… Which festive folk album will take home the crown in our Christmassy competition?
We’ve all got a Christmas folk album that we love to listen to on repeat in December, whether we’re decorating the tree, wrapping presents, or enjoying a mulled wine or two with friends.
But, out of all the festive folk albums out there, which one reigns supreme?
Introducing the World Cup of Christmas Folk!
Cat McGill, Cofounder at Live to your Living Room said: “We all have our much-loved albums that we play at this time of year, but we were curious to see which one was the ultimate fan favourite.
“We asked our fans and supporters to nominate their favourite albums in November. We were originally going to run the competition with just 16 albums, but we had such an amazing response, we decided to showcase 64 instead!”
How it will work
We’ll be using the bracket system, commonly used to determine the winner in sporting events like the World Cup (or for those who don’t care for sports, the World Cup of Crisps!)
We’ll start with 64 Christmas folk albums and whittle them down to 16 in the group stages. We’ll then knock these down to eight, four, and a final two.
We’ll announce the winning album on New Year’s Eve in time for all the festivities!
How to vote
We’ll carry out the voting on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/LiveToYourLR
We’ll create a post for each voting round, and followers can cast a vote by reacting with the appropriate response, whether that’s a like, a love, or a wow.
(Don’t worry, this will all make more sense when the voting starts!)
In the case of a tie, the Live to your Living Room team will have the final say, but we’re sure it won’t come to this.
If you don’t want to miss out on any of the rounds, you can set Facebook up so you receive a notification every time we post:
- Click the ‘Following’ button at the top of our page – to the right of our page logo
- Click the ‘Content’ button
- Choose ‘Standard’ rather than ‘Highlights’
- Click ‘Update’ to save your settings
A bit of festive fun
“This is the first time we’ve tried something like this, and we’re hoping it will give artists and fans alike a brilliant opportunity to celebrate the unbridled joy of folk music”, Cat said.
“Fans can discuss their favourite songs and artists can get in on the fun and show people why they should vote for them. We’ll also share Bandcamp links, so hopefully we’ll all find some brilliant new music to get us through the festive season!
“All the nominated albums and artists are truly excellent and are all winners to us at Live to your Living Room.”
The World Cup of Christmas Folk nominees
- A Winter Union – Sooner After Solstice
- Andy Turner – Shepherds Arise
- Bella Hardy – Bright Morning Star
- Belshazzar’s Feast – Stocking Fillers
- Bryony Griffith & Alice Jones – Wesselbobs
- Burd Ellen – Says The Never Beyond
- Cara Dillon – Upon a Winter’s Night
- Charlie Dore – The Man Who Built Christmas
- Cherish the Ladies – On Christmas Night
- Chris Wood, Hugh Lupton, Robert Harbron, John Dipper & Olivia Ross
- Coope Boyes & Simpson – A Garland of Carols
- Coope, Boyes, Simpson, Freya, Fraser, Boyes – Voices at the Door
- Coope, Boyes, Simpson, Freya, Fraser, Boyes – Fire and Sleet and Candlelight
- Cooper & Toller – Year’s End
- Doug Eunson & Sarah Matthews – Chimes
- Eliza Carthy & Jon Boden – Glad Christmas Comes
- Emmy the Great and Tim Wheeler – This is Christmas
- Finest Kind – I am Christmas
- Finest Kind – Feasts and Spirits
- Free Reed (various artists) – Mid Winter: The Songs & Music Of Christmas And The Turning Of The Year
- GreenMatthews – Midwinter Revels
- Hanneke Cassle – O Come Emmanuel
- Ian Giles, John Spiers, Jon Bowden & Giles Lewin
- Jackie Oates & John Spiers – A Midwinter’s Night
- Janice Burns & Jon Doran
- Jim Causley – A Causley Christmas
- Joan Baez – Noël
- John Kirkpatrick – Carolling and Crumpets
- Kate & Anna McGarrigle – The McGarrigle Christmas Hour
- Kate Rusby – Angels and Men
- Kate Rusby – Sweet Bells
- Kate Rusby – While Mortals Sleep
- Kerfuffle – Lighten the Dark
- Lady Maisery, Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith – Awake Arise
- Maddy Prior & the Carnival Band – A Christmas Caper
- Maddy Prior & the Carnival Band – A Tapestry of Carols
- Magpie Lane – Knock at the Knocker, Ring at the Bell
- Magpie Lane – The 25th
- Magpie Lane – Wassail! A Country Christmas
- Melrose Quartet – The Rudolph Variations
- Miranda Sykes & Jim Causley – Midwinter
- O’Hooley & Tidow – Winterfolk
- Sneak’s Noyse – Christmas is Now Drawing Near
- St Agnes Fountain – Night of a Million Stars
- St Agnes Fountain – Twelve Years of Christmas
- Steeleye Span – Winter
- Steeleye Span – Wintersmith
- The Albion Christmas Band – All Are Safely Gathered in
- The Albion Christmas Band – An Albion Christmas
- The Christmas Revels – Music from the George & Dragon Inn
- The Kipper Family – Arrest these Merry Gentlemen
- The Mellstock Band – Under The Greenwood Tree (The Carols & Dances Of Hardy’s Wessex)
- The Outside Track – Christmas Star
- The Oxford Waits – Hey for Christmas
- The Unthanks – In Winter
- The Watersons – Frost & Fire
- The Wilderness Yet – Turn the Year Round
- The Yetties – A Dorset Christmas
- Tim Edey – A Celtic Christmas
- Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer – A Sound of Christmas Past
- Vox Hunters – Yule Fest
- Waterson:Carthy – Holy Heathens and the Old Green Man
- Windborne – To Warm the Winter Hearth
- Winter Wonderband – Joy Illimited
The competition starts on Monday 1 December, when we’ll be announcing all the nominated albums, so don’t forget to follow us on Facebook to have your say!