Country

December 26, 2022

# 87

Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton
Once Upon A Christmas
1997

(Originally released 1984 on RCA)

Back

(P)© 1997 BMG Entertainment. The BMG Logo is a trademark of BMG Music.
Manufactured by BMG Special Products, a unit of BMG Entertainment.

# 1 – 1984 – Billboard Christmas

Genre : Country

Kenny Rogers started his musical career while still in his teens.  He released a few singles under his own name in the late 1950s and played around in a few local bands.  By 1965, he found himself as a member of The New Christy Minstrels, the most popular Folk Revival group at the time.  A year later, he and a few other Christies left to form The First Edition.  Their first single was a big success and the band stayed together until 1976.

In 1976, Kenny Rogers started his solo career.  He had early successes and recorded Pop and Country music equally.  By the mid-80s, Kenny Rogers was having most of his success in Country music, but he was safe enough to do well in the Pop and Adult Contemporary charts as well.  Kenny Rogers is the most successful cross-over artist in modern music.  He starred in The Gambler TV movie franchise and hosted and starred on many entertainment and variety shows.  You couldn’t turn on the radio or the TV without seeing Kenny Rogers.  In the mid-1980s, he did a duet with Dolly Parton, and it became a huge Country and Pop hit.  This prompted them to work together again.  They recorded this Christmas album together in 1984 and hosted a TV Special during the Christmas season that year to promote it.

Dolly Parton got her start in Country music in 1956 performing on local TV and radio in East Tennessee.  The day after graduating high school, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee.  There, she signed a recording contract with Monument Records as a songwriter.  Dolly Parton had good success with the songs she wrote but performed by other artists.  Her early recorded output was more Pop in nature and did not do well on the record charts.  She pressed Monument Records to let her record Country music and eventually they let her release her own Country songs.  Dolly Parton enjoyed great success afterwards.

Dolly Parton’s big breakthrough came after Porter Wagoner saw her perform and invited her to join his TV show.  Almost all of Dolly Parton’s success during the 1960s came from the duets she and Porter Wagoner did.  Starting in the early 1970s, she left the Porter Wagoner Show and started having great success with her own solo records.  She made an effort to write and perform songs that had cross-over potential.  Eventually she made her way into films and released the blockbuster movie 9 To 5.  Other films followed, the hits got bigger, and Dolly Parton dominated Pop culture on all sides of entertainment.  Everybody loves Dolly Parton.

Kenny Rogers’ & Dolly Parton’s careers took similar paths and by the 1980s, they were the dominating forces in Country music.  After the success of their first duet, Islands In The Stream in 1983, Kenny Rogers approached Dolly Parton about recording a Christmas album together.  This is that album.  They hosted a Christmas special that year on TV to promote the album and all the songs were performed during the special.

This reissue of that album comes from BMG Special Products, and unfortunately, two songs from the original album are missing and one that wasn’t on it, is included.  Bummer.  The two songs not included in this reissue are two Kenny Rogers solo songs, The Christmas Song and Silent Night.  In their place is Dolly Parton’s Hard Candy Christmas, a single she released in 1982.  Why do they do this?  In addition to the missing / added song, the track order is rearranged as well.  ☹

At least the title and the cover from the original album were kept intact.  The CD cover shows Kenny & Dolly (as the performing credits state) coming through the center of an ornately decorated Christmas wreath.  A reindeer joins them.  Kenny is dressed as Santa and Dolly has granny glasses on and is holding a Christmas present.  Just as on the original album, their names and the album title appear at the top of the cover.  Different from the original cover, there are a few of the songs listed in the bottom right corner.  All is superimposed against a pure white background.

The back of the CD is very plain compared to the back of the album.  The back of the CD shows an undecorated wreath that has only a red bow.  Kenny & Dolly’s names and the CD title appear above.  To the right of the wreath is a numerical track listing.  Below are producer credits and typical copywrite notices.  Again, the background is white but there is a purposely out of focus Christmas tree in a very light blue. It is barely discernible.

The back of the original album has Kenny, still in his Santa Claus suit, minus the coat, and Dolly, still with the granny glasses on, sitting in a rustic cabin with a large Christmas tree.  The entire room is overflowing with dolls and toys.  Obviously, Kenny & Dolly are portraying Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus, and doing a great job of it I might add.  This would have made for a much more festive back cover for the CD.

