Tagged: Holiday Special

Airs Monday, December 24 at 9:00 p.m. What makes a song last? Join host Philip Furia for an enduring body of holiday songs, performed generation after generation by musicians and singers in styles that range from jazz to blues, rock to country. Hear the stories behind the songs, and hear familiar artists singing them. The program shows how the Great American Songbook came into being during the first half of the 20th century through the interplay of the sheet-music publishing industry known as "Tin Pan Alley," the Broadway musical, the emergence of radio in the 1920s, the advent of sound movies, and the creation of a jazz.

Airs Sunday, December 23 at 8:00 p.m.  To celebrate the 10th anniversary of sold-out concerts around New England, A Christmas Celtic Sojourn host Brian O'Donovan has assembled some of the best musicians, singers, and dancers imaginable from around the Celtic world, and beyond! This year's live show is again led by music director Seamus Egan, leading his groundbreaking group Solas, along with harpist Catriona McKay, fiddlers Chris Stout and Winifred Horan on fiddle and cellist Natalie Haas. Singers include Chieftains vocalist Alyth McCormack from Scotland, the four-part harmonies of Navan, and the great vocals of Mick McAuley and Eamonn McElholm.

Airs Saturday, December 22 at 8:00 p.m.  Once again on the darkest night of the year, NPR Music presents the illuminating tradition From New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine: the 32nd annual Paul Winter Solstice Celebration, featuring gospel singer Theresa Thomason, Mbira Master Chris Berry and The Paul Winter Consort with Paul McCandless, Eugene Friesen, Paul Sullivan, Eliot Wadopian, Jamey Haddad, Tim Brumfield and the glorious Cathedral Pipe Organ.