Christmas Songs and Covers by Colorado Musicians to Get You in the Holiday Spirit

Christmas is in the air, and the speakers of every big-box store are pumping the same corny jingle-jangle ditties to remind you of the holidays — and all the stuff you’re supposed to buy. Thankfully, Colorado artists set a precedent for writing winter holiday songs that capture the specialness of the season without making you want to fall down a chimney. And we've got plenty of great covers, too. In alphabetical order, here's what to blast while you drink your eggnog this holiday season:

Big Head Todd & the Monsters
“I’m Glad It’s Christmas Time”
In 2018, Todd Park Mohr and company released an upbeat blues-rock jam called “I’m Glad It’s Christmas Time.” It’s a parody of ZZ Top’s “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide,” substituting Santa Claus for the highway-cruisin’ narrator of the original: “Easin’ down the highway in my red Christmas sleigh…” The single came out as part of the band’s free “Monsters Music Monthly” series, and the video shows all members getting groovy in a basement studio wearing festive hats and reindeer antlers.

Bison Bone
“Late December”
The Americana rock band Bison Bone put out “Late December” in 2018. The track boasts the band’s usual moody “cosmic country” and Courtney Whitehead’s deep twang, lamenting holiday heartbreak — “You walked out the door / On December 24th” — in a way that doesn’t sound cheesy at all.
Judy Collins
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
Colorado treasure Judy Collins has released several Christmas-themed albums over the years and covered nearly every classic there is to cover. On 1994’s Come Rejoice!, a standout track is the melancholy classic “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” The song was originally written by Kim Gannon and Walter Kent and recorded by Bing Crosby in 1943, speaking to the numerous U.S. soldiers who were overseas in the midst of World War II. It’s been covered countless times, but Collins’s one-minute-long version doubles down on the loneliness as her ethereal voice floats through what sounds like a boundless void — totally alone.

Collins also released originals, too, including the track “The Blizzard,” which first appeared on 1990’s Fires of Eden, the first outright tribute she ever wrote to her home. The rippling piano ballad recounts a night spent stranded in a blizzard near Estes and meeting a kind stranger. The song is a Collins classic, but its message of comfort and compassion is pure holiday spirit: “There’s a light in the window and a place called home / At the end of the storm.”

John Denver
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
The sunny-smiled singer-songwriter John Denver was known for his odes to the West, but he trafficked in all heart-warming strains of Americana. From his 1975 Rocky Mountain Christmas, we recommend his version of the 1939 story-song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Denver’s rendition boasts a jaunty piano line and — shockingly — favors fun instrumentation over vocal shlock. Denver's choirboy tones also lend themselves nicely to “Silver Bells.”

And Denver always represented for his adopted Western home, no matter the season. On Rocky Mountain Christmas, he doubled down on the Colorado atmospherics, including the meditative “Aspenglow” and the cringey “Please, Daddy (Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas).” Our pick, however, is the lovely “Christmas for Cowboys,” hinged on Denver’s unending appreciation for this magnificent landscape: “So many gifts have been opened today / Ours is the sky and the wide open range."

Dressy Bessy
“Hopped Up (on Xmas)” and “All the Right Reasons”
Indie-pop favorite Dressy Bessy spices up its festive winter offerings with manic jingle bells in the background. On “All the Right Reasons,” Tammy Ealom sweetly encourages going outside to build a snowman with lighthearted-yet-tongue-in-cheek fa-la-la-la-la’s, then fades out over a hum of dreeeeidel dreidel. On “Hopped Up (on Xmas),” Ealom raps with distorted vocals over mad-making organs, asking Mom to exchange her gift for “cold hard cash.”
DeVotchKa
Overture of The Nightmare Before Christmas
Since the 1993 release of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, many people have adopted the dark-comedy animated musical as a holiday favorite. The Danny Elfman soundtrack has also attracted fans, and in 2008, Disney released a cover album of the soundtrack called Nightmare Revisited. DeVotchKa, Denver’s beloved avant-pop ensemble, contributed the film’s overture, and the band's take is as twisted, spooky and spunky as you’d hope.

FACE Vocal Band
“O Holy Night”
The Boulder-based a cappella group FACE Vocal Band keeps busy during the holiday season, selling out most of its performances in the region this month. A few years ago, the vocal group got delayed amid inclement December weather in the Dallas airport. Before the bandmates got out, they embarked on a mini-tour through the terminals, performing holiday songs to lift stranded passengers’ spirits. Maybe all-vocal music isn’t your thing, but that story is downright charming. We recommend FACE’s rendition of “O Holy Night” for that one note — you’ll know it when you hear it.

