More Christmas (listening) in the Country

Once upon a time, it was expected that Country artists would release a Christmas album. Maybe this was true in other genres too, I don’t know. But it was definitely a thing in the late 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. It’s less common now, hence the hubbub around Carrie Underwood’s Christmas album (that, and it’s Carrie Underwood, I suppose).  It was also less common before, but not completely unheard of. Freddy Fender and Lynn Anderson both had Christmas albums out in the early 70s. Loretta Lynn and Bill Anderson released Christmas albums in the 60s.

I don’t know that this is a good thing. As a friend of mine pointed out, most Country music artists don’t really have it in them to produce an album full of Christmas music that is good enough for the whole thing to be worthwhile. This doesn’t mean they’re incompetent artists–doing good Christmas music is hard, both because it’s so familiar to everyone and expectations are already high, but also because some of it is musically very complex (that’s one of the perils of hymns–ask any praise band leader who’s dared to try to play one–and several of the most familiar Christmas songs are hymns).

All that said, here are some suggestions for a few albums that are mostly done well and have fewer cringe-worthy moments than the average Country Christmas album. I’m also sticking to the classics here, because while there is a place for writing new Christmas music, most original Christmas music is garbage. The new stuff that isn’t garbage will hang around, but we obviously won’t know that for a while. (Yes, George Strait’s song “Christmas Cookies” was sung at the most recent CMA Christmas thingy by Lainey Wilson, but let’s not pretend that it was a genre-changing song either in 1999 or in 2021. And it’s one of the better forgettable songs.)

• Toby Keith, A Classic Christmas. I know, I know. I didn’t think Toby Keith’s Christmas album would make this list either. But it’s actually really good. Somehow, the guy who wants ‘to talk about me’ landed a solid Christmas album. The first disc (or whatever we call that when we’re streaming–because come on, we’re all streaming these days) is the gimmicky Christmas songs like “Frosty the Snowman” and “White Christmas,” and the second is the hymns and other religious classics. This shouldn’t be good and several times it feels like he’s about the go off the rails, but he really does land it well.
• Brad Paisley, Christmas. Much less surprising is the fact that Brad Paisley’s Christmas album is excellent. As with his regular music, he is both respectful of the classics and contributes in the spirit of the best of the genre. That’s not to say that the original music on this album is going to be a Christmas classic–“Penguin, James Penguin” and “Kung Pao Buckaroo Holiday” are both fun songs, but they’re not going to be sung at the office Christmas party any time soon. Nevertheless they are fun songs, and the other classics on the album are very well done.
• Michael Martin Murphey, Acoustic Christmas Carols (Cowboy Christmas 2). If you’re of a certain age, you’ll know Michael Martin Murphey either from his song “Wildfire” or from the movie Hard Country. He’s also possibly the greatest living Western performer, and his acoustic Christmas album is excellent. Not every song on here hits where it should–his “Joy to the World” isn’t great, for example. But overall this album is still the ‘must-have’ you probably didn’t know about.
• Willie Nelson, Classic Christmas. It helps to have written the modern Christmas standard “Pretty Paper,” but Willie Nelson’s Classic Christmas album is just phenomenal. (And no, I don’t know how the dude keeps cranking out at least an album a year, despite being 88 years old.)
• Faith Hill, Joy to the World. This album is just a solid, dependable Christmas album. Well worth listening to.
• Patty Loveless, Bluegrass and White Snow, a Mountain Christmas. Though she’s crossed over into Bluegrass, Patty Loveless’ spectacular album Bluegrass and White Snow is fantastic. I really can’t recommend this enough, even if (like me) you’re not huge into Bluegrass.
• Connie Smith, Joy to the World. Until being featured on Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary, my impression is that Connie Smith was an obscure artist. She might still be obscure for all I know, but her Christmas album at least shouldn’t be. Frankly, on listening to it at first I wasn’t sure what to think. But it grew on me quickly, and I’d imagine I’ll keep coming back to this one.
• Gene Autry, His Christmas Album. I’ve not confirmed that Gene Autry made the first Country Christmas albums. But if he didn’t he should have. We all know him from “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Here comes Santa Claus” and the original hit version of “Frosty the Snowman.” And this album has those songs, but it also has other classic Christmas songs like “Joy to the World” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” and songs you’ve probably not heard (but should have, because they’re great) like “Nine Little Reindeer” and “Santa’s Coming in a whirly bird.” And I know that I said new Christmas songs are generally a bad idea–but Gene Autry gets a pass. Because he’s Gene Autry.

  

• Burl Ives, Very Best of Burl Ives Christmas. I’ll admit, Burl Ives wouldn’t have been on my radar if his album Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer hadn’t hit number one on the Country charts in January, 2020. Which is weird, but it meant that I’ve listened to more Burl Ives than I would have otherwise. And everyone should be listening to more Burl Ives.
• Alan Jackson, Let it Be Christmas. This album is exactly what a Christmas album should be. Minimal accompaniment that lets the power of the lyrics be carried along by a simple, high-quality voice.
• Martina McBride, White Christmas. This is the 300-lb gorilla in the room. Until Mariah Carey re-released her version of “O Holy Night” as a single, that song from this album was what people heard on the radio in December at the end of the 90s. And it’s really just a great album. If you listen to nothing else from this list, hit up this one.

Merry Christmas!

Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast an Amazon Associate (which is linked in this blog), and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO