Holiday Albums by Female Artists

For the holidays, why not enjoy your favorite women musicians on these single- and multi-artist albums?

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Women of Christmas in the Garden of Lilith

Artists on this disc include Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris, Judy Collins, Karla Bonoff, Christine McVie, Victoria Williams, Jill Sobule, Nicolette Larson, Juliana Hatfield, Donna Lewis, Linda Eber and Deborah Gibson. (NOT from the Lilith Fair tours.) Also out of print -- you'll want to keep an eye out for a used copy.

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Holiday Times by Ella Jenkins

Ella Jenkins is joined by a children's chorus on this album which includes favorite Christmas songs, plus some Hanukkah selections, a Kwanzaa tune, something for Chinese New Year and St. Patrick's day, and some general winter holiday songs including Over the River, Winters I Used to Know and Dark Winter Day.

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A Holiday Carole

A 2011 recording including mostly Christmas and winter songs, with "Chanukah Prayer" and "New Year's Day" as well. A few of the songs aren't ones I think of as Christmas but work well in this context.

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In the Heart of Winter

Pianist Robin Spielberg with Christmas and winter solstice favorites. Her haunting, peaceful solo piano pieces are more gentle arrangements than usual for some well-known tunes.

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Mistletoe and Wine: A Seasonal Collection

A Mediaeval Baebes take on Christmas, Yule, and Winter. Two songs are new; the others are from previous albums, not necessarily on a winter holiday theme.

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12 Songs of Christmas

Etta James does the vocals on this album, which includes a lot of standards and her signature "Merry Christmas Baby."

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Cool Yule

Bette Midler's 2006 holiday album, in a jazzy/pop style. Includes Christmas songs, more on the secular side except for "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," plus some for winter and New Years Eve, and "From a Distance" for some holiday hope.

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Come Darkness Come Light: Songs of Christmas

Mary Chapin Carpenter sings a few traditional Christmas songs -- and some new ones she's written just for this album.

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And Winter Came ...

Enya's haunting New Age/Celtic impressionist style is applied to some traditional and some original material.

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American Chanukah: Songs of Chanukah and Peace

Robin Spielberg, on solo piano, plays traditional, contemporary and original pieces commemorating Hanukkah and peace, for the troubled Middle East and for the world.

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At the Turning of the Year

Priscilla Herdman, Anne Hills and Cindy Mangsen present a Winter Solstice themed collection.

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A Midwinter Night's Dream

by Loreena McKennitt. This Celtic-oriented holiday album includes a few remastered songs from her 1995 album, and new songs as well. This edition is for gift-giving, including a DVD documentary of a McKennitt tour.

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The Runaway Christmas Tree

Christine Lavin and the Mistletones in an album designed to keep one from taking the season too seriously. Her offbeat humor comes through in "A Christmas/ Kwanzaa/ Solstice/ Chanukah/ Ramadan/ Boxing Day Song" and "Tacobel Canon" among others.

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A Christmas Celebration

A 2006 Celtic Woman holiday album, interpreting some classics in their signature Celtic harmonies.

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Wynonna: A Classic Christmas

Wynonna Judd performs secular and religious Christmas classics -- if you're a Wynonna fan, especially of her more "pop" styling, this 2006 album is for you.

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Ouroboros: Seasons of Life

Kay Gardner's oratorio is performed by female soloists, an all-female 100-voice orchestra and a 50-woman orchestra, and is directed by Nan Washburn of The Women's Philharmonic. Gardner's eight movements reflect the stages of a woman's life and the seasons of the ancient Celtic cycle of the year, beginning with birth at the Winter Solstice, moving through Spring, Beltane, Summer, Autumn and Death.

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The Christmas Collection

Another Robin Spielberg album, 2002, this one with more of a religious Christmas slant.

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Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas

This 2006 digitally-remastered version of a 1967 album includes 27 pieces -- the first 13 are mostly religiously-themed Christmas songs, and the rest other religious standards that aren't linked in any essential way to the winter holidays. Her voice is smooth, backed with a chorus. More popular in style than swing or gospel, to my ear.

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Lewis, Jone Johnson. "Holiday Albums by Female Artists." ThoughtCo, Aug. 27, 2020, thoughtco.com/holiday-albums-by-female-artists-3530579. Lewis, Jone Johnson. (2020, August 27). Holiday Albums by Female Artists. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/holiday-albums-by-female-artists-3530579 Lewis, Jone Johnson. "Holiday Albums by Female Artists." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/holiday-albums-by-female-artists-3530579 (accessed June 1, 2023).