Here are the members of the Class of 2009:

• Here's a beautiful late entry into our collection for this year: Eric Persing is mostly known as a developer of music software (he's the founder of Spectrasonics), though you'll love his piano arrrangement of this song. Linda McCrary was a member of the legendary group The McCrary's...but she has an even more fascinating story than that...which you can find out more about on the info-link on the song download page. They're sharing with us a gorgeous, soulful rendition of O Come, O Come Emmanuel (see the video). [Filed under Traditional Vocal]
• Elyse Saunders is a gifted young country music singer from Ontario, Canada. She's just released her first original Christmas single, and has made it available to share with all of you. It's called Eleven Crystal Angels. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• Lord Weatherby has created a delightful comedy song along the lines of Monster Mash or They're Coming To Take Me Away...except this one is for the Christmas holiday! It's called Santa Claus Is Freaking Me Out. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• Miché Fambro is not only a talented jazz vocalist, but also a superb guitarist. And fortunately for us, we get to hear both in one song, called I Remember Love, from his album In A Christmas Mood. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• Didi Pop is a character created by Deborah Poppink to bring music to kids, to teach and inspire them. She's recorded a special track for Christmas this year, and is making it available for free for all to enjoy. It's called Make Santa Happy Tonight. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• We're extremely honored to present a song from Phil Keaggy, acclaimed singer/songwriter/guitarist, and a personal favorite of ours for the past 35 years. Phil has received seven GMA Dove Awards, been nominated twice for Grammys and has been voted one of the world's top guitarists by the readers of Guitar Player magazine (i.e., he is "a musician's musician"). Phil's brand-new Christmas album is called Welcome Inn, and the very first track from the album is called Best Christmas Morn [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• Several new additions from Inner Splendor Media: First up, two lovely, haunting renditions of traditional Christmas favorites, delivered with a Celtic twist: Silent Night and O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Then, an instrumental version of the same O Come, O Come Emmanuel from the same album (In The Spirit Of Peace) and a solo piano version of The Twelve Days Of Christmas performed by Dizzy Reed (keyboardist from Guns N' Roses), from the album The Magic & Wonder of Christmas. [Filed under Traditional Vocal and Traditional Instrumental]
• James Madison Thomas returns with another tune from the Eighties, also sung by Joe Fish. It's called One Little Child. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• Nashville-based songstress Merry Ellen Kirk has just released an EP called Do You Hear What I Hear? It's available on a "free if you share it with 5 friends" or "pay what you want" basis. She's brought us a cut from the album to share with you. It's a wonderful duet rendition of O Holy Night, featuring Merry Ellen and David Ask. [Filed under Traditional Vocal]
• Larken Productions features the music of Larry Kinder and Ken Ruano. New this Christmas, they've crafted an album of holiday music called Just Another Christmas. They've brought us 3 songs to share with you: Just Another Christmas, O Come All Ye Faithful and a Silent Night/O Holy Night medley. For each CD sold, they'll be donating a dollar to Freedom Alliance, a scholarship fund for the children of fallen military heroes. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal and Traditional Instrumental]
• Linda Seeley returns again this year with more of her lovely solo piano music, this time with 3 songs from her album A Christmas Celebration: Carol Of The Bells, The First Noel and an O Come, O Come Emmanuel/It Came Upon A Midnight Clear medley. [Filed under Traditional Instrumental]
• Remember 1985? It was the era of We Are The World and Do They Know It's Christmas?. Big anthemic songs designed to focus public attention on human need. An indie band out of Western Pennsylvania called The Rummagers decided to do their part, with a song called Christmas Present (Christmas Past). The songwriter and driving force behind the song, Kevin Bensink, has reached back 25 years into the past and brought it to the present for us to share with you. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• Billy Gorilly is all about music for kids...especially music with an educational emphasis. But he's brought us a boogie-woogie instrumental treatment of Jingle Bells. And...what we've learned from that is...we like it! [Filed under Traditional Instrumental]
