Doing things once is an innovation, doing it the second time makes it turn into a tradition: after I did a special Christmas edition of my Country Music Picks in 2019, I decided to go for another one this year. I also feel that many of us are in a stronger festive mood than in previous years. With the 29th November 2020 being the first Sunday in Advent as well, I felt like doing it that day – sorry for all the Christmas songs which might be released the following weeks.
My Flyctory.com 2020 Country Christmas Picks
Here are my favorite Christmas songs of the 2020 country music season.
Olivia Lane – Feeling Like Christmas
When I listened to Feeling Like Christmas for the first time, I was so much in love to it. The video even makes it more amazing – isn’t Olivia Lane looking so breahtaking in it? I am so happy that I ran into her during the 2019 CMA Fest Meet and Greets. She was a big part of my country music year 2020 as well, with a great concert in February near Brighton and her very inspiring podcast. Hope to see her again soon.
Twinnie – Driving Home for Christmas
I simply love Twinnie and miss her a lot in this year, where even travelling to the United Kingdom was a challenge partially. Her debut album Hollywood Gypsy was already released during pandemic times. Just an amazing singer and actress – so that it is not that surprising that her version of the Chris Rea classic is a real beauty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfR9-plvjWY
Dan + Shay – Take Me Home For Christmas
A definite Country Christmas beauty this year is the lovely Take Me Home For Christmas by Dan + Shay. A really lovely listen – nice video as well.
Cory Marks – Jingle My Bells
Cory Mark released a great rocking country album, Who I Am, in August 2020. Somehow, Jingle My Bells feels like a logical Christmas follow-up. Cory Marks is doing the holidays his own style – and it is great.
Alyssa Micaela – Cowboy for Christmas
Why not asking for special presents already? I liked the comparably early release Cowboy for Christmas by Alyssa Micaela. The Texas girl just gives her very own festive vibe – hope that Cupid will make her happy!
Brett Kissel – Frosty The Snowman
Brett Kissel is rather going for a bit of fun this Christmas. Frosty The Snowman is a favorite – not only among kids. Country Christmas which is making you smile, indeed.
Danielle Bradbery – O Holy Night
Danielle Bradbery is one of my female favorites. I love her voice, she is an amazing artist. I loved her recent release, O Holy Night. Hope you enjoy it, too.
Tori Martin – Santa Wrote Me a Letter
I really enjoyed the collaboration with Tori Martin and her team when we had a chat in the Spotlight interview section in October. Recently, she released this festive beauty. Really love to listen to it.
RaeLynn – Jingle Bell Drunk
One of the last additions to that list is Jingle Bell Drunk by the lovely RaeLynn. Jingle Bell Drunk is somehow a part of the truth about the days, isn’t it? Definitely, she did a great song here.
Maddie & Tae – Merry Married Christmas
There were so many Christmas releases during that period that I decided to skip the EP We need Christmas in October 2020 for reviews. Nonetheless, when I had a listen to it, I felt that Merry Married Christmas. If you want to read about their music in a 2020 review, you may read on Flyctory.com about their lovely April release, The Way It Feels.
Dolly Parton – Holly Jolly Christmas
Dolly Parton released her Holly Jolly Christmas in early October 2020. The album is amazing and has some really nice festive country tunes. For this selection, I went for the title track – quite a bunch of other would have been great picks as well!
Terri Clark feat. Dierks Bentley – Let It Snow
Apart from the festive tunes by Carrie Underwood (which was a real fail to me), Terri Clark opened the Christmas song album already in late September. Finally, It’s Christmas… Cheers! is an album you can listen to in July lying in the Bali sun – it is just too good to be a seasonal thing. I picked the lovely collaboration with Dierks Bentley, Let It Snow. A bit of a different song compared to their other 2015 collaboration, You Make It Hard.
Charlotte Ave – Christmas Mashup
Especially in the last week, the female trio Charlotte Ave was super-busy in releasing their a capella versions of different topics. In general, I really enjoyed their Women of Country album, which was just a bit too simple in production to be good. Now the girls do the Chrismas tree soundtrack.
Runaway June – When I Think About Christmas
I had mixed feelings about Runaway June’s 2020 Christmas EP, When I Think About Christmas. Some really good moments, but also quite a lot of average. They will definitely be a band to watch for after their 2020 change in lineup. The title track of the EP is spreading a lot of Santa Clause thoughts, though.
Maggie Rose – Happier New Year
Which title would fit better to be my very last holiday pick than Maggie Rose’s one? Happier New Year 2021 – I feel we learned a lot in 2020. But I hope that we have some more party in 2021 again. May Maggie Rose’s wish come true.
