Brantley Family Band returns with “Frosty the Snowman” | Raleigh News & Observer

It might be 70 degrees in the middle of December in the Triangle, but here’s a sure sign the holidays are upon us: The arrival of The Brantley Family Band’s annual offering of Christmas music.

Every year since 2004, former Bull City/Ashley Stove guitarist Jim Brantley has enlisted his family to record a holiday song or two as an aural Christmas card to send to friends and family. The Brantleys left the Triangle for California a few years back, but the tradition lives on -- with the lineup expanding in recent years to include various children as they’ve arrived.

Following up last year’s “Have Yourself a Very Merry XMAS,” 2015’s number is “Frosty the Snowman” and features all three Brantley kids (3-year-old twins Bo and Sam, plus 17-month-old Louise) on backup vocals with, as the parents put it, “some unique vocal stylings that only 3-year-old boys would dream up.” It probably won’t be too many years before the kids are chipping in on instruments, too.

The Brantley Christmas playlist is up to an impressive 40 songs now, and you can listen to (and download) all of them absolutely free here.