Free iTunes Downloads

This month, you’ll be noticing a particular holiday slant to our free tracks. What can we say? We’re feeling the spirit. Forgive us for being overly, well, jazzed about Stephen Colbert’s “Another Christmas Song” — the iTunes Store does get a mention in it, after all. In our defense, the big band instrumentation and Colbert’s instantly recognizable (yet impressively easy on the ears) voice help to present the set of humorous lyrics with a swingin’ effortlessness. It’s the perfect track to open the equally excellent A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! soundtrack. If you like the track, check out the album.

Our Discovery Download puts the focus on a different genre each week, offering up a free track we think is worth your attention. We’re anticipating the dawn of a new year this week with the ten-strong, male, a capella group Straight No Chaser. The perennial New Year’s Eve favorite, “Auld Lang Syne,” is given a bit of a soulful spin with this warm, R&B-inspired version. If you like the track, check out the album.

This month, you’ll be noticing a particular holiday slant to our free tracks. What can we say? We’re feeling the spirit. British soprano Sarah Brightman has become one of the most popular crossover artists working today. Her new album Winter Symphony is a grandiose and spectral collection of seasonal favorites. This version of “Silent Night” allows her to sound like an an unearthly snow angel. If you like the track, check out the album.

This week, we’re following the holiday route with a track from Celtic superstar Enya. Her soaring melodies and bewitching instrumentation has made her one of the most distinctive and beloved vocalists in the world. The award-winning, multi-million-selling singer’s new album is devoted to the imagery and sounds of winter with a Christmas slant although don’t except any covers of “Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer”. This 15th century hymn gets a distinctive, dreamy re-working here. If you like the track, check out the album.

This month, you’ll be noticing a particular holiday slant to our free tracks. What can we say? We’re feeling the spirit. Faith Hill is known for her new country stylings, but on this version of the holiday hymn, she shows her wide-ranging vocal skills. It’s an emotional, orchestral reading of one of the most beloved holiday favorites. If you like the track, check out the album.

This week, we’re following the holiday route with contemporary R&B crooner, Brian McKnight, who here adds a slick, big-band arrangement to the song originally made famous by Andy Williams in 1983, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” This track comes courtesy of McKnight’s new holiday release, I’ll Be Home For Christmas. If you like the track, check out the album.

We’re spotlighting great holiday tracks this time out, and this one’s an original song written by Melissa Etheridge, taken from her new album, A New Thought For Christmas. No ringing sleigh bells on this one, this is pure feeling in that earthy, rocking style that Melissa Etheridge does best. If you like the song, check out the album.

Alongside members J.D. Andrew and Michael Wayne Butler, Oscar-winning actor Billy Bob Thornton makes up the trio known as the Boxmasters. With a touch of honky-tonk, a touch Brit-loving southern rock, and a fair amount of holiday spirit, the Boxmasters bring us an original holiday tune – “Slower Than Christmas.” If you like the track, check out the album.

Here’s a holiday favorite from a man who’s sung his share of standards throughout the years. Tony Bennett comes out swinging with the big band sounds of the Count Basie Orchestra on this new recording from his latest album. Bennett sails through the vocals, conjuring up those classic images of snow-covered meadows and the elusive Parson Brown while the band cruises through the melody in an elegant stride. If you like the track, check out the album.

Meredith Willson wrote this tune back in 1951 – just a few years before he would pen his best-known work, the 1958 musical, The Music Man The versatile Harry Connick Jr. adds his characteristic soul and charm to this version, which gives a touch of his New Orleans big band style. This track is available on Harry Connick Jr.’s new holiday album, What a Night!. If you like the track, check out the album.