The Fray
"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)"
In 2006, the Fray delivered this faithful rendition of the 1971 original, written and performed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, with support from the Harlem Community Choir. The Fray's take still incorporates a rangy choir that echoes the original. Isaac Slade’s gritty soul-growl is substituted for Lennon’s voice, and instead of protesting the Vietnam War, Slade could’ve been protesting any number of conflicts. This hasn’t been the Fray’s only foray into holiday music; in 2009, the band released a Christmas EP including five traditional carols with a religious bent, including “Silent Night” and “Away in a Manger."

Jarrod Walker
"Christmas in Colorado"
Our newest favorite comes from Billy Strings banjoist Jarrod Walker, who released "Christmas in Colorado" on his Bandcamp. The song gives nods to such Colorado staples as green chili and pot, with tongue-in-cheek lyrics that will make you laugh out loud. Green chiles roasted by a roadside fire / Tamales steaming up in rows / Rudolph, buddy, why are your eyes / Starting to match your nose?"

King Cardinal
“Christmas List”
Indie-folk band King Cardinal loves the holidays. Along with 2018's bouncy, horn-laced “Christmas List,” the Brennan Mackey-led project released “Alone on Christmas Eve” in 2017, a romantic — if slightly desperate — plea for companionship, complete with soft strumming and delicate chimes. 
The Lumineers
“Blue Christmas”
"Deck the Halls"
It’s hard to listen to “Blue Christmas” without comparing a rendition to Elvis Presley’s 1957 version and the frankly batshit/genius harmonizing of the Jordanaires. But the Lumineers strip back the instrumentation and deliver the sentiments unadorned. Lead singer Wesley Schultz sounds appropriately strained on the emotional chorus, while Neyla Pekarek lends a hand with her soothing backing vocals and harmonies.

And in 2023, the Lumineers revisited the Christmas classic "Deck the Halls." We may be used to the jolly, upbeat rhythm that aligns with the cheery, merry lyrics, but this cover takes the melancholy route, crafting a cannon of nostalgia that may have you reaching for a box of tissues.

Moon Magnet
Kyle’s Christmas Special The Soundtrack 3
In 2017, Rubedo’s Kyle J. Gray collaborated with friends from Denver to Santa Fe to create this holiday-themed compilation, recorded and mixed at Moon Magnet Studios. The songs range in style from parody twang to experimental electronica, but all deal in jubilant silliness. On the hilarious and catchy “Why Did I Buy a Tie,” the Denver rappers in Fed Rez ruminate on the pointless pressure of giving gifts to people you only kind of know. With tracks like “I Don’t Mind Getting Coal” and “Mr. Christmas Times Intervention,” this playlist is more than twenty minutes of Christmas music that doesn’t insist on the saccharine but still makes you feel good.

OneRepublic
"Silent Night"
Yeah, we’re still counting OneRepublic. Ryan Tedder and company performed at the 2011 National Christmas Tree lighting in Washington, D.C.,  and did a sweet, pop-inflected version of “Silent Night.”

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats with Julie Davis
“Baby It’s Cold Outside”
Nathaniel Rateliff and Julie Davis's cover of this controversial tune has survived the radio bans, probably thanks to the vocalists’ gender flip. Recalling an earlier version by Ann-Margret, Bluebook’s Davis performs as the cajoling suitor, while low-voiced Rateliff plays it shy. “Say, what’s in this drink?”
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
“Colorado Christmas”
Though “Colorado Christmas” was written by a Chicagoan, the late great songwriter Steve Goodman, the beloved Nitty Gritty Dirt Band hit describes the experience of so many Californians ditching the beach for a home in the mountains. The tune is an ode to winter in the Rockies, deemed “the closest thing to heaven on this planet anywhere.”

Plume Varia
"Hanukkah Light"
It may not be a Christmas song, but Plume Varia released this somber, hypnotic piano ballad just before the start of Hanukkah in 2018. The holiday celebrates resistance, tradition and light amid overwhelming darkness, but the duo's track illuminated the mourning that followed the massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue and evidence of rising anti-Semitism. Yet its quiet layers also build to a powerful, haunting progression.

The Yawpers
"Christmas in Oblivion"
From Bloodshot Records' 2017 13 Days of Xmas, the Yawpers' contribution is a message of despair delivered with a gently crescendoing Springsteen growl over the whisper of jingle bells in the distance. At the end, the song appropriately fades out — until next year.

This list was originally published on December 14, 2018, and has been updated.