, that combines joy, bleakness, serenity and sincerity, gift wrapped in festive spirit. Also, we’re big fans of anything featuring the Derby Tup.
Tradfolk’s favourite track: Derby Ram (the opening track, but why deny a banger?)
Windborne – To Warm The Winter Hearth
Windborne are probably an unfamiliar name on this list to many, but on their side of the pond they’ve built quite a following, with this album being the result of an incredibly successful kickstarter campaign.
Alongside classics like Here We Come A-Wassailing and Boar’s Head Carol, on To Warm the Winter Hearth you’ll also find rousing Lithuanian wassails (Aisim Bernai Kalėdaut, which translates as “Come on Lads, Sing Kalėda,”) and Satan Es Ben Estonat (“Satan Was Very Surprised”). The latter comes from an Occitan mediaeval manuscript that describes Satan’s reaction to the nativity. Oh, and there’s also an accompanying songbook.
Tradfolk says: It’s always nice to come across something a bit different, and this really fits that bill. Familiar English carols and wassailing songs are given an injection of American cheer and energy, and the non-English tracks are lovely interludes between, all sung beautifully.
Tradfolk’s favourite track: Satan Es Ben Estonat/Lo Paure Satan
Cooper and Toller – Year’s End
Bristol based duo Cooper and Toller bring us their new album, ‘Year’s End’, which they describe as their celebration of some lesser known trad English carols and wassails.
Tradfolk thoughts: This is a great grassroots gathering of lesser heard numbers, mixing traditional songs with progressive instrumentals and contagiously joyful (and sometimes joyfully melancholy) vocals.
Tradfolk’s favourite track: The Sinner’s Redemption
Gjermund Larsen Trio – Christmas Sessions
We know we’re generally all about traditional English folk over here, but we couldn’t resist giving an honourable mention to this beautiful offering from Norwegian folk musician Gjermund Larsen’s trio. They describe their album The Christmas Sessions as being set in a beautiful, folk inspired musical landscape, with the trio interpreting well known and beloved Christmas songs in their own unique way.
Tradfolk says: A beautiful dreamy collection of tunes, perfect for listening to snuggled up with a blanket and a book on a chilly evening.
Tradfolk’s favourite track: Joleklokker over jorda
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