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New Jersey Christmas Playlist 2024


By Gary Wien

originally published: 12/25/2024


Many of the world's best musicians have come from New Jersey and that includes plenty of artists who are mostly known to music fans in the Garden State.  Here is a playlist if you're looking for some holiday music that is different from what you'll hear on most radio stations.  A few of these are popular tracks, but the majority may be new to you.  If you're tired of songs that take place Before Christmas, you can jump to Christmas Day for a few tracks.

The entire playlist is available on YouTube here.  There are many more tracks from NJ indie artists we've received over the years, but we decided to create it as a YouTube playlist so users can simply here them all from start to finish (sorry about the commercials!).  And, unfortunately, some of the tracks we wanted to include were not available on YouTube or were not shareable due to age restriction blocking.  But hopefully you'll give it a listen and maybe discover some artists for the first time and check out the rest of their catalog.  Best wishes to everyone this holiday season.

BEFORE CHRISTMAS TRACKS

1) Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

2) All I Want For Christmas is You - My Chemical Romance

3) Please Come Home For Christmas - Southside Johnny

4) Every Single Christmas - Nicole Atkins

5) Feels Like Christmas - The Wag

6) Let it Snow - Matt O'Ree

7) Santa Baby - Eryn Shewell

8) You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch - The Whirling Dervishes

9) Feels Like Christmas - Foggy Otis

10) It's Not Christmas If I Can't Have You - Mike Dalton

11) Little Drummer Boy - DeSol

12) Coventry Carol - Karen Mansfield

13) Christmas All Over Again - Red Wanting Blue

14) Dear Santa - Every Damn Day

15) Back Door Santa - Bon Jovi

16) The Cookie Song - Amanda Duncan

17) Christmas Wrapping 2020 - Bryan Hansen Band ft. Kim Boyko

18) The Christmas Tree on Salem Street - Arlon Bennett

19) Christmas - Blues Traveler

20) Blue Christmas - Wiser Time

21) The First Noel - Brian Fallon

22) Do You Hear What I Hear? - Whitney Houston

23) Merry Christmas, I Guess - Anthony D'Amato

24) Christmas Time In The City - Mary Chapin Carpenter

25) Ho Ho Ho & A Bottle of Rum - Cucumbers

26) Christmas Vacation - Dan Amato

27) Little Saint Nick - Brian Erickson

28) Under the Mistletow - Thomas Johnston

29) Silent Night - Debra Devi

30) O' Holy Night - Patti Smith

31) Christmas in Jersey City - David W. Jacobsen

32) Christmas Must Be Tonight - Christian Beach

 




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CHRISTMAS DAY

33) Christmas Day - Weeklings

34) Christmas (I Remember) - Smithereens

35) Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight) - Successful Failures

36) I Wish Every Day Could Be Like Xmas - Jersey Syndicate

37) Merry Christmas Santa - Al Holmes

38) Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - Lisa Bouchelle

39) Christmas Blessings - Helen O'Shea

40) Christmas in Jersey - Kevin John Allen

41) 8 Days (a Chanukah tune) - Jon Caspi

42) Happy Xmas - Glen Burtnick

43) Another Christmas Song - Stephen Colbert



Gary Wien has been covering the arts since 2001 and has had work published with Jersey Arts, Upstage Magazine, Elmore Magazine, Princeton Magazine, Backstreets and other publications. He is a three-time winner of the Asbury Music Award for Top Music Journalist and the author of Beyond the Palace (the first book on the history of rock and roll in Asbury Park) and Are You Listening? The Top 100 Albums of 2001-2010 by New Jersey Artists. In addition, he runs New Jersey Stage and the online radio station The Penguin Rocks. He can be contacted at gary@newjerseystage.com.



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EVENT PREVIEWS

Count

Count Basie Center for the Arts presents Graham Nash

(RED BANK, NJ) -- Graham Nash, two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and founding member of both the Hollies and Crosby, Stills & Nash, will perform at Count Basie Center for the Arts on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. Nash will be joined on stage by Todd Caldwell (keyboards and vocals), Adam Minkoff (bass, drums, guitars and vocals) and Zach Djanikian (guitars, mandolin, drums and vocals), performing favorites from across his sixty-year career. Showtime is 7:30pm.



bergenPAC

bergenPAC presents Straight No Chaser - Summer: The 90's Part 2

(ENGLEWOOD, NJ) -- After a totally fly 2024 summer tour packed full of 90s boy band, pop, and R&B hits, RIAA-certified Gold a cappella group Straight No Chaser is back by popular demand with "Straight No Chaser Summer: 90s Part 2." The tour comes to Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC) on Thursday, July 8, 2025 at 7:00pm.



An

An Interview with Dan Kurtz of The New Deal

Formed in 1999, Toronto, Canada based trio The New Deal, is a pioneer in jam-based electronic music. The group was founded by remaining members Dan Kurtz (bass) and Jamie Shields (keys), along with Darren Shearer (drums) who left tND in 2011. Since its inception, tND has remained committed to its improvisational roots and has served as a model for other jamtronica bands bridging the gap between multiple music genres as well as the border between Canada and the United States.



Rick

Rick Springfield, John Waite, Wang Chung, and Paul Young to bring the "I Want My 80s Tour" to NJPAC

(NEWARK, NJ) -- Get ready to revive the spirit of the 1980s! Iconic rock star and eternal heartthrob Rick Springfield, a true emblem of the '80s music scene, is set to take the stage on Saturday, July 12, 2025 at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). Showtime is 7:00pm.



Young

Young the Giant to Play Tropicana Atlantic City

(ATLANTIC CITY, NJ) -- Critically-acclaimed, multi-platinum selling band Young the Giant announces the In The Open 2025 Acoustic Tour. An intimate concert experience performed in beautiful spaces and venues around the country, the band will be supported by Cassandra Coleman (debut album produced by Jack Antonoff out June 6 via Warner) throughout. Locally, the tour comes to Tropicana Atlantic City on Saturday, July 12, 2025.



FEATURED EVENTS

ART | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | MUSIC | THEATRE | COMMUNITY

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or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.


Straight

Straight No Chaser - Summer: The 90’s Part 2

Tuesday, July 08, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC)
30 North Van Brunt Street, Englewood, NJ 07631
category: music


 

Frisson

Frisson Winds

Thursday, July 10, 2025 @ 7:30pm
The Morris Museum Back Deck
6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown, NJ 07960
category: music


 

Three

Three American Troubadours: A Tribute to James Taylor, Carly Simon, and Carole King

Thursday, July 10, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Axelrod Performing Arts Center
100 Grant Avenue, Deal Park, NJ 07723
category: music


 

Candlelight

Candlelight Concert: Tribute to Queen and The Beatles

Friday, July 11, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Monmouth University - Pollak Theatre
400 Cedar Avenue, West Long Branch, NJ 07764
category: music


 

Motor

Motor City Revue

Friday, July 11, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Bell Theater
101 Crawfords Corner Road, Holmdel, NJ 07733
category: music


 



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