This Classic Country Christmas compilation comes to us from Sony BMG Music Entertainment and contains 12 terrific Classic Country Christmas songs by some of the most popular Country stars of the 60s, 70s and 1980s.

The front cover features a picture of Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Glen Campbell and Willie Nelson in a box with the CD title above the pictures.  Below is a list of the 12 artists that appear here.  The back of the CD has a numerical track listing with performing artists under the song titles.  To the left is a smaller copy of the same picture used for the front cover.

The cover opens along a single fold-out.  The inside features a color photograph of a non-descript timber fence in a snow-covered field at the base of a large mountain range.  The right side of the fold-out has the same pictures from the front cover along the top.  Below is the title of the CD.  Below that is a numerical track listing with performing artist credits.  Below the song titles are the writer and year of release credits.

The back of the fold-out has color pictures of other compilation CDs from Compass Productions.

There are twelve songs included and although that is not very many for a CD that can hold 76 minutes, it is very typical of budget Christmas compilation CDs.  There is a total of 33 minutes of music.

Two of the songs included are Christmas hymns or carols, the other 10 are traditional secular Christmas songs from the 20^th century with an emphasis on five lesser-known Christmas songs.

The CD begins with Willie Nelson singing Winter Wonderland from his 1979 Christmas album Pretty Paper.

The second song should be familiar to most listeners.  It is the Willie Nelson penned Christmas standard Pretty Paper performed and made famous by Roy Orbison, recorded in 1963.  It is the definitive version of this song.  It was a Top 30 single in 1964 on Billboard’s Christmas chart.

The third song, Hard Candy Christmas, may be Dolly Parton’s best known Christmas song.  It was recorded and released as a single in 1982 and was a Top Ten single on the Billboard Country charts.  I believe it was written specifically for Dolly, and it showcases Dolly’s country accent wonderfully.

The fourth song pairs up the husband-and-wife duo of George Jones and Tammy Wynette sharing a duet on Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus from 1973.  It is an original Christmas song that describes the lasting love a husband and wife share at Christmas time.

Johnny Cash performs I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day from his 1963 Christmas album.  It is a grandiose arrangement that allows Johnny Cash’s deep baritone voice to shine.

The Oak Ridge Boys are here with Go Tell It On The Mountain.  I like the Oak Ridge Boys, who are known for their structured harmonies, specifically Richard Sterban’s bass voice, but you can tell immediately that this song is a little different than the others, mainly because it was recorded in 1994 and employs a more contemporary arrangement that clashes with the other songs on here from the 1960’s and 1970’s.  It is the most recent song on here.  After a soft introduction, the song breaks into a Gospel influenced, rocking guitar driven version of this Appalachian hymn. The Oak Ridge Boys employ their Gospel roots very well, but the song has too much of a modern feel to it compared to the other selections.  You can definitely tell this was recorded in the 1990’s.

The oldest song on this Christmas compilation CD has Hank Snow “The Singing Ranger” singing a Western Swing influenced rendition of Frosty The Snowman from 1953.  Hank’s Country twang lends very nicely to this Christmas classic.  It was first recorded by Gene Autry in 1950, so this came out just after the original.

White Christmas is performed by Charlie Rich, recorded in 1974.  Charlie Rich was one of the biggest selling Country artists in the 1970’s and his smooth voice does this Gospel influenced arrangement very nicely with a soft chorus in the background.

Alabama provides a very solemn Christmas song with their original Christmas tune Santa Claus (I Still Believe In You).  It was included on their million selling Christmas album from 1985, Christmas.

One of the standout songs on here, and one of the best Classic Country Christmas songs ever produced comes courtesy of Loretta Lynn from her 1966 Christmas album and the album’s title, Country Christmas.  Loretta Lynn shares her Country twang with pedal steel guitar to make a wonderful Christmas classic.

Delivering a somber rendition of the most recorded Christmas hymn has Waylon Jennings and his wife Jessie Coulter sharing a duet on Silent Night, Holy Night.  It may be safe to say that I feel the convictions they share on this song may be due to the birth of their son who was born earlier in the year.

The CD closes out with Glen Campbell performing the traditional carol Brightest And Best, recorded in 1988.  Glen is accompanied by The A Strings, a Nashville based string quartet.  It is one of the best Christmas songs featured here.

Sometimes it’s hard to fill in a lot of pages with a compilation CD that contains a lot of songs that appear on other Christmas compilations.  This Christmas compilation CD contains some terrific Classic Country Christmas songs, albeit only 12.  One of the best things about this is the variety of the songs.  With quite a few originals and a few more not so familiar songs, it provides a well-balanced Christmas CD.

(I have Christmas CDs by almost all the artists featured here.  Look for those reviews in this blog’s future).

If you like older Country Christmas music, you should enjoy this very much.

I give this CD :

***1/2*