Emmylou Harris : Calling My Children Home [ purchase ] My prayers go out to the community of Newtown, CT. In a recent bluegrass jam,...

Dan Bern : Kid’s Prayer [ purchase City Folk Live X ] [ Download the song from Bern’s Bandcamp page ] I am breaking my “no repeat” g...

  [YouTube link: click the image above] We Are the Children. In my mind, there is no song more to the point of this week’s them...

[ purchase ] The Circle Game was the first song I thought of to begin this week‘s theme. Joni Mitchell walks us though various stages ...

As you can see above, our theme this week is Childhood. Before we get to the music, let me offer a moment of silence to honor the childr...

Jorma Kaukonen : Holiday Marmalade [ purchase ] I grew up a secular Jew celebrating Hanukkah, and I think that the limit of my celeb...

Christine Lavin & The Mistletones : A Christmas / Kwanzaa / Solstice / Chanukah / Ramadan / Boxing Day Song [ purchase Christine ...

The Invincible Czars: Arabian Dance [ purchase ] Welcome to a week of musical transformations for the holidays. What do I mean by th...

Nightmare : Akahana no Tonakai (Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer) unavailable for purchase It's not that I don't like some...

Cheech & Chong : The Police Got My Car [ purchase Dr. Demento Presents the Greatest Christmas Novelty CD of All Time ] Christmas...

Bluesboy Jag: Wassail Song Source (it is a free download embedded in a zipped file) On the one hand, I applaud the “cigar box” concep...

Sugarland: Nuttin' For Christmas [ purchase ] The crass commercialism of the holidays has always seemed to me the ugliest part of ...

[ purchase ] Other than “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer,” I can’t really think of a holiday song that I truly hate. There are some t...

Let me open the new week on Star Maker Machine with a wish and a warning. First, let me wish our readers the very best of holiday season...

Sarah Jarosz: Ring Them Bells (orig. Bob Dylan) [ purchase ] Our "rings" theme was designed to honor the Olympics, but even a...

Rocky Votolato : Makers [ purchase ] One of the many things that I have enjoyed over the past (nearly) year contributing to this blog...

Uncle Dave Macon : Governor Al Smith [ purchase Uncle Dave Macon: The Very Best of ] A topical song recorded by Uncle Dave Macon in ...

Grateful Dead: Casey Jones Pete Seeger: Casey Jones [ purchase Grateful Dead version ] [ purchase Pete Seeger version ] Earlier...

Warren Zevon : Werewolves of London [ purchase Warren Zevon: Excitable Boy ] This week’s theme got me immediately thinking about unic...

[ purchase the Drive-By Truckers’ version with Jason Isbell on lead ] [ purchase Jason Isbell’s live album being released on November 19,...