Watch: Bronwen’s touching tribute to Shane MacGowan on Christmas single

Welsh music star Bronwen Lewis has today released her new Christmas single – and it pays a heartfelt tribute to one of her musical heroes, Shane MacGowan.

‘Christmas After All’ is Bronwen’s first Christmas single since 2020, and is inspired by the feeling of becoming older at Christmas, wondering perhaps where that childish excitement went as you grew-up and had to pay bills, work night shifts, and struggle through during the festive period.

But then, as The Pogues play out, the tree gains its handmade decorations from times gone by and the sing-song at the local starts – it feels like Christmas again.

With the desperately sad recent passing of Bronwen’s musical hero, Shane MacGowan, Bronwen made sure the instrumentation of ‘Christmas After All’ was traditionally Irish, a little nod to Bronwen’s favourite Christmas song, ‘The Fairytale of New York’.

Imagining that live jamming session in an Irish pub on Christmas day – something she saw herself when visiting Killarney in Ireland – Bronwen used live Irish players and included instruments like the bodrum, mandolin, bazuki, tenor guitar and banjo.

The track was produced at the studio of Cardiff-based producer Lee House as Bronwen played the folk guitar and performed all harmonies.

‘Christmas After All’ by Bronwen is out today via Alaw Records and available via all streaming platforms.

Bronwen’s stirring rendition of The Pogues’, Fairytale of New York, in Welsh and English, recently resurfaced following the death of Shane MacGowan.

The bilingual version was recorded during the festive period in 2022 by Bronwen, and her acoustic live version adds a perfect touch of melancholy to the celebrated Christmas favourite.

The musician, who presents a Sunday morning show on Radio Wales, has firmly established herself as one of the most unique voices from Wales, in large part thanks to her unwavering commitment to spreading the word about the Welsh language to the thousands who follow her across social media.

Bronwen, a former contestant on The Voice, has made something of a name for herself with her videos that promote the Welsh language on social media platforms such as TikTok and Twitter with her Welsh language interpretations of popular songs.

See Bronwen on tour. Tickets available HERE