Clockwise from top left: Christian Lee Hutson, Pentatonix, Vivian Green, Crowder, Moonalice and Rachael & Vilray.

Ho Ho Ho! The Tuesday Tracks team is feeling the holiday spirit; especially since our inbox has been filling up with hundreds of Christmas and Hanukkah songs starting all the way back in September. We held onto those emails and by earlier this month we all had jingle bells dancing in our ears. Now; these six tracks—by Rachael & Vilray, Vivian Green, Christian Lee Hutson, Moonalice, Crowder and Pentatonix—aren’t your traditional holiday songs. They aren’t all happy songs, nor are they by superstars  trying to become the next Mariah Carey. We enjoyed those, too. But we think you should give these six a try this week.

Rachael & Vilray, “Just Me This Year” — Rachael & Vilray is the duo of Lake Street Dive’s Rachael Price and guitarist Vilray Blair Bolles. It’s not very often that we get a song celebrating “me” for the holidays. It’s a blast to the past, capturing a big band sound of the ’30s and ’40s. It’s a jazzy swinging pop standard with Price’s vocals harkening back to that time period. While the lyrics could ring a bit sad, this is a delightful song. The animated video of a mouse exploring the city is fun and shows the pleasures of spending a holiday by yourself. – Rachel Goodman

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Vivian Green, “Spread The Love (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza)” — The beautiful soprano vocals of Philadelphia native Vivian Green never disappoint and this peppy, upbeat song kicks off with the Christmasy sounds of sleigh bells and triangle coupled with a beat that could easily be from a ’60s Motown song. Green’s clear, bright voice delivers on this track featured on BET movie “Holiday Hideaway.” “Spread the Love” is meant to bring together people from different cultures and religions in one singular holiday celebratory track. – Mel Bowman

Christian Lee Hutson, “Silent Night” — My pick is a not-very-Christmasy version of “Silent Night.” Christian Lee Hutson, whose album Quitters (produced by Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers) came out in April, basically changed all the words to be about a down-on-his-luck guy alone during the holidays: “Silent night/ Over the Rhine/ Standing in the checkout line/ Weather report on the radio/ 65-percent chance of snow/ I wanna call but I don’t.” Hutson says this wasn’t born of any particular animus toward holiday songs: “Some of my favorite songs are Christmas songs but they’re often about Jesus being born or old men riding on donkeys to give presents to a baby king. Lyrically, they’re all pretty scary and I imagine this baby holding humanity hostage. So, I wrote my own version of one of my favorites about spending Christmas in Ohio.” – Rachel Alm

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Moonalice “Merry Christmas, Happy New Year” — The Bay Area’s Moonlice, now led by octogenarian vocalist Lester Chambers of the Chambers Brothers, delivers this funky, bluesy and psychedelic number that’s full of hope. It’s not the traditional holiday jingle (though it does have the bells jingling in the background) and might incite more of a shout-along than warm caroling. But how many Christmas songs are there with a harmonica solo and Chambers’ raspy voice wishing good tidings? “I’m glad you’re my girl and I’m glad to be your boy/ I got a package for you that’s filled with Christmas cheer/ Open up it says I want to love you all next year,” he sings, backed by the sweet harmonies of T Sisters while the rest of the band holds down the rhythm. — Roman Gokhman

Pentatonix with Grace Lokwa, “Love Come On Christmas (Joy to the World x Kumama Papa” — OK, so you may have noticed a couple of these songs are about spending Christmas alone. Ahh, the pangs of young heartbreak. But I’m over 40, married and have two kids who love Christmas. So I don’t know what’s it’s like to ever be alone. Let’s get happy again. No room for a “Blue Christmas” here. This brings me to the Pentatonix collaboration with Congolese gospel artist Grace Lokwa. Pentatonix, of course, has literally released more Christmas albums than non-Christmas albums. And I’ve come to love African music. Not just the Afrobeat stuff. So this blend of two songs, at least one of which you probably know, is right up my alley. Especially when it’s led by Pentatonix. – Roman Gokhman

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Crowder, “The Elf Song” — Let’s face it, this season often sucks for the working class, and to top off this sucky snowman, workers are getting ho-ho-hosed by layoffs, strike breaking and union busting left and right. With all of this in consideration, remember that it’s the working class keeping stores open and running, shelves stocked and delivers packages even when the weather outside is frightful. Thankfully, Texas musician Crowder has not forgotten the working class with this soulful holiday anthem that leans into the metaphor of Santa’s elves embodying the working class spirit. He calls for higher wages, better working conditions, and sympathy for the plight of working people. For what it’s worth, that is a holiday message I can get behind. – Tim Hoffman