For this cold Monday — and just when was the last time that December was such a wintry month? — we present this warm set of acoustic music. And this cocoa.

Warmth

Sorry, no cocoa. But a great Cassidy from 1980 opens this download, followed by The Slip doing Predicting the Rain from 2006. It’s not entirely acoustic, but Marc Friedman has a killer bass solo tucked in there. Next up is a pretty stunning rendition of Almost Cut My Hair from a CN&Y show from 1972, and an early Heart of Saturday Night from Mr. Tom Waits. To cap it all off, we’ve got Gov’t Mule doing Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys in ‘99 — ‘nuff said.

For this week’s go-’round we also have an alternate mix, as a bonus, with RatDog doing Black Bird, Mule doing Kind of Bird (from the same tour as the Low Spark), a great version of Motion Pictures from 1974 — the best Neil Young banter I’ve ever heard — and finally Keller Williams doing Castles in the Sand > Little Wing > Castles in the Sand. Enjoy!