Tuning Up:

According to ASCAP, the most-played twenty-five holiday songs of the millennium are found on this list at the Radio Ink website. Anyone who has the misfortune to work in retail space this time of year has every note of each and every one burned directly into the bottom of their brainpans. But no need to roast those chestnuts--each year brings a new crop of really wonderful holiday music along, too--even some new life breathed into the overworked traditionals. Some of my personal favorites of recent years are Therese Shroeder-Sheker's harp and soprano rendition of The Holly and the Ivy, or Pierce Pettis' version of In the Bleak Midwinter. In a less traditional vein, John Gorka's rich baritone on I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day seems doubly poignant in this time of war. Send in your own nominations for a list of the best twenty-five holiday songs overlooked in the millennium. We'll post your picks next week.