Enjoy Your Holidays! Thanks for your support!
Title picture: Olivia Lane – Feeling Like Christmas, video screenshot by YouTube
Flyctory.com about Christmas
Here are all Flyctory.com postings which deal with Christmas in any way:
During the last twelve months, the Northern French city of Lille absolutely won my heart. Starting with the UEFA Conference ...
I am still struggling with the Christmas presents - I am really late with this thing this year. There are ...
My list of new song releases is really short this week again. There were not that few new releases, but ...
Happy Thanksgiving (especially to my North American followers)! While the North American music market is currently rather concentrating on Black ...
It's less than two weeks until I see Jessica Lynn live on stage again. Towards the end of the year, ...
Ladies and gentlemen (and all the others of course as well), we got it: here is my first Songs of the ...
Are you already counting down the days to Christmas? You definitely feel an impact on the music industry of the ...
In February 2023, Austrian jazz singer Simone Kopmajer fascinated me, when she released her album With Love. In the review, ...
The first full week of November definitely kicks off the album season of the year. I have been loaded with ...
During Christmas time 2023, I have been invited to watch the Weihnachts-Wunderwelt at Schloss Benrath in Dusseldorf, Germany. Even though ...
How can you go there? They are shit! was one of the rather modest reactions of friends and followers when ...
The Christmas countdown is steadily running to zero - which more and more means that new releases get sparse. I ...
Unfortunately, I could not complete the Country Christmas Playlist this year due to technical issues. However, since the days become ...
Chinese lantern shows and other illuminations have become more and more popular in Europe during the recent winter seasons. In ...
I am a bit of angry as the tool I loved to use to scan for new country releases does ...
Since 2007, the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland in London has become a more and more growing Christmas and winter tradition ...
New week - new releases. It's already December 2023 and I just shared one Christmas release with you so far, ...
London, Faroe Islands, another trip tp England, Sweden, USA - the last weeks of 2023 involve quite a bit of ...
Oh, Christmas is approaching quickly now. A huge number of songs I scanned for my Songs of the Week this time ...
And then, it were three. I already shared Christmas songs by country artists twice as a playlist. For the Flyctory.com ...
I had a quite intensive week, exploring several interesting rail trips as well as being back in Pittsburgh and in ...
Just two months until Christmas. You feel that in my this week's edition of the Songs of the Week definitely. First ...
Maybe, due to the national holiday in Germany, the list of new songs was rather short on the platform I ...
After some rather intense week of traveling, I feel rather happy to spend the next two weekends in and around ...
Do you feel Santa coming soon already? During the last years, typically in early to mid-September, Nashville started to release ...
While the music market is more and more focusing on singles and even writes weird stories like Taylor Swift's "Top ...
The German amusement park Phantasialand is regularly rated to be one of the best and especially most atmospheric spots of ...
Just some ten days left until Christmas. Instead of my typical album preview, I this time go for a preview ...
A lot of Christmas songs, a lot of covers and best of albums are the new releases in the - ...
Very interesting weekend this time: with the shows of Milky Chance and Brett Young, both in Cologne, I had quite ...
There are so many Christmas music albums each and every year - I typically try to filter out interesting ones ...
After I rolled out the Country Christmas Playlist 2021 in late November that year, I am this time a bit ...
In 1987, Debbie Gibson became the youngest artist who wrote, produced and performed a song, which finally made to the ...
The Backstreet Boys sing for Santa - on 14th October 2022, the massively successful male combo releases their very first ...
Christmas is approaching really quick now. While I traditionally do a festive edition of my Country Music Picks, I also ...
Oberhausen might not be regarded to be one of the most beautiful cities of the German Ruhrgebiet region - but ...
As I already told you last year when I reviewed the Charles Dickens Museum in London, I am a huge ...
Okay, I give in. In the world of country music, Christmas starts in early September. That's when the first song ...
Lucinda Williams is back. Just not too long after I at a look into the second episode of her Lu's Jukebox, ...
An alternative view on the holidays: as part of my series of Christmas album reviews, I look into For Christmas ...
Heading Journey lead Steve Perry straight into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (and also to one episode of ...
The Austrian band Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung (hard to translate without spoiling it, it is an ironic wordplay with Versicherung = ...
The last Brett Eldredge album I reviewed has been Sunday Drive in July 2020. Now, the country music big gun is ...
Four Christmas song on a small EP: I just liked the sound of Tom Aquinas when his XMas Greetings became available ...
Merry Christmas everyone... Ooops, it is just the beginning of October... However, after I already reviewed the album Weihnachtszeit by ...
One of the German schlager artists I honor most is definitely Roland Kaiser. He is active since decades and is ...