The CD cover itself comes out, but alas, it is only a double-sided single piece of heavy paper.  The back of the front cover has a smaller version of the back of the CD, and it is presented only in black and white.  This lack of great artwork is becoming pretty common on BMG and Sony reissues.  I would think that big labels like RCA and BMG could afford a few more pennies per CD for more accurate artwork.

The first two songs on the CD are the same first two songs on the album.  The 1st song, I Believe In Santa Claus, is a Country driven Christmas song extolling the virtues of Santa Claus.  This is the first of many songs on here that Dolly Parton wrote.  Traditional Country instruments such as steel guitar and rollicking lead guitar produce the melody.  With Dolly’s dialect, this can only be described as a Country Christmas album.  With Dolly’s invitation, a large children’s choir joins in for the final minute.

The 2nd song is a Dolly Parton solo.  Winter Wonderland / Sleigh Ride is a familiar tune, still heard on the radio every Christmas season.  The arrangement is light, more orchestral than Country.  Dolly Parton’s vocals are what makes this song.  The synthesizer provides terrific accompaniment.  Dolly’s voice is strong and feminine.

Dolly Parton has written five of the nine songs on the CD.  The 3rd song, With Bells On, is another original Christmas song written by Dolly Parton.  The Country returns with a fast paced, rollicking arrangement.  After the celesta opens the song with festive chimes, the Country begins.  The Bluegrass fiddle is used effectively to carry the middle instrumental part.  Kenny & Dolly trade verses and share in the choruses.

Christmas Without You is an endearing Country Christmas song that tells of a couple that is forced to spend Christmas apart.  Kenny & Dolly trade verses and provide harmonies when they don’t have the lead.  The arrangement is Country with Pop elements.

All the songs from the original album were performed during their Christmas special in 1984.  I watched it on YouTube while I composed this review.  All the songs are presented in various sketches.  Some are depicted to have occurred long ago, and some are depicted to be current.  The best part of the TV Special is when they visit the children’s hospital.  The whole segment is unrehearsed and adlibbed with the children.  Without saying they’re not, the Christmas special portrays Kenny & Dolly as a romantic couple.  With all the success they had together and apart as solo artists, it’s easy to forget that they weren’t.

White Christmas follows and it is another Dolly Parton solo effort.  The song opens with an electric piano and it is the only instrument featured as Dolly begins her vocals.  After the halfway point, the strings come in softly.  Dolly’s vocals are sweet and childlike.

The 6th song, A Christmas To Remember, was the title of their TV Christmas special that year.  It is a great duet between Kenny & Dolly.  The arrangement is festive and not overworked.  While it has an R&B sensed introduction, electric piano and a string orchestra provide most of the melody.  It is the pairing of these two Country music giants that make this song a terrific Christmas song.

The 7th song is the one song that did not appear on the original album.  It’s also another Dolly Parton solo, and her third one on the reissue.  Hard Candy Christmas is a Christmas single Dolly released in 1982.  It was a Top Ten hit on Billboard’s Country charts that winter.  It’s a solemn Christmas song that speaks of the hard times that families endured during the era when Dolly grew up and the only gifts parents could afford for their children were penny candy, or, hard candy.  The steel piano adds a somber feel to the song overall.

Electric piano opens The Greatest Gift Of All.  It begins as a Kenny Rogers Christmas song, then Dolly takes the second verse by herself.  The arrangement is almost all electric pianos.  Drums provide timing and accents throughout.  Kenny & Dolly share the rest of the song while a large Gospel choir provides harmony.

The last song on the CD is also the title of the CD, Once Upon A Christmas.  It is a reverent, modern Christmas hymn.  The arrangement is large, incorporating a full orchestra and Kenny & Dolly take turns with the lyrics.  The song opens with Kenny Rogers speaking the introduction while a piano hammers out the melody.  Dolly sings the first verse and Kenny speaks the narrative between the verses.  Kenny & Dolly share on the refrains. This is the most grandiose Christmas song on the album, and a fitting way to end the CD.  It was also the last song on the original album.  Again, the Gospel choir returns as the orchestra turns up the volume.

This is the first Christmas album for either artist.  Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton would go on to release another Christmas album each, under their own names, later in their careers.  This was a big hit during the Christmas season of 1984.  Like I said earlier, there was no way of avoiding Kenny or Dolly at that time.

