Continuing our theme of premature Christmas music, I'm still not ready to start hearing it on the radio or in the air -- but I do think I'm ready to hear some Christmas music played live. Fortuitously, the release party for the third volume of "Have a Holly Raleigh Christmas" is Thursday night at Tir Na Nog. The album is wonderful, the best yet in the series, with 14 diverse tracks ranging from the conjunto of Rey Norteno's "De La Mano De Dios" to the mournful pop of Day Action Band's "Your Last Childhood Christmas Eve" and Don Dixon's majestic "Winter's on the Run." It also has a handful of sharp instrumentals, including Triangle Tuba Quartet's "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" and Tracy Thornton's steel-drum delight "Jingle Bells."

Proceeds from the album benefit the Community Music School. And here's the lineup for Thursday night's show, which will also feature Dan Bryk (an alumus of the first "Holly Raleigh" album, from 2006) appearing as Santa Claus:

7:00 Joe Newberry
7:15 Nathan Oliver
7:35 Day Action Band
7:55 Regina Hexaphone
8:15 Gray Young
8:35 Terry Anderson/OAK Team
8:55 Port Huron Statement
9:15 Killer Filler

So this week's James Taylor tour won't be the only get-out-the-vote shows happening here this election season. Coming to UNC-Chapel Hill's Graham Terrace (adjacent to Morehead Planetarium on campus) is a Nov. 1 lineup that offers up a superb slice of local music:

The dB's
Superchunk acoustic (which might be a first)
Ivan Rosebud
Megafaun
I Was Totally Destroying It
Bowerbirds
Greg Humphreys
Regina Hexaphone
Portastatic

It gets going at the rather non-rock-'n'-roll time of 9 a.m., and it's free -- they're even throwing in coffee and doughnuts.

UPDATE: Billy Bragg, who is playing in Durham that night, has been added to the lineup.