• Kate And After is an indie band founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2008 though the majority of the band has been playing together for several years prior. They've written and recorded a new song for the Christmas season called Snow Angel, and they've chosen our site as one of the places to showcase it. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• 333maxwell is not a secret agent fighting KAOS...but rather a flesh-and-blood human being fending off musical boredom. He's written and recorded a toe-tapper of new song for the season which he calls "a light-hearted poke at the state of our times, yet wishing everyone to have a good day and be thankful for what they have". It's called The Last Christmas Song (Hard Times for Santa). [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• Richard Souther is an immensely gifted (and Grammy-nominated) composer and arranger of instrumental music. From solo piano and synths to electronica, he pretty much does it all, and we've been fans of his for a very long time. This year, he's released a remarkable new album merging electronica with ancient instruments called Tesla's Christmas...the proceeds from which will be donated to his two favorite charities: The Rescue Mission of Salt Lake City and No More Homeless Pets in Utah. Richard has brought us Coventry Carol from the album to share with you. [Filed under Traditional Instrumental]
• The Nadas hail from Iowa and have been together for 15 years. They're sharing Here Comes Christmas this year. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• Christmas In New York was written by Mark Mangold of the NYC-based band The Radiant and songwriter Aida Brandes. This cheery holiday tune is performed by Mangold, Brandes and singer/songwriter Lyza Wilson. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• Janyse is a Canadian singer and voiceover artist. She's released an entire album of Christmas music called The Magic of Christmas. You'll enjoy her lovely performance of the song Blessed Is This Holy Night. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• F&M has been described as "a gently sardonic, dark and hopelessly clever art-folk band that began as a 48 hour experiment in recording during a fireworks festival". This duo from Edmonton is offering up Christmas Alleluia for us to share with you. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• The Kathy Fleischmann Band is comprised of four seasoned singer/songwriter/musicians from New York. They chose to record Christmas Train because they wanted to write a holiday song that wasn't bright and cheery since many people, for any number of personal reasons, have a really hard time getting through the holiday season. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• Songwriter James Madison Thomas wroted and recorded a song back in the Eighties with help from singer Joe Fish. Emerging from the recesses of his songwriting vault, James has dusted off this delightful tune and is presenting it here this year. It's called One Starry Night (The Manger Scene). [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• Wormburner offers up a somewhat edgier approach with The Bells Of St. Ignatius, a happy-sounding paean to the holiday with a bit of a painful underlying agenda. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• Douglas Campbell returns this year with It's That Time Of Year Again. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• Bob Bennett - This thoughtful singer/songwriter has made a powerful impact on Christian music fans for the past 30 years, and he's offering up a beautiful piece called Brightest and Best, from his new album Christmastide. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• Ken Medema - He's been pounding out great tunes at the piano for many decades (and we've been fans since the Seventies!). He's sharing Here Is The One, from his album Watching The Sky. [Filed under Contemporary Vocal]
• The Sonflowerz - A Colorado-based "sister act" (Elissa and Becca Leander) have brought us their smooth-as-silk version of O Come All Ye Faithful, from their album Beautiful Miracle. [Filed under Traditional Vocal]
• LaJuana Murphy-Brann - A gospel pianist who brings her own brand of soul to the classics Go Tell It On The Mountain and O Holy Night [Filed under Traditional Instrumental]
• Silvia Fleming - A gifted jazz vocalist, sharing her take on In A Lowly Manger Sleeping, from her album, Love for Christmas. Words by legendary church hymn writer, Fanny Crosby. [Filed under Traditional Vocal]

You're also welcome to review last year's artist introductions.

Feels Like Christmas exists primarily to offer you high-quality Christmas music in the form of legal MP3 downloads... for free*! A lot of other music (and more coming soon!). Instrumental, singer/songwriter, traditional, contemporary. All free to download and listen to, load up on your iPod, burn on a personal CD and to share with friends.

So where's the free music?? Your best starting point is to choose one of our available Christmas music categories: Traditional Instrumental, Traditional Vocal, Contemporary Instrumental and Contemporary Vocal (or, you can just jump directly to a category). In addition to personal listening, we've heard from many who have made it part of a personal holiday greeting (e-card or email) to friends and relatives and those who have played it as part of their organization's holiday celebration. By the way, if you are a musician who has some quality music that you'd like to see made available on this site, you can find out more info here.