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 1^st 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 2^nd 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 3^rd 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 6^th 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 7^th 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 :

****