The only thing wrong with this reissue from BMG Special Products is the two missing Kenny Rogers solo songs.  (I may have to track down an original copy of the CD to get those two songs).  It wasn’t until this 1997 reissue that the unfortunate changes took place.

This is surely a Country Christmas album, but it has many Pop influences that help make it enjoyable for all music fans.  Dolly Parton wrote 5 of the 9 songs on here.  She is a talented songwriter, and her songs are all great original Christmas songs.

This CD is probably already in many Christmas music collections, albeit maybe in the back and hasn’t been pulled out in a few years.  The CD has an overall 1980s feel to it, with the use of electric pianos and synthesizers.  Some songs have a large orchestral arrangement to them, but this is a modern Christmas album.  Dolly Parton’s solo Winter Wonderland / Sleigh Ride is still heard on the radio during the Christmas season every year, as is Hard Candy Christmas.  This is a Christmas CD that should be around for a long time.  It features the King & Queen of Country music from the 1980s and fits in to most Christmas music playlists from the 1970s onwards.

I give this CD :

****

Leave a Comment

November 24, 2022

# 61

Charlie Daniels
Christmas Time Down South
1990

(Originally released 1990 on Epic)

Back

Previously released as Epic EK 46103
© 1990 Sony Music Entertainment Inc./ (P) 1990 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
Manufactured By Sony Music Special Products / “Sony” Reg. U.S. Patent & TM Office Marca Registrada

Genre : Country

Charlie Daniels has worn many different hats in the music industry.  He started off having his own band that played all through the south in the 1960s.  Charlie Daniels was born and raised in North Carolina.  He grew up listening to Gospel music in church, Bluegrass music in the local towns and Rhythm and Blues on the radio.  He learned to play guitar at the age of 15, and quickly learned banjo, fiddle and mandolin.

Charlie Daniels started out as one of the original outlaw country artists, along with Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings.  He toured the south playing anywhere that would let him.  He took the advice of a friend and became a studio musician in Nashville in the mid-1960s.  There, he met a lot of musicians and played on a lot of top selling albums.  By 1971, he was releasing his own albums, credited to The Charlie Daniels Band.  All the while, he continued his studio session work and live tours with other artists.

Charlie Daniels lived a long life.  He enjoyed a lot of tributes to him from other artists in his later years.  In 1974, he started the Volunteer Jam concert series.  It was a Country and Rock festival held every year for over 20 years.  Throughout his life, he suffered from a severely broken arm, prostate cancer and a pacemaker and always came back as strong as ever.  Charlie Daniels died in July of 2020 at the age of 83.

This is Charlie Daniels’ first Christmas CD.  He would go on to release three more in his lifetime.  There is only one traditional, familiar Christmas song on here, The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire).  All the other songs are original Christmas songs.  Most of the arrangements are simple, Country-flavored Christmas songs with a solemn or festive message.  Unfortunately, there are only ten songs on here.

The cover of the CD shows a picture of Charlie Daniels bringing home this year’s Christmas tree that he has apparently just cut down himself.  The picture is presented in an oval with a black border, all set against a yellow background adorned with green festive decorations on the sides.  Charlie Daniels’ name appears at the top, above the photo, and the CD title, Christmas Time Down South appears below.  Both are in red lettering.

The back of the CD features a smaller picture of Charlie Daniels from the same photo session.  Most of the back of the CD is taken up with a numerical track listing.  The songs are listed in sentence form rather than a list.  Each song is separated by a decorative holly leaf.  All is presented on the same yellow background as found on the cover, including the festive border details.

The CD cover comes out and opens along a single fold out, but the inside, both sides, are completely blank.  What a waste of space.  (Very common on Sony Music Special Products.)  This would have been a great opportunity to have a brief biography of Charlie Daniels, or a narrative about the songs, since most are unique to this Christmas release.

The back of the CD cover is the same exact thing we find on the back of the CD.  So, no new information there either.  Bummer.

The CD begins with the title track, Christmas Time Down South, which describes all the traditions, sights and smells of the Christmas season in the south.  This is a great Christmas song.  The music is raucous, with an acoustic guitar providing the main melody.  Charlie Daniels delivers a strong sentiment with choral accompaniment.

