This is a Christmas compilation CD that features only three Country / Bluegrass artists, Jeannie Seely, Mac Wiseman and Wilma Lee Cooper.  My copy was released in 2003 on King Records, Inc. in association with Gusto Records.  King Records, Inc. was a small division of King Records (Cincinnati) that was based in Nashville, Tennessee.  After the death of its founder, the King Records catalog was acquired by Gusto Records.  They must have acquired the catalog of the small independent label Power Pak Records also because both Mac Wiseman’s and Jeannie Seely’s only Christmas output was originally released on Power Pak Records and all of it is here on this one CD.

Jeannie Seely’s only Christmas album was recorded in 1994.  Mac Wiseman’s only Christmas album was released in 1996.  Each originally contained 8 songs each, and they’re all here on this CD.  I can’t find any information about Wilma Lee Cooper’s Christmas output.  I’m guessing that if Gusto Records was able to get all of Jeannie Seely’s and Mac Wiseman’s Christmas output, they would be able to do the same for Wilma Lee Cooper.  Perhaps she only recorded four Christmas songs and they’re all here as well.  They sound older than the mid-nineties, but without more concrete evidence, it would be hard to guess.

Jeannie Seely was a very successful Country recording artist in the 1960s and 1970s.  She has been a member of The Grand Ole Opry since 1967.  Jeannie Seely has appeared on the Grand Ole Opry more times than any other female Country music artist.  She was born in 1940 and her early life was spent in northwestern Pennsylvania.  Jeannie Seely started singing at an early age, and after graduating high school, she got tired of the severe winters and moved to southern California.  While working a day job at Imperial Records, she started to write songs.  Her early efforts were recorded by other artists, and they were well received.  In 1965, she moved to Nashville and signed a recording contract with Monument Records.  As the music industry was changing and Jeannie Seely having to recover from a severe car accident, her record output slowed down in the 1980s.  Jeannie Seely returned to the recording studio in the 1990s and still releases albums to this day.  Her most recent release was in 2020.

Mac Wiseman hails from Crimora, Virginia, and was born in 1925.  Mac Wiseman had polio as a young child and that kept him inside most of the time.  He would spend his days listening to old records and the radio.  After high school, Mac Wiseman took a job in radio.  He was an accomplished upright bass player and spent his early music career in the Bluegrass bands of Flatt & Scruggs, and later with Bill Monroe.  Mac released numerous Bluegrass albums under his own name throughout the 1960s and 1970s.  He was a founding member of the Country Music Association in 1958, and in 1986, he co-founded the International Bluegrass Music Association.  Mac Wiseman died of kidney failure in 2019.

Wilma Lee Cooper was born in West Virginia in 1921.  Her family name was Leary, and Wilma acquired the last name Cooper through marriage.  Her family was very musically inclined, and Wilma Lee joined the family group in her early teens.  The Leary Family was a very successful Gospel and Folk group.  In 1951, Wilma Lee Leary married Dale T. “Stony“ Cooper who was a fiddle player in the family group.  Wilma Lee & Stony Cooper, as they were called, formed their group the Clinch Mountain Clan.  This ensemble was very successful in the Bluegrass genre in the late 1950s and early 1960s.  Their biggest hit and most popular record was Big Midnight Special, released in 1959.  It has become an early Rock & Roll, Bluegrass and Skiffle standard, recorded 100’s of times.  There was even a TV show named The Midnight Special in the 1970s.  Most of their recorded output was Sacred and Inspirational songs.  Stony Cooper died in 1977 and Wilma Lee Cooper has released a couple albums in the 1980s and one in the 1990s.  Wilma Lee Cooper died of natural causes at her home in Sweetwater, Tennessee in 2011.

The best thing about this CD is that you get ALL of Jeannie Seely’s, Mac Wiseman’s and Wilma Lee Cooper’s Christmas output on one CD.  There are 20 songs included and 8 are from Jeannie Seely’s 1994 Christmas album, 8 are from Mac Wiseman’s 1996 Christmas album and four are from Wilma Lee Cooper.  I cannot find any information on the years for her Christmas songs.  I can’t locate them on any singles or albums attributed to Wilma Lee.  The other two albums were recorded only two years apart and were both originally released on the same record label, Power Pak Records.  Perhaps, these Wilma Lee Cooper songs were recorded around the same time, but there wasn’t enough material to release a whole album.  After all, Power Pak Records, King Records, Inc. and Gusto Records were all based in Nashville and at the time, Wilma Lee lived just outside Nashville.

The front cover of the CD does a good job of letting you know what to expect.  It features a picture of each artist on the right-hand side and the CD title appears at the top half.  Below are a few song titles of what’s on the CD.  All this is superimposed against a cream-colored background with a green border.

The back of the CD features a numerical track listing with performing artist credits on the left-hand side.  On the right-hand side is a small biography of each artist, which is extremely helpful if you are not that familiar with these folks, which I was not.  At the bottom of the back cover is a Gusto Records logo and pictures of some of their other Christmas releases they offer.  This gives me some good leads, but I must be careful, I probably already have many of the songs.

