In 2012, Cee Lo got a raspy Rod Stewart to duet with him on "Merry Christmas, Baby" and his fellow Voice judge Christina Aguilera to show up for "Baby It's Cold Outside," but his ideal musical partners were the Muppets.

He brought in Sara Bareilles for the classic "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and collaborates with Norah Jones on "Little Jack Frost Get Lost. Sometimes you just need a break from all those repetitive Christmas standards that end up on every holiday album. Low, an indie band from Minnesota, specializes in music moving at the tempo of glaciers, with exquisitely precise two-part harmonies. Which goes some way to explaining this nightmare-inducing Christmas conundrum but absolutely nowhere near enough. If Cash's voice sounds earthbound, that suits his the moral of the song-poems: the true spirit of Christmas is loving your fellow man.Many songs simply have a winter or seasonal theme, or have been adopted into the canon for other reasons. Louis Armstrong, genius trumpeter, gravel-voiced singer, and jazz pioneer, could turn on a dime between broad comedy and deeply felt emotion. I hear Brenda Lee sing Rockin’ Round the Christmas Tree al the time and did not realize that she was so young when she recorded it. The Jamaican record label Studio One was a powerhouse in the Sixties and Seventies, releasing records by just about every important reggae artist.

They don't seem to take much joy in the holiday – but they take plenty in making excellently weird noise. Free Christmas Album Cover Templates Spread the Christmas joy with magical flyers, videos and social media graphics for your parties, deals, carols and other events. Standout performers included Bruce Springsteen ("Merry Christmas Baby"), U2 ("Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," and the Pretenders ("Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"), but nobody could top Run-D.Exceptions such as “The Christmas Shoes” (2000) have re-introduced Christian themes as complementary to the secular Western themes, and myriad traditional carol cover versions by various artists have explored virtually all music genres.