The 2nd song is titled Hallelujah, but it’s not the more famous one from Handel’s Messiah.  It is another sentimental song that describes the night of Jesus’ birth.  The instrumentation is similar to the first song featuring acoustic and electric guitars with an electric piano and an accompanying chorus.  Since there was no  artist information on the CD, the chorus will unfortunately have to go unknown.

The 3rd song, Little Folks, presents the same sentimentality as we’ve heard, but the song describes life with children and the curiosities they encounter.  This sentimentality is transferred into the joys of children during the Christmas season.  The arrangement is much more passive than what is heard in the first two songs.

The 4th song, Carolina I Hear You Calling, is a personal reflection of Charlie Daniels’ Christmas memories growing up in North Carolina.  The tempo is upbeat, and the presence of the banjo and mandolin gives the song a little Bluegrass flavor without losing its Country roots.

My Christmas Love Song To You is the 5th song.  It is a solemn ballad featuring an electric piano matched to an electric guitar.  It starts out soft and remains so throughout the song.  Once again, the song is a personal reflection of Christmas memories from Charlie Daniels, but this time they seem to be directed at one person.  Charlie Daniels handles the vocals with very little help from the chorus, but this time, at times during the song, the chorus seems to be that of a children’s chorus.

The 6th song, Mississippi Christmas Eve, opens with a fast tempo guitar solo and maintains the fast rhythm throughout the song.  The production value here is large.  Everyone is present here; the Country guitar picking, the mandolin paired with it and the fiddle in the background adding texture.  This song is more like Charlie Daniels’ Country hits than heard earlier on this CD.  His vocals are deliberate, and his Country flavor is presented well.

Jesus Is The Light Of The World is the most sacred song on here.  The song employs traditional Country instruments playing a Sacred melody that describes Jesus and his life as the light of the world.  The song begins with the search of a place to stay by Joseph and Mary, it then describes the birth of Jesus and follows Jesus through his life.

The 8th song, Cowboy’s Christmas Gift, has a Western feel to it aided by wooden blocks and a fiddle.  It’s Charlie Daniels’ personal Christmas wish to a friend, obviously a cowboy.  In the song, Charlie Daniels says that he is too poor to send his friend anything for Christmas except this personal note of Christmas wishes.

The 9th song is another personal reflection song.  Carolina (I Remember You) at first appears to be about a woman, but throughout the song, the sentiments expressed could be about a woman or the state of North Carolina.  It is a slow arrangement featuring traditional Bluegrass instruments playing a Country song.  It is also the first song where a full string orchestra can be heard.

The last song on the CD is the only cover of an existing Christmas song.  The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire), seems a little out of place after listening to really good, original Christmas songs.  But nonetheless, Charlie Daniels sings this Christmas classic very well.  The arrangement is traditional and slow paced and uses all the instruments that are present on all the other songs.  Once more, the wonderful chorus is there to add a delicate softness to this arrangement.

This Christmas CD shows a lot of the different sides of Charlie Daniels.  With some songs sounding like his Pop and Country hits, and some songs expressing a Gospel flavor, while others are more Bluegrass or Western, Charlie Daniels seems to cater his vocals to fit the narrative of the song.  Sometimes he sounds like the Charlie Daniels we are all familiar with, and at other times, he doesn’t.

If you are a Country music fan and you don’t already have this Christmas CD, you need to seek it out.  This CD adds a lot of integrity to an existing collection because most of the songs are unique to this album; they’re well played, well sung and well produced.  There’s no Frosty, Santa or Rudolph here.  They’ve been replaced with Jesus, Mary and many fond memories.

I was actually pleasantly pleased with this CD.  I expected a more Southern Rock styled Christmas CD.  That is not what this is.  It’s not to say that it’s NOT Southern Rock, it’s just that the lyrics are soulful and Sacred, and the arrangements are the same.  What this is, is a terrific Country Christmas music CD.

The only downside to this is, one; there are only ten songs, so it’s only 35 minutes long.  The other is the lack of any usable information; no writer or musician credits.

I give this CD :

****

Leave a Comment

July 26, 2022

# 13

Reba McEntire
Merry Christmas To You
1987

Back

© 1987 MCA Records, Inc.
Mtd. for BMG Direct Marketing, Inc.

# 30 – 1987 – Billboard Christmas

Genre : Country

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 3rd 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 6th 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 8th 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 9th 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 :

****

Leave a Comment