We all know that Santa Claus is living in Rovaniemi, Finland... Or is he home to Russia? Northern Canada? There ...
140,000 square meters of indoor space and a capacity of 20,000 people per day - the IMG Worlds of Adventure ...
After having released four editions of the Songs Of My Life already, I felt like having a special one just a ...
You might find this statement multiple times within my December 2020 postings - but A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is ...
I love A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Though I am especially favoring the Muppets movie version, I was absolutely fond ...
Just about one month left until we are facing our very first socially distanced Christmas. Especially after hard times in ...
The story of Ross Antony is quite amazing: having an English education as a musical artist, Antony is nowadays a ...
Even though I have not be overwhelming fond of her recent album good to know, I generally love JoJo and her ...
After I struggled with her third album Treat Myself, which has been released at the beginning of the year, I was ...
It is hard to put a create a good definition of the music Andrew Bird is doing. It is folk, ...
Runaway June's debut album Blue Roses has been much more successful than I expected when I reviewed it in June ...
It's Christmas time... and while the classic Do They Know it's Christmas? continues with and there's no need to be ...
Don't you feel the urge as well to talk about trees, angels, presents and Santa Clause? While I had four ...
Dolly Parton is the legend and "mother" of all female country music stars out there - no doubt. But during ...
Due to my passion for Weird Al Yankovic, I know Jim "Kimo" West for a couple of years now. Kimo ...
Even during my December 2019 stay in Pittsburgh, I frequently did get in touch with Christmas. There were not just ...
December - Christmas time! Especially after I had so many postings about Christmas markets in here, I felt to add ...
After reviewing four Christmas markets in Cologne recently, I did not expect to get in touch with any additional ones ...
The Christmas Market in Cologne's Old Town is the largest of the city. Under the slogan "Heinzel's Wintermärchen" (something like Good ...
The Stadtgarten in Cologne is both, a recreational park in the heart of the city, whose facilities are protected, and ...
Cologne Cathedral and a 25 meter high Christmas tree - these are the key ingredients, which turn the Christmas Market ...
During each festive season, Cologne is crowded with tourists and visitors due to its Christmas markets. There are masses of ...
The closer we are to Mr Santa, the more the record stores and online providers of tunes are loaded with ...
When you think about a great Christmas time in one of the Orlando theme parks, you likely first think about ...
Country Music Picks
In the Country Music Picks, I share new songs with you. Here are all postings:
February 2025 is over - and it came with a lot of new music. In some of the weeks, I ...
There have been five Fridays in January 2025. Thus, my Country Music Picks presenting new songs of the month (which did ...
Time to look back into songs released during December 2024, which did not make it to my Country Music Playlist ...
I had a quite turbulent and emotional November 2024. The more, I appreciated good music. Here is my overview of ...
My new way of presenting my Country Music Picks, i.e. having a focus on new songs, which I just did not ...
The country music September 2024 is in the books. At least in regards of my Country Music Picks, which feature ...
I recently revamped the Country Music Picks featuring new releases of July 2024, this is the second time, I look ...
My Country Music Picks are back! I just felt that there is so much more music I want to cover ...
This is the third time I am looking into the country music scene of Germany and neighboring German-speaking countries. So ...
I received quite a lot of feedback on my initial (late April 2021) version of the The German Songs edition of ...
After quite a hiatus - the last regular Country Music Picks edition is as of November 2020, I felt it ...
It's been just too long since I did the last episode of my Country Music Picks. At the end of ...
I typically aimed to publish my Country Music Picks every six to eight weeks roughly - but after my last edition ...
It's already about a month since my last Country Music Picks in May 2020. Covid-19 has been the dominating topic ...
Even though Covid-19 is taking quite much of our time, we should really enjoy the good things - and at ...
The Corona crisis keeps me buzy - and thus, it again took me quite a while to have a new ...
It's been quite a while since my latest country music picks - especially as the last issue was just concentrating ...
December - Christmas time! Especially after I had so many postings about Christmas markets in here, I felt to add ...
In addition to the Country Music Playlists, I still want to focus on certain songs in the Country Music Picks ...
After having this category of postings since quite some time, I decided to have more regular country music picks in ...
For this 21st July 2019 edition of my Country Music Picks, I already had a couple of songs on my ...
it's been quite a while since my last country music picks in late October 2018. While that time, I concentrated ...
It is already some two months ago since I posted the last country picks. After I made up with UK-based ...
After posting a list of current country music favourites in June, here is another update on some recent music or ...
It is some two months since I posted my latest top country songs - thus, I felt to update you ...
During my Weird Al Yankovic Tour trip through Georgia and Tennessee, I again listened to the country channels. Here is ...