Reba McEntire – Merry Christmas To You

Reba was born in Oklahoma in 1955.  She started singing as a teenager.  She was discovered while singing the National Anthem at The Rodeo Nationals in 1974.

Reba started off quietly in the second half of the 70’s, then, finding her audience in 1980, she consistently released at least two top selling albums a year throughout the 1980’s.  By 1990, she was the hottest thing in Country music.  In the 70’s we had Loretta Lynn, in the 80’s we had Dolly Parton, and in the 90’s, it WAS Reba!  Even I went to one of her concerts and I’m not that big of a Country music fan.  But Reba put on a great show.

Merry Christmas To You is Reba’s first Christmas album.  This is a direct release, being issued as both an LP record and a CD in 1987.  The cover features Reba in a focused look while wearing a white winter coat and takes up the whole image area.

The CD insert is a single fold out.  The inside left features a numerical track listing with time signatures and writer / arranger credits.  The right side has all the production notes and a list of musicians.

The back of the CD insert features a personal Christmas message from Reba.

The artwork on the back of the CD features a numerical track listing with time signatures and producer notes.

This CD features only 10 Christmas songs.  There are 4 Christian hymns and 6 traditional Christmas songs, two of which are original to this album.

This is a wonderful CD to review.  I’ve had it for some time but hadn’t listened to it in some time either.  The CD starts with a beautiful rendition of Away In A Manger.  Simple guitar work, a fiddle and a harpsichord.  Reba has such a wonderful Country voice that definitely shines on this song.

The second track, On This Day, is a duet that features Vince Gill on background vocals.  This is a new Christmas song, written just for this album.  A pedal steel guitar directs the song through Reba reminiscing about her memories of a family Christmas paired with the birth of Jesus.  (The liner notes state that this is a duet with Vince Gill singing background vocals, but honestly, I can’t hear him.  It would have been better to have him more upfront).

O Holy Night, the 3^rd song, features Reba with a traditional arrangement featuring mostly piano.  Towards the end, the song really showcases how strong Reba’s voice can be.

The fourth song is The Christmas Guest, a song that appears on a lot of Country Christmas albums in the 70’s.  As is the case here, it is usually performed as a spoken word recital.  It’s the story of a meager man who is visited by Jesus in a dream who then promises to visit him on Christmas day.  The song was originally written, performed and introduced as a Christmas song by Grandpa Jones in 1969.  I wanted to understand the song better, so I read the lyrics while I listened to Reba tell the story.  It literally brought tears to my eyes.  Really.  It did.  You have to listen to the song to understand.

The 5th song is Silent Night.  It begins with a 30 second spoken introduction, which fits in nicely after the spoken word recital from the last song.  Then acoustic guitar comes in to finish the introduction, then Reba begins the vocal a cappella for two verses.  The acoustic guitar comes back, with a simple drum pattern following.  These are the only instruments you can hear.  It is one of four songs that Reba arranged on the CD.

I am not very familiar with the 6^th song, Happy Birthday Jesus (I’ll Open This One For You).  Wikipedia.org has the writer credits as Traditional.  I have two other songs titled Happy Birthday Jesus, and all 3 are different.  This is a mix of spoken word verses alternating between verses sang.  A group of young children provide wonderful background accompaniment in the beginning and at the end.

White Christmas opens with fiddle and pedal steel guitar followed by piano to give this Christmas classic a strong Country flavor.  Only instruments are heard for the first minute and a half before Reba begins singing.

The 8^th song, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, begins with a traditional arrangement, slow and soulful.  After about 34 seconds, a full-blown Country band featuring fiddles, piano and steel guitar pick up the tempo.  Reba does a terrific job with this arrangement.

I’m not familiar with the 9^th song either.  A Christmas Letter may have been written for this Christmas release.  I can’t find too much history on it.  A traditional Country arrangement carries this song through an endearing Christmas wish.

The Christmas Song finishes this CD out nicely.  A mostly piano driven song, Reba delivers a passionate plea for a wonderful Merry Christmas.

As I said earlier, I hadn’t listened to this CD in quite some time, so I didn’t know what to expect.  (Well, I thought I did, but I’ll keep that to myself).  I am excited to say that this first Christmas offering from the 90’s Queen of Country Music blew me away!  Extremely well produced.  A wonderful Christmas CD to include in your Country Christmas music collection.  Reba hadn’t reached her peak quite yet, but this CD showcases a beautiful, wonderful voice that is a treat to listen to.  My ONLY complaint with this CD is that there are only 10 songs.  12 would be better, 14 would be great!  But the ones that are here are fantastic.

If you are a Country music fan, you probably already have this, but if you are a Country music fan and you don’t have it, you need to get it this Christmas season.

I give this CD :

****