Unfortunately, the back of the CD cover doesn’t offer much.  In fact, it doesn’t open, it’s just a double-sided cardboard cover.  The back of the front cover has a black and white head shot photo of each artist, and the CD title, also in black and white.  That’s it.  But that’s okay.  This is a budget Christmas CD and the small biographies on the back of the CD make up for it.

Out of the 20 songs, I consider only 3 to be secular Christmas songs, and two of those are from the 20^th century.  That is not unusual.  There tends to be more focus on old Christmas hymns in older Country and Bluegrass repertoires, probably stemming from the strong Gospel influences that were present in Country music back in these artists early years.  Even though these were recorded in the mid-nineties, the artists stuck to their roots and used traditional instruments and very few digital ones, if any.  The whole CD has a classic 1960s Nashville sound to it.

Jeannie Seely’s Christmas songs are more Classic Country than Bluegrass.  Nonetheless, they are terrific interpretations of solemn Christmas hymns.  The arrangements are traditional and employ traditional Country instruments as opposed to an orchestra.  Lap steel, fiddle and electric guitar make up most melodies.  O Little Town Of Bethlehem uses the celesta to great effect.

I’m trying to figure out which of Jeannie Seely’s Christmas songs are the best and I’m finding it difficult.  In my opinion, all her Christmas songs are terrific Classic Country Christmas songs.  Her voice is still strong, and her diction is excellent.  Jeannie Seely has a definite Country dialect in her voice, but the arrangements combined with her Country roots form some of the best Classic Country Christmas songs I am familiar with.  These are great Christmas songs!

Mac Wiseman’s Christmas songs are also more Country than Bluegrass; actually more Classic Country than Bluegrass.  I find this a little unusual because Mac Wiseman is known more for his Bluegrass music than Classic Country.  Throughout all the songs, the lap steel guitar takes center stage.  As well, Mac Wiseman’s band uses a celesta on every song.  Fiddle is featured as well.  All the instruments come together well in every song.  Some are more somber than others.  One of the better songs is Up On The Housetop.  The celesta starts the melody and is quickly followed by a fiddle, then steel guitar.  The rhythm is jubilant, and Mac Wiseman has a voice perfect for this song.  Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral, the Irish melody, is delivered solemnly.  Fiddle, mandolin and steel guitar combine to make this one of the best recorded versions.

Away In A Manger features a wonderful mandolin solo followed by acoustic guitar in the middle part.  Mac Wiseman delivers a clear, distinct, solemn vocal.  Mac Wiseman has a very heavy Appalachian dialect to his voice.  If you like Willie Nelson, you will like Mac Wiseman.  Both voices are similar in tone and diction.

Mac Wiseman’s renditions of Christmas songs are very Country, no doubt, but the arrangements stay true to Classic Country Christmas traditions.  I would never guess these were recorded in 1996.  They sound like they came right out of RCA Nashville circa 1967.

Wilma Lee Cooper has four Christmas songs on here.  Now this is Classic Country!!  Her voice possesses a twang that can only come from West Virginia.  Wilma Lee Cooper’s Christmas songs are more Bluegrass than Country, but not that different from the other songs on here.  It’s more in the arrangements combined with Wilma Lee’s dialect.  The fiddle and banjo are featured more in her songs than either Jeannie Seely’s or Mac Wiseman’s.  Even Jingle Bells, the most secular song on the whole CD, possesses a banjo heavy arrangement that makes this a great Bluegrass Christmas song.  Again, the banjo takes the lead on Deck The Halls.  Wilma Lee Cooper sings the vocals triumphantly.

I apologize, I am not familiar with any of these artists’ records outside of this Christmas CD.  I will make a point to listen to some to get a better understanding of their careers.  I can see the Bluegrass influences, especially on Wilma Lee Cooper’s Christmas songs, and I have heard a few other Mac Wiseman songs outside of his Christmas songs and I would say he is mostly a Bluegrass artist.

But I look at this CD as a Classic Country Christmas CD.  As I’ve said, even though this was recorded in the mid-nineties, all the songs have a Classic Country feel to them reminiscent of the 1960s Nashville sound.  For me, that makes me like it even more.

The artists are evenly distributed throughout the CD.  With the occasional Wilma Lee heavy Bluegrass song and Mac Wiseman’s Virginia dialect and his heavy use of fiddle and steel guitar, overall, the CD has a definite Bluegrass Christmas feel to it.

If your Christmas music tastes lie more in older Country Christmas songs, you should get this.  Jeannie Seely, Mac Wiseman and Wilma Lee Cooper show up on many other Country Christmas compilations, but with this CD, you get ALL Jeannie Seely’s, Mac Wiseman’s and Wilma Lee Cooper’s Christmas output in one place.  That right there is enough to make this a terrific bargain Country Christmas CD.

I give this CD :

****