Joy to the world! It’s the return of our favourite festive tradition, the Joyzine Advent Calendar, back for its 22nd consecutive edition, which as far as we’re aware makes it the longest running on the net.
As always, every track is completely free to download and we don’t require you to sign up for a mailing list (though you can if you want to) or hand over your personal data – it’s our way of saying thank you to everyone who’s visited the site during 2025 and to hopefully bring a few more listeners to some very deserving artists.
However, if you do enjoy the tracks we would love you to consider making a donation to our chosen cause, which this year is HOPE not hate, and their stirling work researching, campaigning, and supporting communities to build HOPE and oppose far-right extremism. You can make a donation here.
We’re finishing off this year’s calendar with a special treat from one of our longstanding favourites. Peter Richard Adams has featured within these pages in more guises than we can remember, from when we first met him with clatter pop rascals And What Will Be Left of Them? through Lost Boy Scout, Hey You Guys, God Save The King, his solo work and more recently One Big Family and Red River Hog, it’s quite frankly been difficult to keep up (and that’s not even mentioning his books, podcast series and the occasional article written for this very publication), but in each and every one of these multitudinous projects there have always been some great tunes, a sense of humour and a lot of heart.
He’s also been responsible for quite a few of our favourite Christmas songs, and none of his bands has been quite so festive as Peter with Rosie. The duo, made up of Rosie and her husband (Peter) have been released a new festive song, EP or album every year since 2018, each of them a seasonal stunner, guaranteed to warm your soul. Today they’ve offered up their 2019 album Nine Lessons in its entirety – all 19 tracks! Look out for their take on a few festive faves along the way.
We caught up with Pete for a festive q&a session:
Tell us a little bit about your track please
Happy Christmas Joyzine! As I seem to have bagged the Christmas Eve spot, this year I thought I’d like the Joyzine faithful to have something a bit extra.
Every year, as Peter With Rosie, my wife and I create some Christmas music. Sometimes it’s an album, sometime an EP. This year it’s just a song called ‘Winter Prayer’ that you can find on our Bandcamp.
But a few years ago we released an album called Nine Lessons – which is our Joyzine 2025 Advent Calendar offering. We hope it offers some sort of quiet and peaceful antidote to all the rushing and anxiety of the last month.
What have you been up to in 2025?
It started off slow but then it got really FULL ON! I promised myself it would be a quiet year but it really got a kind out of hand.
In May ONE BIG FAMILY (a kind of supergroup of sorts) released our album.
In August a comedy/history podcast I write called History of Derek began its second series.
In October I accidentally started a record label called Golden Mare Recording Co., primarily to release a single by The Adventures of Bert & Henry.
In December HEY YOU GUYS! released a new single ‘BLACKJACK’.
And throughout I’ve been working with my new Exeter-based band Red River Hog. We’ve now released an EP and even started playing the odd actual gig. It’s been fantastic to be able to regularly get in a room with people and make music again.
And what are your plans for next year?
Well there’s a lot in the pipeline…
Rosie and I will be working on some new music, perhaps even a small album.
HEY YOU GUYS! are aiming to release ‘THE FOLK ALBUM’ – which sounds like a joke, but isn’t.
And of course Red River Hog will be back with more music and shows, especially around the South West.
On top of that a third series of History of Derek should begin around Easter and I’ve got high hopes for a batch of new releases on Golden Mare Recording Co.
But best laid plans and all that… Who knows, I might just retire.
What have been your musical highlights of the year from other bands/artists?
It’s been quite the year hasn’t it? I don’t think I’ve been this excited by current music in a long time. I’ve been loving watching Exeter-faves Bramwell and pushbike going from strength to strength and I really hope that 2026 is the year they break through to a wider audience. A special doff of the cap is also due to The Pogues. Their victory lap has been joyous.
Christmas: The most wonderful time of the year or a big bag of humbug?
I LOVE IT. I really do wish it could be Christmas every day. But I’m glad it isn’t because that would mean Rosie and I would have 365 songs to complete RIGHT NOW.
Stream and download Nine Lessons
Make a donation to HOPE not hate
Peter with Rosie: Facebook / Bandcamp
1: Piney Gir & Parenthesis Dot Dot Dot
2: Syd Howells
3: The Happy Hollow
4: Stephen Evens
5: Ombudsmen
6: The Scaramanga Six
7: Dextro + Rubber Oh
8: Craig Fortnam
9: Salt The Snail
10: Cerys Hafana
11: bis x Art Brut
12: Gemma Rogers
13: The Joyzine Christmas Band, Gift Box, Skink + Adam & Elvis
14: DRIFT. + Annie Gardiner
15: Kat Five + Charley Stone
16: MJ Hibbett & CJ Thorpe-Tracey
17: Crocodile Collective ft. Elisabeth Elektra, The Margins, Jolt, Charlie Salvidge, New Commercial Product + Great Silkie
18: The Gymkhana + The Pawnbroker
19: Leg Puppy 2.0
20: LOUD WOMEN ft. deux furieuses, I, Doris, ShyGodwin, HotWax, Twat Union + Retropxssy
21: Slime City
22: a.P.A.t.T. + David J Boswell
23: Linus Fitness Centre
That’s it for this year. We hope that you’ve enjoyed the calendar – see you in 2026!
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