Wilmington Christmas playlist: Holiday songs from Charlie Daniels, Beta Radio and more

If you haven't cued up the Christmas music yet, it's about that time.

And while everyone's got their favorites, from stately carols like "Silent Night" to such poppy standards as "Last Christmas," it's always fun to mix a few new tunes into the holiday playlist.

If you want to keep your Christmas listening local, Wilmington bands and songwriters have been cranking out the tunes this year, and that includes the time-honored tradition of penning new Christmas songs.

(Speaking of traditions, a collection of top Wilmington songwriters will assemble at Bourgie Nights downtown on Friday for the annual Christmas Unplugged show, with each artist playing a short set featuring one original holiday tune and two others plucked from the big ol' Songbook of Christmas.)

Here's quick look some new Christmas songs by Wilmington artists, as well as a few time-honored Port City classics. Playlist below.

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Annie Tracy

'DECEMBER'

Wilmington musical theater star-turned-pop-singer Annie Tracy has had quite the year, releasing a stellar EP of soulful gems ("Act I"), playing Mary J. Blige's Strength of a Woman festival, collaborating on a song with Robin Thicke and racking up the streams on Spotify.

Over Thanksgiving, Tracy released a poppy love ballad of a Christmas song, "December," that's a beautiful coda to 2023. In conjunction with the single, Tracy and her mom, Chrissy Ogden Marsh, have released a series of love-themed Christmas greeting cards through Marsh's Bonair Daydreams imprint. They're available in Wilmington at Occasions Just Write in the Cotton Exchange downtown, and at the Blue Moon Gift Shop off Racine Drive.

Beta Radio

'THE SONGS THE SEASON BRINGS,' Vols. 1-5

The longtime Wilmington indie folk duo Beta Radio, made up of friends Benjamin Mabry and Brent Holloman, just released their fifth volume of orginal and traditional Christmas songs, a project they began in 2015.

Vol. 5 includes gorgeous covers of Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmas Time" and Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time Is Here," and the original "Space Christmastime Continuum," a cosmic meditation on the reason for the season.

Myth City

'I'D BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS (IF YOU'D LET ME)'

Wilmington songwriters Benjamin Lusk and Tanner Lackey, who perform as the duo Myth City, just released a pair of Christmas songs. Lusk's "I'd Be Home for Christmas (If You'd Let Me)" has a classic, groovy Hawaiian vibe, steel guitar included, while Lackey's "W.W.S.D." is more of a folk-rock ballad, with low-key vocals and a warm, melancholy feel.

Myth City will be playing at Bourgie on Dec. 8.

Kevin Rhodes & Tom Gossin

'DOGHOUSE CHRISTMAS'

Wilmington songwriter Rhodes just released a trio of folk-rock gems under the name Navigation, and now he and Tom Gossin, formerly of the country band Gloriana, have put this fun little Christmas tune into the world.

They'll be debuting it at Bourgie Nights Dec. 8, and playing it at the annual Holiday Revue at the Brooklyn Arts Center Dec. 15 with the Paper Stars. To preview or pre-order, click here.

Sean Thomas Gerard

'WHEN WE HIT DECEMBER'

Released last year, this tune from one of Wilmington's best songwriters has a slowly lilting bounce and spine-tingling lyrics: "I don't need a shooting star/ I don't need a fifth of whiskey or a jazz guitar ... When we hit December/ It's easy to remember /All I need for Christmas, my love, is you."

De La Noche & Howard Ivans

"PERFECT LIGHT (NIGHT DIVINE)"

Released last year, this collaboration between Wilmington electro-pop duo De La Noche (Brian Weeks and Robert Rogan of indie rockers Summer Set) and Howard Ivans, aka former Wilmington musician Ivan Howard of The Rosebuds, sounds like a '50s girl-group hit filtered through a winter wonderland. You can almost feel the chill in the air, even as the song's familiar tones will warm your heart.

The Paper Stars

'CHRISTMAS TIME AGAIN'

Tres Altman of Wilmington indie folk act released this song in 2020, and it's got a nicely twangy, gospel-style groove, with moving lyrics about the importance of friends and family.

The Rosebuds

'CHRISTMAS TREE ISLAND'

The Rosebuds were an indie rock and pop band that formed in Wilmington in the early 2000s and went on to sign with Durham's Merge Records, the indie label for which they recorded a half-dozen stellar records in the 2000s and 2010s. In 2012 the band released "Christmas Tree Island," a record that somehow managed to build melodic bridges between childhood nostalgia, seasonal depression and the ever-loving Christmas spirit with songs that spanned multiple genres, from jangly rockers ("I Hear (Click, Click, Click)") and poppy delights ("Oh It's Christmas") to jazzy novelties ("Christmas Dan") and avant-sex-soul ("I'm Coming Home").

Charlie Daniels

'A CAROLINA CHRISTMAS CAROL'

Country music star Charlie Daniels, who died in 2020, grew up in Wilmington in the 1940s and '50s. In 2009, Daniels released "Joy the World" A Bluegrass Christmas." It contains "A Carolina Christmas Carol," a story-song about his days growing up Wilmington, and how, despite the annual lack of snow, his family "celebrated Christmas to the hilt" at his grandmother's house in Bladen County.

The Clamplamp Parade

'A HOLIDAY COMPILATION (DO NOT GATHER, 2020)'

Released right in the disorienting heart of the pandemic, this Port City Christmas music compilation was the brainchild of Wilmington musician Justin Lacy, whose tune "Newport Christmas Parade" opens the album.

Based on a letter from Lacy's mom about Christmases growing up in Newport, North Carolina, the song has ethereal, sugar-plum-fairy vibes, a few little-drummer-boy cadences and a nice, whispery hook.

Other highlights include Billy Heathen's epic, distortion-drenched "Is This Still ... " (about an awkward holiday gathering on Zoom) and "This Time of Mine (Brookside Carol)," by former Carolina Beach band Seeking Madras, whose spine-tingling harmonies recall indie band Fleet Foxes.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Christmas songs by Wilmington NC bands and musicians