LISTEN: Villagers, Brian Kennedy, Mark Feehily, Ryan Sheridan & Red Empire all weigh in with Xmas tunes!

There's an avalanche of seasonal tunes and albums vying for a space in Irish sacks and stockings this Yule!
One of our faves is A Co-Present Christmas, which finds the likes of Villagers, Montauk Hotel, Session Motts, Maria Doyle Kennedy and I Have A Tribe singing their hearts out for Pieta House. Bag yourself a copy from thecopresent.bandcamp.com/album/a-co-present-christmas-3 for a tenner.
‘Fairytale Of New York’, ‘Last Christmas’ and ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ are among the chestnuts being given that special Brian Kennedy treatment on Christmassy, which gets a live airing on December 11 in St. Ann’s Church, Dublin.
One of the other songs he’s covered, ‘River’, also features on Mark Feehily’s Christmas album, which reveals him to be an Otis Redding and Mariah Carey fan as well.
Ryan Sheridan has come up with a brand new tune, ‘Frozen In Time’, which finds him shacked up in a large studio with Pretty Little Choirs.
Red Empire raise awareness and much needed funds for Inner City Helping Homeless – hit [email protected] up if you’d like to lend a hand – with ‘A Dublin Christmas’.
Don Mescall, the Limerick penner of hits for Rascal Flatts, Backstreet Boys, Geri Halliwell and Richie Havens, weighs in with ‘The Hour Before Christmas’, which totally tears at the heartstrings.
Of somewhat older vintage and qualifying as Irish under the grandparent rule is the The Beatles’ The Christmas Records, a gorgeous 7” vinyl box-set that drops on December 15.