This week's playlist:

• Walk A Thousand Miles by Matthew Ebel, available for sale as a single from the Podsafe Music Network. Matthew's CD Beer and Coffee (2005) is available from MatthewEbel.com and CD Baby. Visit Matthew's page at PodShow.com and his MySpace page for more information.

• Fool For You by The Mescal Sheiks, from This World Is Not My Home (2006), available from CD Baby and the iTunes Music Store. Visit MescalSheiks.com or their MySpace page for more information.

• Merry Christmas Baby by Calvin Owens, from The House Is Burnin' (2002), available from TopCat Records, CD Baby, the iTMS and Amazon.com. Visit CalvinOwens.com for more information.

• The Greatest Xmas Song Ever Written by American Heartbreak, available for sale as a single from the PMN. Visit AmericanHeartbreak.com or their MySpace page for more information.

• My Own Merry Christmas by Geoff Smith, available for sale as a single from the PMN. Geoff's CD, Geoff Smith and the Tonewheels, is available from CD Baby and the iTMS. Geoff has also recently been playing keyboards with Codaphonic, a great band based in Nashville. Visit TheGeoffSmith.com for more information.

• Santa Please Go To New Orleans by Lee Harris & Loose Change from A Whole Lotta Santa (2005). This tracks and dozens of others are available, for listening only, at the PMN under the name The Lee Harris Christmas Compilations. I'm not entirely convinced Lee Harris, or the other artists whose names are directly associated with some of the tracks, know these songs are available at the PMN. Nonetheless, I decided to play this track as a reminder that help is still needed in the reconstruction of one of the cradles of American music.

• Christmas Is Here by Number One Fan, a holiday single available free from PureVolume.com, or for 99 cents from the iTMS. Visit NumberOneFanOnline.com for more information.

• Sharing This Christmas With The Blues by Russell Alexander & The Hitman Blues Band, from Angel in the Shadow (2003), available from CD Baby and the iTMS. Visit HitmanBluesBand.com for more information.

• Man! It's Christmas by Jimmie Bratcher, from Man! It's Christmas (2006), available from Jimmie's online store. Jimmie's other albums are available from his site, as well as the iTMS and Amazon.com. Visit JimmieBratcher.com and his MySpace page for more information.

• Can You Dig It by Blue Plate Special, from Can You Dig It (2006), available from CD Baby and Amazon.com. Also available from CD Baby: The Blues Ain't Pretty (2000) and No Place To Fade (1998). No Place To Fade is also available from the iTMS. Visit BluePlateSpecialBand.com for more information.

Mentioned during this show: to find out what you can do to help with the ongoing recovery of New Orleans, visit DirectRelief.org.

Excellent online resources for more information about the blues: The Blues Foundation and the Delta Blues Museum; and be sure to download and listen to the DBM's top-notch (and free) podcast, the Uncensored History of the Blues.

(Music on Murphy's Saloon #54 courtesy of the artists and the Podsafe Music Network, where I obtained many of these tracks)