Essential Advent Calendar: Essential Advent Playlist

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Today we’re doing a combined Advent Calendar and Essential Playlist to celebrate all the wonderful songs we’ve featured every day.

advent calendar 1

Day one of our Essential Advent Calendar and we bring you, ‘One Christmas Place’, the official Christmas song from Burning Astronomers.

Burning Astronomers - One Christmas Place

Day 2 saw Sparks release their traditional (once every 41 years) Christmas song, ‘Christmas Without A Prayer’ .

Sparks - Christmas Without A Prayer (Official Video)

On the third of December we opened our third door and found…’Christmas Light’, a lovely airy, happy, and altogether *fun* EP from Coventry singer, Stylusboy!

It was day four of our Essential Advent Calendar, and it wouldn’t be Christmas without Shakin’ Stevens and ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’ would it??

Shakin' Stevens - Echoes of Merry Christmas Everyone

On Day 5 of the Essential Advent Calendar, we introduced you to Lily Lambert, and her Americana-style take on the classic, ‘Carol of the Bells’.

You might have wondered how ‘Leave A Mark’ was our 6th door of Advent. Well, this year it’s the charity song for ALONE Ireland, for whom Jedward are the Christmas ambassadors.

Jedward - Leave a Mark

Behind the 8th door of The Essential Advent Calendar was award-winning Americana trio Red Sky July. Their song, ‘Save Christmas Day for Me’, is beautifully orchestrated and atmospheric, featuring Beth Nielsen Chapman. 

Red Sky July   Save Christmas Day For Me

Day 9 on the Essential Advent Calendar saw us open on ‘Give Anything’, by Irish band, Great White Lies. Not specifically a Christmas song, it’s nonetheless a song about hope, so quite fitting for our calendar.

Give Anything

On the 10th day of our Essential Advent Calendar the door opened on Dame Shirley Bassey and British vocal harmony trio, BLAKE, who have collaborated with, ‘The Christmas Song’.

The Christmas Song with BLAKE and Dame Shirley Bassey

On day 11 on the Essential Advent Calendar we looked behind the door to find ‘Home For the Holidays Vol 8’ from XO Publicity, a compilation album featuring 9 bands from the XO stable.

XO for the Holidays 1

Moving away slightly from traditional Advent Calendar songs, on Day 12 we opened the door on NJ Taylor, with her song, ‘So You’.

NJ Taylor - So You (Official Music Video)

Day 13 of the Essential Advent Calendar found Rick Wakeman, who has collaborated with 15 year old soprano Emmie Beckitt, on a Christmas single, ‘Welcome A Star’.

Rick Wakeman and Emmie Beckitt 1

December 14 and the door opened on our Essential Advent Calendar to Daniel Martin Moore with his song, ‘It’s Christmas’.

It's Christmas - Daniel Martin Moore (Official Lyrics)

The 15th day of our Essential Advent Calendar and it was ‘Love Will Be The Answer (Happy Christmas)’, recorded by Carnaby Street.

Love Will Be The Answer (Merry Christmas), Carnaby Street

Comrade Hat’s ‘Winter Songs 2009-2015’ was behind door number 16 of our Essential Advent Calendar.

Glenshane Pass in Snow

Songs of Contrast, with their fun party song, ‘I Forgot That It Was Christmas’ were behind Day 17 of our Essential Advent Calendar.

I Forgot That It Was Christmas

We’re up to Day 18 of the Essential Advent Calendar – only a week left to go! On this day we featured ‘Holly’, the new single from The Diamond Age.

Three of Welsh songwriter Adrian David’s songs have made it to the semi-finals of the prestigious UK Songwriting Contest. One of them, ‘Christmas’, was behind door number 19 of our Essential Advent Calendar.

We’re on the home stretch! 6 year old Jet Watling was behind door number 20 of the Essential Advent Calendar, with ‘Reindeer Romp & Roll’.

Reindeer Romp & Roll | A Colorful Christmas

With a great seasonal take on the classic 70s hit, ‘Ça Plane Pour Moi’, The Rubettes featuring Alan Williams, were behind door number 21 with ‘Plastic Christmas’.

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On the 22nd of December we commemorated the Winter Solstice with ‘Rainbow Of Light (Anthem)’, written by Linda Lamon and sung by Katerina Mina.

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It was Christmas Eve Eve as we opened door number 23 on our Essential Advent Calendar and found Cliona singing, ‘Irish Eyes Smiling At Christmas’.

Cliona Hagan - Irish Eyes Smiling at Christmas (Official Music Video)

Yesterday was Christmas Eve our second last door on the Essential Advent Calendar: The Mariachis with ‘Coz It’s Christmas Time’.

The Mariachis - 'Coz It's Christmas Time' (official video)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! SEE YOU IN 2016!

About the author

There’s a lot of music out there - good music. At Essentially Pop our remit is that we cover music that deserves to be heard, with a particular focus on independent artists. That doesn't mean we won't cover your old favourites - rather we hope to give you some new favourites as well.

We no longer accept unpaid PR agency work. We believe the creative arts have value, and this includes writing. As always, we will write about artists who contact us - or who we contact - for free - but we can no longer work free of charge for PR agencies. We work hard, we put in a lot of hours writing, and we ask that you respect that. Contact us for our very reasonable rates.

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