Jessie Buckley and Hozier will release their version of the Pogues’ Fairytale of New York on Friday. The cover arrives as a dated single-track release, not just as an album cut.
Fairytale of New York
The song sits inside a familiar frame — a Christmas classic — but this version is tied to 20th Century Paddy: The Songs of Shane MacGowan, a tribute album built around Shane MacGowan. That gives the release a second function: it is both a seasonal cover and part of a larger catalogue project honoring a specific artist.
Bruce Springsteen, Kingfishr, Picture This and Amble are also included on the record, which broadens the appeal beyond one duet. For listeners, that means the Friday release is the first public step in a package that is being assembled around multiple artists rather than a one-off pairing.
Jessie Buckley and Hozier
Buckley and Hozier bring different kinds of audience reach to the track, which is exactly why this kind of release gets attention in the first place. A cover of Fairytale of New York already comes with built-in recognition; adding two named artists turns it into a discrete event with its own release date and place on the album.
That matters because the track is not being introduced in isolation. It lands inside 20th Century Paddy: The Songs of Shane MacGowan, so anyone following the project gets a clear signal that the album is moving from announcement into actual rollout on Friday.
Shane MacGowan tribute
The sharpest detail is the contrast at the center of it: a Christmas staple being issued through a tribute album for Shane MacGowan. That combination makes the cover feel less like a seasonal rerun and more like a catalog record with intent, built to connect a famous song to a broader memorial project.
For fans of the artists, Friday is the day the collaboration becomes real in public. The larger album context arrives at the same time, with the duet sitting alongside the other covers rather than standing alone as a separate release.
