Top 10 Holiday Blues Records

Charles Brown recorded two of the definitive Blues Christmas classics. Merry Christmas Baby and Please Come Home For Christmas. These hits, along with nine other cuts, cut to the holiday bone by piling the emotion of Blues on top of the melancholy of the holiday season. An absolute must-have for any Blues fan.

This is the most eclectic of Blues Christmas compilations. Eddie C Campbell, Lightnin' Hopkins, Canned Heat, and Louis Jordan are the goodies in this Christmas stocking. Can't beat Santa's Messin' With The Kid. There are some great obscure holiday gems on this record that will become standards at your future Christmas parties.

Angela Strehli, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Lou Ann Barton, and Willie Nelson reek of Austin, Texas, and this collection is ripe with Christmas fun. There are the standards: Blue Christmas, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Winter Wonderland, and Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree, along with some off-the-wall diddies like: Boogie Woogie Santa Claus and My Christmas Tree Is Hung With Tears.

Blues heavyweights B.B. King, Keb'Mo', Sonny Boy Williamson, and Freddy King are among a few of the stars featured on this holiday compilation. You could consider this the "Greatest Hits" of Christmas Blues records. This is a must collection for any holiday household, Blues fans or not. Sonny Boy's Santa Claus is the real gem.

Charlie Musselwhite, Joe Louis Walker, Roy Rogers, and Otis Rush put down the microphone and wail. Here are the sounds of the season being seasoned with the sound of the Blues. Standards like: White Christmas, Blue Christmas, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, and We Wish You A Merry Christmas. Pop this one in that new karaoke machine your uncle gave you and sing with a real back-up band.

This compilation is for fans of the swing band era. Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Fats Waller, and Louis Armstrong play the holiday standards. Lena Horne's Silent Night could be the definitive version of the classic. They haven't forgotten the Blues side of the big band either.

When you see the name Bullseye, you know there is going to be some mean Blues guitar in the house. Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, Lowell Fulson, Little Jimmy King, and Charles Brown, with an unreleased version of Merry Christmas Baby and Please Come Home For Christmas. Real Bluesmen playing holiday classics.

Released last year, this record just might become a holiday standard for the long-time Rhode Island horn band. The band has been the standard for horn-driven Blues bands for over thirty years, so they have seen a few holiday seasons.

Atlanta's Ichiban Records has had a strong history in the Blues and whips it all out for this holiday CD. Chick Willis, Jerry McCain, Nappy Brown, Drinksmall, and Trudy Lynn have compiled one of the most interesting collection of holiday treats. Absent Minded Santa, I Didn't Get Nothin' For Christmas, and Christmas Tears are cuts you won't find elsewhere.

This compilation has a more R&B lineup. Chuck Berry, Patti Labelle & The Bluebelles, and The Manhattans contribute to the spirit of the holidays. This is the CD you need if you already have a Blues Christmas collection.