Customer Reviews

Ricky Van Shelton Sings Christmas

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Ricky van Shelton is a wonderful singer and he brings his talent to a great mix of classic and folk Christmas music. Ricky doesn't try to change the classics, but sings them straight and clear. His ability to sing all types of music is evident here, and I have some new favorites from his "folk" selections. This is my favorite Christmas CD.

Few major artists record Christmas albums in a traditional country style. Even those who normally record traditional country music usually embellish their basic sound for Christmas albums. There have been exceptions, notably Reba McEntire's first Christmas album, Merry Christmas to you, as well as Charley Pride's Christmas in my hometown and Loretta Lynn's Country Christmas. With this album, Ricky Van Shelton proved that he was another exception.

The songs are mainly familiar although there are two originals (Christmas long ago, Country Christmas) that Ricky co-wrote with Don Schlitz. Another song here, C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S, is a cover of the old Eddy Arnold classic, which rarely gets covered. The album also includes Please come home for Christmas (originally written and recorded by Charles Brown, it became more popular after the Eagles scored an American top ten hit with their cover of it) and Pretty paper (originally written and recorded by Willie Nelson, but popularized by Roy Orbison, for whom it was an international pop hit). The remaining songs (I'll be home for Christmas, White Christmas, Santa Claus is coming to town, Silver bells, Silent night, What child is this?) are even more familiar, but they are all extremely popular so you can't blame Ricky for recording them. At least here, you get the chance to listen to them in a traditional country setting so that makes them distinctive.

Fans of traditional country music will love this, but what will the rest of the family think? I'd like to think that this album might convince them that traditional country music is better than they thought, but maybe that's optimistic. Well, it's worth trying. And if all else fails, traditional country music fans will just have to restrict themselves to playing it in the company of like-minded people, or maybe sneak a listen when the rest of the family is not around.

Ricky Van Shelton Sings Christmas Ricky Van Shelton Sings Christmas is my absolute favorite Christmas CD! His smooth baritone voice does justice to these great favorite songs of Christmas. I have many Christmas CDs, but if I could only keep one it would be this one! I highly recommend it!