This is it, the last mailer of the year. It's been quite a year thanks to all of you. For that you get our eternal thanks, and this year a small Christmas present. For everyone who orders two or more discs during this month we'll send you a free disc of our choosing. Before you start doing cartwheels understand that it will be from our warehouse overstock of this and that. It could be a sampler disc, an extra promo copy of something we've been sent, a rap disc we won't let our kids listen to, a used disc that won't sell at any price, could be the new Dylan or the new Mariah Carey there's no way to know. The size of the order doesn't matter when it comes to the quality of the free disc, it's strictly a grab bag of what's closest to the shipping table when your order is processed.

In the bowing to public pressure department we are finally offering the much requested Villagerecords.com T-shirts. That's right now you can advertise, I mean, show your support for our cause with your very own shirt. After years of planning and testing new materials and designs we've decided on a natural colored cotton shirt with our logo in brown. They're cheap and come in various sizes. Check the end of the mailer for more details. And in yet another shameless attempt to advertise, I mean spread the word, we'll offer one free shipping charge to anyone who submits a picture of themselves with a recording artist (one we've heard of please) while wearing one of our T-shirts. Either you or the artist can be wearing the shirt. (Some restrictions may apply as soon as we figure out if we've left a loophole that could backfire on us) But it doesn't stop there, your fifteen minutes of fame will be extended because we'll post the pictures at our website, (unless you say no) so smile.

This is also the month where we come out from behind the curtain and reveal our top picks of the year. We've changed it a bit this year. First you'll find the picks that everyone, even the pets agree on. Then we splinter and each of us gets to go on and on about the ones we're sure you'll miss if we don't rave about them.

We've got a couple of gems on the mailer this month. Our good friend Peter Case has asked us to help distribute a couple of his discs that aren't available in stores. Both are unique and must haves. He's consistently one of this genre's best artists and it's our pleasure to be able to offer his music to the masses.

Fans of early folk music from the historic Elektra vaults should check out our new imports section at the end of the mailer for a treasure trove of original albums being committed to disc. It's a cool series that pairs the artist's first two albums together with original liner notes and awesome sound. We are importing these from Europe because we feel so strongly about the music. As far as we're concerned these recordings are as historic and essential as the music on Folkways, Vanguard and any other seminal folk label. So give 'em a look and add them to your collection. And in a nod to folk from the other side of the pond we offer the new import disc from the Continental Drifters. It's a mini-album tribute to the awesome songs of Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny. We'll be offering more imports as we track them down in the coming months. Most of these are in limited supply so if nothing else order these as quick as possible to insure getting them.

We've added our Christmas titles again at the end including a new one that we just took stock on that is spending a lot of time in our disc player. Also we've got some overstock that we need to move out cheap before inventory. Our loss will be your gain provided you jump to it for some real bargains. If you're mailing your order in you should probably call to reserve them. Quantities are limited to stock on hand at these prices.

Last but not least we're offering the strangest disc we've ever offered. It can be found in the "Strangest Disc We've Ever Offered" section just before the imports.

As we do each December we'll ship the orders as fast as they come in. The closer to Christmas, and the more food we consume, it will be harder to guarantee any shipments' arrival time. In short: the sooner you order the better your odds.

Thanks again for such a great year. Have a safe holiday and we'll see you in January.

The following are the CDs in this month's issue.